Train Reservations

Hi, I%26#39;ll be making a trip to Central Europe in May and was wondering if it was necessary to pre-book train tickets. I%26#39;m purchasing a rail pass and all but one of my trips will be in the morning and on a weekday. The night trip is from Cologne to Berlin. Also, does anyone have a suggestion on what website I should use to find possible trips? I%26#39;ve used RailEurope and DB bahn and they list different trips but no prices for the days I%26#39;m looking. Thanks a lot,

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%26gt; I%26#39;m purchasing a rail pass and all but one of my trips will be in the morning and on a weekday. The night trip is from Cologne to Berlin.

The night train has to be prebooked:

www.nachtzugreise.de

For other trips you don��t _need_ a reservation, but you might prefer one especially if it is friday agfternoon. A reservation for day trains costs 4 Euro and is available from bahn.de

%26gt;Also, does anyone have a suggestion on what website I should use to find possible trips?

Yes, the website of the German Railway

www.bahn.de

%26gt;I%26#39;ve used RailEurope

... don%26#39;t!

%26gt;and DB bahn and they list different trips but no prices for the days I%26#39;m looking.

The tickets are not sold for May yet - but whenever you look, the prices will be the same as tomorrow. Especially since you have the pass, you don��t need the ticket prices.

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DB night train booking site

reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en��

From: K?ln Hbf

To: Berlin Hbf

Small problem: the option %26quot;Seat reservation only (for self printing)%26quot; or any other %26quot;reservation only%26quot; is no more available (the booking pages just changed recently). The specials available are however anyway cheaper than the combination rail pass + surcharge.

For day time train connections use

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Here the option %26quot;Seat reservation only (for self printing)%26quot; is available.

Here you can also use English names of places, e.g. Cologne for K?ln.

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I think that making seat reservations is very wise if you have a large amount of luggage. At times it may be impossible to walk through the train looking for a seat if that is the case. I%26#39;ve been on trains where I was the only passenger in the car and others where they were so filled with people it was impossible to move. Personally, I always would have reservations for longer trips.

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Thank you all. This is very helpful!!

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