Europe - German (DB) rail pass and night trains...

Hello,

My father and I are going to Munich in a week or so and we wanted to do a day trip to Berlin. We have a 1st class German rail twin pass. I'd like to make the reservation for the night train, but I seem to get thwarted everywhere I go. When I go to www.raileurope.com, it doesn't show me the night trains in its fares and scedules list. When I go to www.bahn.de (the main DB website) it only wants to sell me tickets that have to be mailed to me. This is a problem for two reasons. First, the tickets won't get here in time. Secondly, mailing a ticket shouldn't matter because I already have a ticket, I just need to pay for the sleeper compartment and for the reservation (3 Euro fee per person).

Does anybody have any advice?

Thanks,
BoB

Hello,

My father and I are going to Munich in a week or so and we wanted to do a day trip to Berlin. We have a 1st class German rail twin pass. I'd like to make the reservation for the night train, but I seem to get thwarted everywhere I go. When I go to www.raileurope.com, it doesn't show me the night trains in its fares and scedules list. When I go to www.bahn.de (the main DB website) it only wants to sell me tickets that have to be mailed to me. This is a problem for two reasons. First, the tickets won't get here in time. Secondly, mailing a ticket shouldn't matter because I already have a ticket, I just need to pay for the sleeper compartment and for the reservation (3 Euro fee per person).

Does anybody have any advice?

Thanks,
BoB

Night trains are a special service and if I remember correctly - not covered by the Germal Rail pass, which foreigners can buy.

Don't sweat it. In all probability, you won't really need to make the reservation until you arrive in Germany.

I've NEVER made advance reservations for European trains (regardless of whether day or night trains) while in the US. I always just do it at a train station in Europe, a few days in advance at most. This has always worked fine, in Germany as well as in numerous other countries.

I would stop worrying about it and stop trying to make a reservation from abroad.

Why don't you fly? If it's only a day-trip, flying is a lot more comfortable. Low-costs that cover the route are www.gexx.de and www.flydba.de. Sometimes LH has low fares as well.

Why don't you fly? If it's only a day-trip, flying is a lot more comfortable. Low-costs that cover the route are www.gexx.de and www.flydba.de. Sometimes LH has low fares as well.

But if someone already has a rail pass then flying is rather a waste of money. Also, flying would mean a much shorter day in Berlin.

From what I've been able to find out rail passes are valid on sleeper trains, though you have to pay the usual sleeper supplement. As others have said I wouldn't worry about booking this before you leave home, sleepers are rarely fully booked outside the main holiday season, especially not in first class. If you book your sleeper as soon as you get to Germany you shouldn't have a problem.

Ditto to what Aviatrix said.

I suspect a lot of people don't bother to really read the OP before responding to it.

I suspect a lot of people don't bother to really read the OP before responding to it.

Well, no. Railpass or not, I would still fly if I were to take a day-trip to Berlin from Munich.

The "night train in, visit during the day, night train out" strategy is one promoted by Rick Steves and others as a way to save on lodging. Works great if you can sleep on trains; a disaster if (like me) you can't. Benefit to flying is more time at the location; detriment is additional airfare costs plus extra hotel costs (over the sleeper supplement). Thus, it's a tradeoff.

I'm surprised no one has commented on whether only a day in Berlin is worth the trip. I have not been there yet because my impression was that a few days would be needed. Prior to the LCCs coming in, the trade off was relatively high airfare or losing 2 days for train travel, and I didn't want to take 4-5 days total to cover Berlin.

Benefit to flying is more time at the location

Not necessarily... I would say that travelling from Munich to Berlin for the day by train, with overnight trains both ways, you'd end up with more time in Berlin than you would by flying there (unless you pick a flight at a really silly time like 6 am - but would you really want to get up in the middle of the night if you're going to spend the day exploring?)

My first trip to Berlin was a day trip (admittedly this was in the 1970s when there was less of it - I didn't go to East Berlin that time), and if you just want a taster I think a day is fine. If you really want to see it all you probably need a week - but it's the same with all large cities.

If you enjoy travelling on night trains, and want an "intro to Berlin" day trip, then go for it!

I see absolutely nothing wrong with visiting a city for only one day. It's far better than zero days, and you can always go back again (and again and again and again, if you like the city) in the future!

Berlin is well worth visiting -- a great city.

And I agree with the OP and Aviatrix about night trains vs. flying. From Munich, there is (for example) a direct train (no changes) that departs near midnight and arrives in Berlin around 7 or 8 in the morning. Returning from Berlin, there is (for example) a direct train that leaves around midnight and arrives in Munich around 9 in the morning. Thus, you would have a FULL DAY of nearly 16 hours to explore Berlin. And by using night trains in both directions, you would save the cost of hotels (paying only a modest supplement over the already-paid train pass). I don't understand how anyone can claim that you would get MORE time on your daytrip in Berlin by flying! Plus, if you fly, you have the two nights of hotel expenses.