We are traveling to Munich for 5 nights in December primarily to visit Christmas Markets . At the very least, I know we'll be going to Salzburg and Nuremburg as daytrips from Munich. In any case, I purchased a 1st class 5 day railpass because it was only a few dollars more than 2nd class.

I have question regarding reservations and/or reserved seating. High speed trains seem to require a reservation while regional trains do not. How does this work? I bought the pass so we didn't have to be locked into taking specific trains. We're really looking for flexibility and I honestly was hoping to just arrive at the train station and take the next available train to my destination. It might be high speed, it might not. If we don't have a lot of time before our train leaves, I didn't want to get stuck at a ticket window waiting in line to buy a reservation only to watch our train depart while we're waiting.

So, if for instance we take a RailJet from Munich to Salzburg, I assume a reservation is a must? Is it possible to purchase a reservation when on board a train, or do we really even need one? When I was poking around on the bahn.de website to check out the train schedules to various places, I noticed that if you were buying a point to point ticket you had the option of purchasing a reservation or, not purchasing one. So, that got me wondering if I really have to have a reservation? My hope was that a person w/o a reservation could just sit wherever there is an empty seat? I'm guessing the trains won't be completely full as we're going in early December and not over a major holiday?

Last question, is there such a thing as a flexible reservation? That way I can use it on whatever RailJet train we want and whenver we want? Are there kiosks at the station where you can purchase a reservation? I just didn't want to get stuck waiting for an hour in a Mickey Mouse line at a train station waiting to buy a reservation. My only experience with trains is in Paris on a point to point ticket where we took the TGV to Avignon. I'm one of the many people who bought tickets online& tried to pick them up at the station only to find out that my credit card doesn't have the required chip. The line for the ticket windows at CDG looked like a line at a Disney ride so, I didn't want to deal with that again in Munich or wherever we are.

Sorry for so many questions. I'm trying to figure this out before we go. Normally we always rent cars but, on this trip I think trains make more sense. We're staying at the Sofitel in Munich which is right across the street from the main train station! I'm hoping to be a train expert by the time we get back!

Thanks!

ILP

We travel on Germany and Austria first class Flexipasses.

No reservations required on the Railjets and first class IMO is generally pretty quiet. We went to Germany and Austria for the markets for the past 3 years so have done this route at the same time of year. Although we often stay in Salzburg, last year we spent the day there while staying for a few days in Munich and we traveled to several places using the pass and never made a reservation.

Very few the Germany and Austria routes require seat reservations IME though I do make them for our longer trips so that I know where to board and can get a seat of my choosing. I am not interested in carrying luggage ca

I have never heard of a "flexible reservation" and that is an oxymoron. A reservation is for an exact seat on a particular train so how could it be flexible - does not makes sense to me.

The self serve kiosks are widely available so need to stand in lines, even to buy reservations. And the first class lines are often pretty short anyway.

Thank you kfusto. The confusing part to me is, if I was to buy a point to point ticket from Munich to Salzburg via the www.bahn.de website, it offers 3 different options; a ticket including a reservation, a seat reservation without a ticket, or a ticket without a reservation. AND, if I was to purchase this as a point to point ticket on the Rail Europe website, that website automatically includes a reservation and there's no other option.

It seems so unnecessarily confusing---well, at least to me who's never done this before.

So I just validate my pass when we arrive in Munich and from that point on we just board whatever train, correct?

RailEurope is the most expensive option as they are a reseller of tickets and their cost includes a reservation.

As a pass holder, I log into my dbahn.com account and choose "reservation only" to reserve a seat since that is all I need. And if I want to buy a ticket and also a seat reservation via the dbahn site, then I can do that as well. Or just the ticket and no reservation. I can see where it can be confusing but I really like the DB website overall and find it easy to use.

"So I just validate my pass when we arrive in Munich and from that point on we just board whatever train, correct?"

We validate it on our first day of travel but you can do so anytime. Don't forget to properly log your usage of the pass in the space provided.

There is a supplement for some trains, like sleepers I believe, but we do not use those so yes, we board whenever we please on whatever train we want to use. Check above the seat before settling in to make sure it has not been reserved.

Any exclusions should be detailed in your paperwork that came with the passes.

Check the additional discounts available to passholders in those countries as well as they are often useful.

Enjoy!

Hi, kfusto,You refer to the Flexipass but I can't find anything about that on the bahn.de website. Four of us (adults) will be in Bavaria in early Nov and will be making train trips from Munich to Berchtesgaden, B'gaden to Salzburg and S'burg to Munich. Do you think the Flexipass would work for us or would we be better off doing Bayern tickets for each of those days? Thanks very much for your advice.

You are covering short distances so no need to get any pass IMO.

It is actually a bus from Berchtesgaden to Salzburg and only 40 minutes.

I have never used Bayern tickets as they are good for regional trains only and are limited to certain times of day. We generally take the fast trains so point to point tickets are more than the Bayern pass. With the Bayern pass, there are restrictions as to the hours you can travel and when we are off and running, we do not want to wait until 9am to get started. You can buy these easily at the kiosks in Germany.

Eurail Passes (including Flexipass and Select Pass) are only available from Rail Europe, not on DBahn. For such short segments there is no reason to purchase them. We have several longer journeys on our next trip and will use the full 6 days of our pass so it made sense to go that route.

Kfusto, thanks for the clarification on passes. I wasn't aware that Rail Europe was the only place you could purchase Eurail passes.

As I mentioned, we don't travel by train very often however, we did take a regional train from Orvieto into Rome and we've taken the TGV from Paris to Avignon. I found that buying our tickets right at the rail station seemed a lot less expensive than buying them ahead of time on a website. Are Germany/Austria similar that way? Would it just make more sense to buy point to point tickets when we arrive? We'll probably be doing the following day trips over a 5 day period. We're based in Munich so all will be round trip.

Munich-Salzburg
Munich-Rothenburg-Nuremberg
Munich-Stuttgart
Munich-Regensburg

Otherwise, we've already bought our TGV ticket from Munich to Paris.

Thanks again!

ILUVPARIS,

If you don't mind departing after 09:00 on weekdays (anytime on weekends), your best choice for Munich-Salzburg, Munich-Rothenburg ob der Tauber-Nuremberg, and Munich-Regensburg is Bayern-Tickets. Up to five people can travel all day on regional trains on one ticket for 28 EUR. A Bayern-Ticket is also good on buses and for local transportation in each German city. See here: http://tinyurl.com/2b7o7j3.

If you're willing to commit to s specific departure date and time and book well in advance on the German Rail site, you can get a Sparpreis fare of 19 EUR for one person or 29 EUR for two people for Munich-Frankfurt. (Same for the return.)

ILUVPARIS,

I just realized that you've already bought your railpasses, so my suggestions about Bayern-Tickets and Sparpreis fares won't work for you. However, you did ask if buying point-to-point tickets would make more sense. Are you considering returning your railpasses?

I purchase my tickets 92 days ahead on DBahn when buying point to point tickets for my Germany and Austria trips when I do not have a pass and save considerable $$$.

I really hate the idea of being locked into specific trains. I just never know if we're going to love or, not love a place so I like the flexibility of coming and going when I choose. Hey, I thought that's what European rail is all about?

I honestly don't think we'd like regional trains. Wherever we go we just want to get there ASAP. The goal is to get "wherever" as fast as we can and without connections.

I asked the questiona about point to point tickets for 2 purposes. Yes, theoretically we could return our rail passes if it would be less expensive to buy point to point tickets when we arrive. Also, next summer we plan to go to Budapest, Vienna & Prague. I was trying to decide whether to buy our one way tickets between the cities ahead time or, just buy them at the rail station when we arrive.

Again no trains in either country require reservations IME - except Thalys trains Cologne to Brussels and Paris and ICDE Sprinters - only a few of them the average tourist will not encounter. And IMO the Germany-Austria Railpass is a great deal for such a trip outlined because since there are not reservations requirements you can just hop on any train anytime and in first class always IME of four decades of riding German and Austrian trains always find empty seats (not so in 2nd class - 1st class for the average tourist IMO is well worth the extra cost - smart decision IMO.

Why not contact whoever sold you the pass with such vital questions about using the pass? If you want to talk to an expert IME then call the helpful folks at www.budgeteuropetravel.com and IME of buying passes from them for years even if you have already bought your pass they will answer any questions expertly. anyway the www.bahn.de site may say 'Reserve Please' in the comments section but this only is I think a poor translation of English and should say Reservations are possible on that train not urging you to reserve (again in 2nd class i would reserve if you want seats together, window seats, etc.) - there is a red R symbol that means you should reserve because that train promises to be busy - but again this is more relevant in 2nd class than 1st class. You can also try www.seat61.com for good info on reservations, etc. in Germany and Austria.

For folks who have itineraries set in stone and are willing to be locked into some non-changeable train weeks if not months in advance yes then can save money that way - but me at least I just like to get up and amble down to the train station and then hop the usually twice hourly if not more trains going everywhere.

Since you don't want to be limited to regional trains and you want total flexibility on your departure times, then buying railpasses is your best choice. If on your trip next summer you are willing to commit to specific departure dates and times, then booking well in advance on a country's national rail site can get you discount fares that will be much cheaper than tickets bought at a station.

Hey, thanks everyone you are a wealth of information! PalenQ to answer your question, I asked the question here simply because I wanted the advice from people who have actually done what we're doing. I figure it's Rail Europe's job to sell me an expensive rail pass so they're certainly not going to tell me that buying point to point tickets would be cheaper!

ILUVPARIS - No i was referring to the Q about mandatory reservations - thinking it is the job of the purveyor of a pass to answer such technical questions but then again in RailEurope's case the person you are talking to IME may well not know. I did not mean anything about the efficacy of a pass and if you are talking about fully flexible fares the pass is cheaper than point to points by far i would guess - especially first class - for what that pass gives - first class and hop on at will if you are taking more than a few rides and on day trips you must go both ways. The Bavarian Pass would be cheaper but then you are restricted to slower regional trains and only comes in 2nd class (i believe) and again first class travel IME is so so much more relaxed - especially on the ICE trains you can take to Nurnberg and Salzburg - much much more comfy that slower regional trains, in 2nd class from what i've ridden even metal seats.

Anyways as i've seen on train station walls Have a Gute Fahrt (journey i believe)!

PalenQ, exactly! I called R.E. twice and asked about reservations. The 2nd time was to check & make sure the answer was the same.

Naturally both customer service reps told me that reservations are mandatory. I'm sure that's so they can sell me the reservations.

Sometimes, I get more accurate information on this forum than I do from the actual source!

ILUVPARIS,

For all of your routes where taking ICE trains is possible, the German Rail site doesn't even RECOMMEND ("reserve please") seat reservations. If you were to see a red "R" symbol, it means that reservations are REQUIRED, not simply recommended.

If you were to see a red "R" symbol, it means that reservations are REQUIRED, not simply recommended.>

But if so that would only apply to Thlays, ICE Sprinter and ICE trains going say into France where along with TGV trains Reservations are required - are there domestic ICE trains with reservations required? - my understanding is no but i will check it out as things do change and have never ever encountered one - but again it could be a recent change, much to my lament if so.

PalenQ,

My comment was in response to your saying "there is a red R symbol that means you should reserve because that train promises to be busy." To me "should" implies that reservations are optional. The red "R" will only appear on trains for which reservations are required. Except for ICE Sprinter trains, I don't think there are any domestic ICEs for which reservations are required.

One more thing. If ILUVPARIS wants to buy seat reservations on an ICE train (for example, Munich-Stuttgart), the cost will be 4.50 EUR whether bought online on the German Rail site or at the station in Munich.