My wife and I have Eurail Global 21 day passes. I have been told to reserve 2 seats on the Thalys train from Amsterdam to Brussels several weeks ahead. We will be travelling on a Sunday in September.
Should I make the resevations for this now? We also will be traveling from Brussels to Marseille on the TGV. Do we need to reserve seats now, or can we wait until the week before we make the trip? And we will be travelling in Italy ( IC and ES ) and Germany ( ICE ) which say they require reservations too. How far ahead do I need to make them? Thanks a bunch, especially to Tom who answered my first questions earlier, John
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
On Thalys trains passholders must buy a special passholder fare ticket (€39.00 in 2nd class and €55.00 in 1st class), not a simple seat reservation. Thalys limits the number of seats it allocates to passholders so if you wait until you get to Amsterdam to buy the special ticket, you may not be able to take the train of your choice. I suggest that you check thalys.com to see what discount fares are still available for point-to-point tickets for your travel date. The fare can be as low as €29.00 and includes a reservation. SNCF limits the number of seats on TGVs that it allocates to passholders. I suggest that you buy your seat reservations now at raileurope.com to ensure getting the departure time of your choice. Trenitalia does not put limits on seat reservations. Buy them in Italy as you go. You will pay €10.00 for ES trains and €4.00 for IC trains. In Germany only ICE Sprinter trains on certain routes require seat reservations. Buy any you need in Germany. Seat reservations are optional on all other ICE trains. If you want reservations, buy them in Germany.
Posted by
OP
Rochester, New York
7 posts
thank you Tim, very informative - John