uwhuskyfan

Hi,

My wife and I are about 2 months from our first trip to Europe. We will be taking a daytime train from Munich to Fuessen and returning a few days later, as well as a daytime train from Munich to Venice and returning a few days later. What are the rules for luggage on rail? Do you keep it with you? Is it stowed, and if so is that generally safe? Is there a limit on suitcases like airplanes? Thanks for the help. I tried to find the info on bahn.de but without success.

D

2Italy

There's no limit but you have to deal with it. You have to lift it, carry it, stow it, whatever. Pack light , pack light, pack light.
You keep it with you and stow it where you can; overhead, in storage area at the end of the car, or in between seats. Good luck.

hopscotch

You'll find a good introduction to riding European trains at http://tinyurl.com/eym5b

WallyKringen

Absolutely concur with previous poster. Your problem won't be the trains, you can bring on what you can handle during those 1-minute stops to get everybody off and on where you need to have a hand free at all times just to make it.

Your problem will be getting the stuff to and from the trains - up and down stairs, into cars and shuttle buses, into and out of hotel lobbies and over rough terrain and so on, that's where every unnecessary inch and pound turns your vacation into a chore.

Until a couple of days ago the smart traveller had a US-legal carry-on on wheels and a light backpack. Now that carry-on has ceased, both have to go into the hold, and you'll be the first to thank yourself for having packed light when every move feels like a piece of cake rather than hard work.

J_Correa

My husband and I went from Munich to Nuremberg with our luggage - fortunately the train originated in Munich and we got to the train early so we didn't have to search to find space. We just found 2 rows of seats facing each other, put the luggage on the seats in one row and sat in the other. We had 2 suitcases, a duffle, and 2 day packs. It would have been a hassle if we had more than that, but with what we had, it was fine.

janisj

Don't count on being able to place your luggage on a seat. That might work - but on most trains the seats are reserved (and often full)

As the previous posters said - you need to schlepp it yourselves and be able to get into the overhead rack or end-of-car luggage space.

GSteed

All good advice. Note, pickpockets target passengers carrying baggage using both hands! Check excess baggage in Munchen/Munich.

suze

It's not about rule for luggage on rail... it is how much you can easily handle. You bring your bags onto the train with you (up a few narrow steep steps) then put it at the end on the luggage racks, or on overhead racks (like a bus), sometimes there's space between the seats. So no technical "limit" other than you need to be able to move, sometimes quickly, with what you had.

I also don't think the scenario about putting suitcases on a seat is one you can count on because a train could be very crowded.

J_Correa

On our train, the overhead racks were very small - duffle bag sized (maybe) and there weren't any racks at the end of the trains - at least not in the cars we looked in. There were plenty of people with luggage, and everybody had them on seats, on the floor, or wherever.

nytraveler

The details depend very much on country, type of train (local, express, intecity) and class of service.

What is the same in all cases is that you have to deal with all the luggage yourself. Assume you will have to manuever it up a narrow stairway into the train and lift it onto an overhead rack. Also - if you change trains you may have only a few minutes to get off one train, change platforms (sometimes up and down stairs) and up onto the next. Some stations have porters. Many don;t.

Assume you need to do it all yourself (and no - you can;t just put it on seats since trains are often full or nearly so).