Railpass and reservations

That is very strange. We were there for 8 weeks in 2006 and it was rare that the 1st class would even be 1/2 full. Only once was it full and that was from Zurich to Salzburg.

Your Rail Pass is your ticket. Are you trying to make seat reservations?

If for some reason all the 1st class if full you can sit in 2nd class until a seat opens up in 1st.

Are you in France?

Read Andreas' update on Die Bahn in Germany.

You may be experiencing what Rick Steves describes in the railpasses section of his site. Here is a quote:

"All trains that require reservations can limit the number of seats available to passholders. In high season, it is wise to reserve at least several days ahead (or as soon as you're ready to commit to a date and time) for night trains, weekends and holidays, routes with infrequent service, any train you cannot afford to miss, or if you need several seats together. For instance, TGV fast trains from Paris to the south of France and direct Paris-Italy runs are popular routes that can sell out weeks ahead in high season."

Just returned from two weeks in Germany and France last night, traveling extensively by train. We might have lucked out starting our trip in Germany. We had our Eurail pass validated at the rail station at the Frankfurt airport and booked reservations on the TGV train from Stuttgart to Paris (which we would take a week later) at that time. When we reached Munich four days later, the good folks at Euraide at the Munich train station praised us for our foresight and helped us book reservations for the first leg of the trip, Munich to Stuttgart, and on a train that didn't appear in the printed scheduled. Can't say enough nice things about those folks! This train wasn't crowded, but having the confirmed seat assignment was comforting. However, 1st class on the Stuttgart to Paris train was full once we left Strasbourg. The reservations are for the 1st class cars, for specific seats, like on an airplane. If a trip isn't too long, you could take your chances in 2nd class...

My daughter is in France right now having similar problems. Is there any way (other than Rail Europe) to see if Railpass seats are available without going to the train station?

Laura, are these trains that a reservation is mandatory on? If you don't have to have a reservation on a train such as the EuroStar or THALYS, etc. you can just board the train and find a seat. If they are full you normally can stand until a seat opens up somewhere. We never get a reservation unless it is mandatory and just go with the hop on and go approach. Good luck it must be frustrating.

You are scaring me! I just ordered railpasses for Austria and Italy and now I better check on making reservations before I leave the states. Thanks so much for updating and forewarning us. Good luck.

I find that most of the trains we want to take do seem to require reservations, and many of the trains that require reservations cannot be reserved at rail stations outside of the country of travel.

If I remember correctly, there were some trains they would not allow nor accept any reservations.

I'm having the same problems. Trains here in Spain are booked weeks in advance--all seats, not just those available to passholders. I'm leaving Spain soon, and I'm trying to make a reservations for an overnight train between Rome and Bern, and it's IMPOSSIBLE. It can't be booked on the web, and you can't call the Italian or Swiss rail offices from outside of their respective countries. Renfe (Spanish rail) can't help me. Even if I could find a place to book on the web, or any place that can help me, I'm skeptical that they'll be able to get me the passholder rate--I've been told that I'll have to wait until I'm in Italy. That's not a good idea, considering I won't be arriving there until three days before I want to take this train.

Anyone have any experience boarding an overnight train with a railpass, without a reservation?

What happens if I get on a "compulsory reservation" train without a reservation? A fine? Do I get kicked off?

Ryan - We had a lot of success with the Rail Europe office today. They were able to book almost everything for us. Reservations in Italy are kind of expensive, but we were able to do it! If you are in Madrid, you can go to the Rail Europe Office at Plaza de España. There are no other Rail Europe offices in Spain. However...if you are looking for an overnight train, it may indeed be full. We had to book Geneva to Rome during the day because the overnight (about 10 days from now) was full.

VICTORY!! I was finally able to make my Rome-Bern overnight reservation from Spain today.

There were two simultaneous miracles that allowed my reservation. First, there was no line at the train station, probably because it was the height of siesta.

Second, the woman working the taquilla knew what she was doing. I've been told by two separate ticket agents and three different customer service agents at this station that it's impossible to make reservations for Italian trains here. (They were probably ignoring the detail that I wanted to reserve a EuroNight, a tren nocturnal, between two countries. They probably assumed I was talking about Italian intercity trains.) But this super-employee knew what train I was talking about, knew that it was possible, and in two minutes, I was walking out of the station with my billete mas reserva (ticket, reservation) for a litera (couchette) between Rome and Bern. She was even able to give me my Eurail pass rate.

Never give up!

I will be traveling in August with a eurail global pass. I didn't even think that making reservations would be a problem. I am counting on being able to take a couple night trains that if I miss will really screw with my plans. When i checked raileurope.com it seemed that tickets were already sold out for trains such as Vienna-Florence on August 19 which seems quite far away to be making reservations for. Will I be able to get on these trains by going to the train station the day of and doing something or am I going to have to re-plan things?

Justin,

I suggest that you call Austrian Rail. Dial 011 (US international access code) + 43 (country code for Austria) + 1 93000-0. You may be able to make a reservation and pay the supplement for the Wien-Firenze night train over the phone.