When purchasing a Munich-Nuremberg rail ticket on the DB Bahn website, an option for seat reservations appears. Are these desirable, like on some of the Italian trains (to avoid the possibility of standing)? The seat reservations cost only 2 Euros, but just wasn't sure how the German rail tickets work.
Posted by
Tacoma, WA, USA
671 posts
I was told we didn't need reservations, but we found them very valuable (especially for the price). From Nuremberg to Berlin and then Berlin to Mainz, our trains were full. We had reservations and took our seats but others were wandering looking for seats, and then ended up sitting in corridors and between the train cars.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19238 posts
In almost 10 years of traveling by train in Germany (nearly 200 trains), I have only three times had to stand. Twice were on regional trains, for which there are no reservations possible, anyway. The other was a one hour ICE trip on Dec. 26, Zweite Weihnachten, a holiday. On that train, all the seats were occupied, but few were reserved. After half an hour, we reached our next stop, people got up to get off, and we found seats before others got on.
This last November, I traveled on three express trains (ICE/IC). The Dauer-Spezial tickets offered reservations for only €2 per direction, so I took them. I never needed any of them. First, all three trains had different equipment, so the reserved seats didn't even exist. Second, the trains were not filled. Oh well, I only spent €4.
I would do it again.
If you have reservations, they are for an assigned seat, and you are guarenteed a place to sit, assuming you are on that train. Otherwise, you just sit anywhere you can find, or stand.
BTW, "DB" means Deutsche Bahn, German Rail, so you just said DB Bahn or German Rail Rail.