Train travel from Mannheim to Paris

Check the schedules on the German Rail website. Every "high speed" connection I saw says "Subject to Compulsory reservation". That means you have to have a reservation.

You should be able to purchase a reservation for that train in Germany when you arrive. I've been on one express train in Germany that was SRO. Although every seat was occupied, less than half were reserved. My feeling is that, two days in advance, there will certainly be unreserved seats on some of the trains, if not all of them.

Reservations might cost you €4,50 per seat (not absolutely sure since part of the trip is outside Germany).

Are you doing this with a rail pass? Often, German Rail will allow you purchase just a reservation online. I don't see that option for these trains. However, you can purchase train specific, non-refundable Europa-Spezial Frankreich tickets for as little as €49 (6:40 ICE). I also saw €59 at 17:42 (TGV). There were several €69 fares in between. Those fares include a seat reservation and can be printed out at home with a pdf file they send you.

You could also try TGV-Europe, although they are less likely to have passholder reservations. Euraide (call the number on their website) might also be able to get you a reservation, but they have a $50 service charge.

I'm aware that I need a reservation - I just am wondering if I can wait and buy the reservation when I am in Germany - 2 days in advance. My understanding is that the reservations are quite a bit more expensive through RailEurope - I have a railpass that I will be using. I am hoping to be able to buy the reservations at the train station 2 days before we travel (and hopefully save a little money).

"I'm aware that I need a reservation

Well, EXCUSE ME!

I kind of thought when you posted, "I am trying to figure out if I need to get a reservation", that you were trying to figure out if you needed to get a reservation.

Yes, you should be able to purchase a reservation when you arrive on the 26th. And it will cost less. For express trains traveling entirely in Germany, passholder reservations are €4,50 (about $6), either from the Bahn online or at the counter, but RailEurope charges $12, and there is $18 shipping on top of that.

There is probably a passholder surcharge to use the TGV. I notice that reservation for the TGVs from RailEurope are considerably more expensive than for the German Rail ICEs (trains 9558, 9556, & 9554), so I would try first to get a reservation on one of the direct ICEs from Mannheim to Paris.

However, there is always a chance that you won't be able to get a reservation at that late date, so if it is that important to you, you should probably spend the extra $20-$25 to get the reservation from RailEurope. We wouldn't want you to "end up not being able to get to Paris for [your] hotel reservations...".

If you are willing to risk a small chance that all express trains would be booked, there is a plan 'B'. In addition to the 19 reservable connections I found on R/E, there are also slower connections (select "all without ICE" or "only local transport" on the Bahn website). These connections use non-reservable regional trains and take a lot longer, but if you left in the morning, you would get to Paris by that evening (and see a lot more of France than you probably wanted to see.

I'm sorry if my reply sounded rude - it certainly wasn't meant to be. I realized that I wasn't completely clear in my original posting. I really do appreciate the knowledge that you are offering. Thanks for your help.

Jennifer,

If you get the reservation on Wed. for your trip from Mannheim to Paris on Friday on an ICE train, that's fine, especially since you are time flexible on arriving in Paris. No problem with that. Leaving for Paris from Mannheim is the best option, as opposed to elsewhere in Germany.

Thanks again for the information. We are actually staying in Heidelberg but it looks like it is really easy to get from Heidelberg to Mannheim and then go on to Paris.

I am very excited for the trip and can't wait to spend some time in other cultures.

I have very much enjoyed perusing all of the other topics on this forum and seeing all of the amazing information that people have to offer.

There is an S-Bahn (run by Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar), approximately 4 per hour, and an assortment of regional and express trains between Heidelberg and Mannheim Hbf. That should not be a problem.

A word of caution about railpass reservations on this route.

High speed train service on the Paris-Frankfurt route (Mannheim is a stop along the way) is operated JOINTLY by SNCF & DB. When I rode a TGV train from Paris to Mannheim (changed to an ICE to Berlin...) it was staffed by both French and German conductors.

SNCF is now limiting passholder reservations on TGV trains, especially on the very popular TGV-East route (Paris-Strasbourg -> this service operates on this line).

When I tried to use my pass for Paris-Mannheim, I was unable to procure a reservation from SNCF.

I'm unsure if DB is also restricting passholder reservations on this route for westbound passengers. DB in the past has not imposed any passholder reservation restrictions, so, your mileage may vary.

Please note that some of the trainsets on this route are German ICE, and others are French TGV. Again, my French TGV was staffed by both German and French conductors simultaneously, so there is obviously an agreement in place.

Does anyone know (Lee) if it is possible to purchase a passholder reservation from DB over the phone? If it isn't, I'd still call DB directly and ask if they limit passholder reservations on this route, just like SNCF does going eastbound.

As for purchasing a pass holder reservation over the phone from German Rail ([49] 1805 996633), I believe you can purchase anything on the phone that you could purchase at a ticket counter. But, as you say, pass holder reservations might be limited and sold out. It does not appear to be possible to purchase pass holder reservations for any of those trains online.

Thank you all again.

Thank you for verifying that I cannot buy a pass-holder reservation on the German Rail website. I spent a bit of time last night exploring this site and it seemed like I could only find ways to buy full fare tickets. I am planning to give them a call and ask about a specific train - one that is non-stop and labeled at just ICE and see if they are limiting pass-holder reservations on that train and then go from there.

Now that I am into the process, I can't help but wonder if it would have been better to just buy point to point reservations rather than a Eurorail pass. My husband and I have ended up pre-planning more than we thought we would. Oh well - live and learn. In the end, it looks like either way would have been similar in expense. However, the rail pass doesn't seem to be quite the "great" deal that it is often advertised as being.

Jennifer -

Overall, the pass is a fantastic deal IF you are going to travel flexibly (the I think I'm tired of Paris, time to go somewhere else attitude).

If, on the other hand, you totally pre-plan your itinerary and are willing to stick with it to the letter, it is often better to buy point to point tickets. Advanced purchase discounts for non refundable tickets can be pretty good.