waffle

It beats waiting on the platform. There's no separate first class section in Hannover, that means you get to help yourself to soft drinks, tea and coffee.

Bear in mind that you can use the lounge when you arrive, too, so if you fancy, you can pop into the Frankfurt lounge for a Feierabendbier and a sandwich.

mosburger

Thank you on both accounts, very useful information.

Ah, as a difference to my usual DB intercity journeys when I'm just off a long haul flight, this time well rested and even the flight the previous day is intra-Europe.. ^

kaiotes

I am looking at a muc to fra train tickets. Price difference is 10eur. I would like to know what kind of food one can find at the muc and fra Lounges. I found info on drinks, Not much on the food.

Thanks.

waffle

Just snacks, no proper meals. They usually have a soup, some sandwiches and a fruit salad as well as croissants in the morning. They're brought to your seat, but you have to ask, there's no menu. Make sure you sit in the first-class section of the lounge.

For €10 I'd always do it. A seat reservation alone would cost you €4.50 in second class.

bruce80

Fortunately enough, they seem to have enhanced the food selection (and quality) over the past years. In the first few years, the servings were more or less something to fill a bad tooth (as we say in german, "für nen hohlen Zahn"), but recently, particularly the breakfast is quite substantial, including bread rolls and croissants with jam - basically the same you'd receive in the restaurant car at a considerable price.

When entering the lounge(s), they might not direct you to the correct part of the lounge, as they will probably think you know your way (particularly in Frankfurt where you now have to scan your ticket or BahnCard like in an airport lounge).

In Munich, the F section is to the left of the reception counter (easily missed as there's some kind of divider only leaving a small gap to pass through), and in Frankfurt, the FCL is to the right (particularly tricky as you can already see the BahnComfort section from the front desk, but not the F part which is around the corner). Please be aware that there is only an F section at the central station, but not at the airport in Frankfurt.

+1 on that. Depending on the time of day you'll travel, you might be annoyed by business monkeys constantly talking on the phone, but you'll receive a free seat reservation as well as free newspapers which will practically cover the 10 EUR surcharge.

bruce80

Additional info on lounge food - due to a diversion (which will in the end cause a 90-minute delay at my destination), I ended up with 30 minutes to spare in the Frankfurt F lounge. When ordering a Weizen, the waiter asked me whether I would also like to eat something, and choices were chicken sandwich or wholemeal bread with either cheese or sausage. I opted for the cheese ones and received two quite large pieces of bread with spicy cream cheese and gouda. Additionally, at some point, another waiter came around to distribute peanuts. All in all I can say that I'm no longer hungry now, despite not having had anything since noon.

fppmongo

It's more limited than what you would find in, say, the LH business lounges in MUC.

There's food in both the Munich and Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (=central station) lounges. No food in the FRA (i.e., Frankfurt airport) DB lounge.

The lounge has the same caterer as the dining car in the ICE trains but only a small subset of the menu. In the morning they have croissants with jam or nutella, OJ, and coffee.
Throughout the day, they have somewhat minimalist sandwiches on pumpernickel bread (no extras such as lettuce, just cream cheese, cheese, egg and/or salami). They are all right, though.
You can get cake in the afternoon.
There's hot soup during lunch and dinner time. IMO, the soup is inedible. Some friends disagree. In any case, there's typically one soup available on any given day, usually it's chili con carne.

They'll also provide free alcoholic drinks. But again, I think the quality is not very good. E.g., I won't order the red wine or the sparkling wine (Sekt) anymore. Both aren't dry enough for my taste.

kaiotes

so pretty much not much. one would just be there for the drinks and a better ride on the train. $10 i think is still justifiable.