Train Reservations - Benelux / Germany

Except for the high speed Thalys trains which connect Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and Koeln you don't need reservations. Reservations, at a very high price for pass-holders, are required for any travel on a Thalys train. Often a regular ticket is not much different from the cost for a pass-holder reservation. With very few exceptions reservations are not needed within and between Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

There are no reservations on domestic trains in Belgium and the Netherlands. With only a few exceptions, they are not required in Germany, but I recommend them. I have been on trains more than a few times where I would not have been able to find a seat if I didn't have the reservations. Plus, it's just much easier if you know the location of your seat in advanced. You can purchase the reservations at the ticket automats. HOWEVER... perhaps someone who knows rail passes better than I can comment, but there may be a supplemental charge for high speed trains. If you haven't figured it out yet, using the services of Rail Europe is a great way to waste money...

You can do all of that over there. There are two kinds of "reservations". For almost all German trains and, probably, some express trains in Benelux, you can get optional seat reservations for a nominal price (€4 in Germany) at the ticket counter in the station. Some trains, like Thalys aren't completely covered by a railpass so you have to pay a supplement. These trains have mandatory seat reservations for everyone, so when you pay the supplement, you get a seat reservation. For this reason the supplemental fee is often mistakenly referred to as a "reservation" but it is more than just for the seat. There are a limited number of passholder reservations for any Thalys train, and, when they sell out, you can still buy a full fare ticket, but you can't use your railpass. If you want to take a Thalys' train, you should get your reservation as soon as possible. You can do this at a ticket counter when you arrive. Europeans also ride these trains, and they don't have to come to the US for reservations.

Thank you all for your responses. They were very helpful.

"Europeans also ride these trains, and they don't have to come the the US for reservations." Yeah, it a long way for us to the US to pick up reservations, but maybe we Europeans can order them through Raileurope and have them shipped from the US :-))))) (Sorry, couldn't resist!)