German Rail Twin Pass

I have been trying to find out how to purchase the German Rail Twin Pass from the Deutsche Bahn website and can%26#39;t figure it out, even using the International and English screens. Can someone help? Does anyone know if a seat reservation costs extra on the Deutsche Bahn site once I have the Twin Pass? If so, should I make the seat reservations before I fly to Germany? On the Rail Europe site I think that even with the Twin Pass a seat reservation from Cologne to Berlin costs $22! Is this possible???

Confused but willing to try harder!!

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I%26#39;m not sure why you want to purchase the twinpass fron Deutsche Bahn specifically, or even if they sell them there, actually. Usually you have to pay the VAT tax if you buy them in Germany from DB, and you are limited to either 5- or 10-day passes. It might be the same thing at the DB website if available there. DB a great website for individual point-to-point tickets, but there are dozens of American outlets to buy the German railpasses from inexpensively. Ricksteves.com sells them. I bought some from Eurorailways.com recently and got free shipping on the passes (usually costs extra.) But when purchased from stateside agents, you can get much more specific about the number of travel days you want on your pass.

I%26#39;ve used a 2nd class Germanrail pass many times and never needed a reservation. They aren%26#39;t required or necessary (unless you are traveling on a big holiday, perhaps.)

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you can buy your seat reservation while in Germany and it%26#39;s a LOT cheaper than raileurope.com . It costs 4 Euro flat rate I believe. Rail passes do not include reservation. Reservation is optional for most German trains.

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Oh... I have travelled on a packed 2nd class train in Germany, inside a 6 passenger compartment... not nice, and then had to switch train within a 5 minutes time frame, carrying luggage, to find my reserved seat on another packed train. So check with your hotel front desk or arrival tourist info. to find out if it%26#39;s holiday, perhaps.

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Actually, reservations cost 3 Euro per train and person... not 22! You can make seat reservations on bahn.de (go as if you buy tickets, but check %26quot;reservation only%26quot; option). Anyway, you don%26#39;t need reservations and if you do, it is usually enough to make them 2-3 days in advance. Most people travel without, so it is very improbable that you wouldn%26#39;t get one.

I don%26#39;t think you can buy this Twin Pass from the bahn.de website since it is not available for residents of Germany... and sorry to say that, but the bahn.de site is not primarily geared for overseas tourists!

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Russ,

Thank you for the help. I did buy the twin pass today from Eurorailways.com, very easy to negotiate the site and no fee for delivery. I discovered the passes are NOT sold by DB on the net at all but they sure make this fact difficult to find out! I will also make the seat reservations while I%26quot;m travelling, and I do appreciate all the help from everyone!

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DB Bahn Rail offers their Twin Pass through this link.

bahn.de/international/view/en/prices/interco…

Unfortunately, it%26#39;s kind of quirky and I have not been able to get it to accept a purchase. I usually get an error message followed by a link that you can contact by email for help. After several attempt (and no reply from DB Rail), I%26#39;m looking for other ways to purchase the Twin Pass. We%26#39;ve used it on earlier trips with no problems and found it a good deal. Reservations on some of the more crowded routes is a good idea. Otherwise you may find yourself wandering around looking for an empty seat or having to change your seat at different stops as those with reservations bump you from your non-assigned seat.

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