Careful around DB (Deutsche Bahn)

[Melburnian1]

Well, kinda sorta! We made the mistake of getting the digital Eurail pass and for that you have to link the pass to a specific train that you want to take and usually also have to book a seat (our pass was First class) and get a QR code that you show to the conductor as your ticket. And so if the train is full you can't get on, or if it is within 1 hr of departure, you can't link the pass etc etc. On one memorable occasion, whilst jammed in standing room on a packed train after our reserved F seat train was cancelled, the internet was slow to load and the conductor was reading Mr Seat 0A the riot act about it being his responsibility to have the QR code ready to be read, and that unless he could show the code he would now be on the spot fined (I think it was €130) for travelling without a valid ticket. It was super lucky that the internet decided to play nice at that moment, or else there would definitely have been an international incident requiring consular assistance.

Overall the modern Eurail pass was a total PITA for us and a long way away from the freedom of the older passes where you just hopped on a train, sat in a vacant seat (of which there were many) and set your watch as the train pulled out of the station perfectly on time. Oh yes, the good old days.

For our next trip to Europe (December this year) we are planning to rent a car. Yes I know about the old town, but we will now prefer to stay in teh burbs and commute into the sights on a subway/metro or bus.

Paper Eurailpasses (mailed to you: mine has always arrived wthout incident, and only in 2022 during Covid did this take a long time) are an alternative. You just write the train origin/destination and time on the supplied Eurailpass cover, and there are extra pages downloadable from the website if you need them.

It's incorrect to suggest that Eurailpasses don't give flexibility.

In nations such as Austria, Germany and England/Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland, seat reservations are very rarely compulsory, but if you want to reserve a seat, it's either free (as in England) or a nominal fee. The Seat 61 site has much greater detail.

France and Spain are less friendly to Eurailpass holders as there's more trains (such as TGVs) that require a seat reservation, and the supplements can be high. There can also be quota contols but I've never been affected as I never visit at the height of the European summer.

Travel by rail within Europe is generally vastly superior to renting a car, flying or travelling by road coach. The scenery is often superb, the trains comfortable and relaxing in a dining car is one of travel's great pleasures.

 

[Seat0B]

Paper Eurailpasses (mailed to you: mine has always arrived wthout incident, and only in 2022 during Covid did this take a long time) are an alternative. You just write the train origin/destination and time on the supplied Eurailpass cover, and there are extra pages downloadable from the website if you need them.

It's incorrect to suggest that Eurailpasses don't give flexibility.

In nations such as Austria, Germany and England/Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland, seat reservations are very rarely compulsory, but if you want to reserve a seat, it's either free (as in England) or a nominal fee. The Seat 61 site has much greater detail.

France and Spain are less friendly to Eurailpass holders as there's more trains (such as TGVs) that require a seat reservation, and the supplements can be high. There can also be quota contols but I've never been affected as I never visit at the height of the European summer.

Travel by rail within Europe is generally vastly superior to renting a car, flying or travelling by road coach. The scenery is often superb, the trains comfortable and relaxing in a dining car is one of travel's great pleasures.

Thanks for that re paper passes.

The rest of your post though is at odds with our experience with DB in 2022. It cost €9.50 per person to make seat reservations, which is not a nominal fee in my book. And seat reservations were in fact not compulsory for sure, but they were essential if you actually wanted to sit in a seat rather than stand the whole way from say Munich to Berlin. It nearly came to blows getting a seat on that leg, for which we had NOT made a reservation based on what turned out to be incorrect information for the journeys we took. We found that in reality, there were extremely limited or actually no available unreserved seats on some very long legs of our journey, so the only practical thing to do was make a reservation. Our Eurail was an 1st Class ticket, and that made no difference at all. And worst of all, when trains were cancelled there was no easy way to get a refund of your seat reservation fees. We lost almost €50 on that little gotcha. We were also travelling in low season (early December), not that it seemed to make any difference. Now I am only talking about Germany.

YMMV.

 

[VPS]

Thanks for that re paper passes.

The rest of your post though is at odds with our experience with DB in 2022. It cost €9.50 per person to make seat reservations, which is not a nominal fee in my book. And seat reservations were in fact not compulsory for sure, but they were essential if you actually wanted to sit in a seat rather than stand the whole way from say Munich to Berlin. It nearly came to blows getting a seat on that leg, for which we had NOT made a reservation based on what turned out to be incorrect information for the journeys we took. We found that in reality, there were extremely limited or actually no available unreserved seats on some very long legs of our journey, so the only practical thing to do was make a reservation. Our Eurail was an 1st Class ticket, and that made no difference at all. And worst of all, when trains were cancelled there was no easy way to get a refund of your seat reservation fees. We lost almost €50 on that little gotcha. We were also travelling in low season (early December), not that it seemed to make any difference. Now I am only talking about Germany.

YMMV.

I think on the electronic pass as long as you have a train ticket for that day you are OK - one seat reservation for me in France was way more than 15 euro but again the train was packed

 

[Seat0B]

I think on the electronic pass as long as you have a train ticket for that day you are OK - one seat reservation for me in France was way more than 15 euro but again the train was packed

Yes, the electronic pass allows you to board the train. But if you want a seat…..