Train reservations in Germany

It is possible to order seat reservations for German domestic trains at the Deutsche Bahn website. You can print them yourself. A seat reservation costs 4 euro (2nd class) or 5 euro (1st class) per person.

On most trains of the German rail network, Eurail Pass holders can travel without a seat reservation. However, it may be wise to make reservations on long-distance journeys with ICE trains. Especially Fridays and Sundays are busy days according to the German railways, so the train may be full. You can reserve a seat up to 3 months in advance. For smaller local trains, reservation is usually not possible.

Eurail Passes for Germany

Making an online reservation

  1. Go to the journey planner at bahn.de.
  2. Fill in your start and destination citiy, the journey date and the number of travellers and click Search.

    Journey planner Deutsche Bahn
  3. Now you will see various travel options. Choose your desired time and click on Purchase
    (the price shown is the full fare, for travellers without a Eurail Pass).
    Select your journey and press Purchase
  4. On the next page, you can just choose 'Continue without Bahncard'.
  5. Now choose 'Seat reservation without ticket' and click on Proceed.
    Select seat reservation without ticket
  6. Select the option 'I wish to book without logging in'.
  7. Fill in your personal details and pay securely with your creditcard.
  8. After the payment, you can print your reservation(s).

International trains

You can not make online seat reservations for international trains to or from Germany. We advise you to contact the call centre of the Deutsche Bahn for international reservations. From outside Germany please dial (+49)1805 996633. From within Germany call 0180 5 99 66 33. You can also make reservations at the international ticket window at larger train stations.