Seating on Train from Verona to Munich

Some websites (like the Swiss one) will show you diagrams of the seating. But it sounds like these are your choices: what they call a "saloon" (or salon) car has a center aisle with 2 seats on either side of the aisle. The seats face each other in groups of four, with or without a table between. The "compartment" cars have a corridor down one side, and the other side is a bank of compartments, which are small enclosed rooms, each seating 6 people in 3 seats facing each other. The compartment has a sliding door onto the corridor which most people keep closed. Some people like these compartments for the privacy; others prefer the more open seating in the salon cars. Either way, if the train is crowded you will end up having to work out legroom and foot space with someone else in the seats facing you. Generally the train is not that crowded and it's not an issue. We generally like the seating of four facing seats with a table, so we can put our books, water bottle, etc. on the table, and have a place to put our food if it is a long trip and you brought a meal. Verona to Munich is long enough that I would consider that choice. Others prefer the 6-person compartments, especially if you get lucky and have one to yourselves (but we've never been that lucky).

We like the compartments because it takes me back to 1972 when compartments were the rule, the seats folded down nearly flat, when nobody was across from you,you could fold that seat down too, they met in the middle, make the opposite one completely flat so yours elevates a little, and presto you have a bed with a pillow! I had a two month youth pass and most nights were doing that, either to another city or plan where two trains crossed and travel to the halfway mark, get up, walk across the platform, and tumble into one going back, 7 or 8 am (or 5 or 6 am), back where I started! - that worked well until I sat in the corridor on the little fold down seats all the way from Nice to Paris. By the way, I got a sore bum. Yup. BTW, I had neglected to notice that it was 14th July.

The compartments always remind me of American movies about trains in Europe. In those movies, there are always some interesting social (or anti-social) interactions among the strangers sharing the compartment. We've never been fortunate to have one to ourselves; each time the compartment has been full. On our most recent trip (last June-July) we only had one train with compartment seating, and fortunately the couple who shared it with us was delightful. But that isn't always the case. Which is why we prefer the open seating.

The Hogwarts Express has compartments.

Thanks Lola for all the information. It's a huge help!

Nigel - Exactly the type of train with its 6 person compartments I rode in 1971 and 1973...the same time frame as you, but, instead of sitting on the fold out seat in the corridor, I stood the 2 hours from Muenster/Westfalen to Duesseldorf in August of 1971...yes, those were the days of unlimited riding on an Eurail Youth Pass.

I mourn the loss of the compartments!!! Trains are going the way of open seating, like airplanes and buses. Yuck! The compartments are roomier, quieter, and more 'European train-like'. Do you know that I prefer compartments ?!? LOL!!! My experiences with the 2 facing 2 (on many different types of trains) is that no one has any foot room, and I'm talking about family that doesn't mind getting, ummm, 'intimate' with each other! The compartments' seats are wider, too - 3 seats + aisle, compared to 4 seats + aisle for open seating (ALL 2nd class for comparison). You've probably already purchased your tickets, Tanya, and I'm not really trying to sway you one way or the other; I'm just sayin' ;-)....I YUV those compartments...(sniffling).............Tanya, have you seen "National Lampoons' European Vacation"? THOSE are compartments.

Fred, ^^ ^ I was in Duesseldorf in July of '72. I found a pizza restaurant in the Altstadt which was upstairs and had a movable glass roof which closed in the (frequent) rain. I've never been able to find it again. hmmf

Seats listed strictly as open salon (no table) are forward - rear facing like in a bus or airplane.