seat reservations all booked out for dec/jan 2024

For which routes are you looking? Some operators might have not put on sale their reservations yet for the new 2024 timetable that starts halfway in December. There might be reservation free alternatives too.

The dates around Christmas and New Years are obviously very popular, but otherwise I'm surprised they are all sold out.

Rome to Florence 

Paris to Amsterdam

Amsterdam to Berlin 

Berlin to Prague

Prague to Vienna

Vienna to Zurich

Of those, Rome-Florence and Paris-Amsterdam are the important ones. They have compulsory reservations (and on Paris-Amsterdam by Eurostar, there’s a limited quota for passholders).

The other trains don’t have compulsory reservations, so you can just board and find empty seats. Although reservations might be a good idea if you want to find 7 seats together.

Where are you looking for reservations? The Eurail site isn’t always the best place. Here’s a good guide to where to buy: https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

If you let us know the dates, somebody can look for you.

Not all trains have mandatory reservations on your route. This means that you are always allowed to board. Around Christmas & New Year it is better to make reservations in case, especially for a big group.

Your issue might be that you generally cannot book for more than 6 people in a single booking.

Reservations are cheaper booked elsewhere than on eurail.com. Some advice :

Rome - Florence : oebb.at (13€ mandatory). Always availability on the day, 3-4 trains per hour.

Paris - Amsterdam : https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass#TravelWish (passholder quota, 32€ mandatory). This may be your biggest issue (what's your travel date ?) but there are multiple options via Brussels or Lille. Just let us know.

Amsterdam - Berlin - Prague : oebb.at (3€) or bahn.com (4.90€ with a seat map).

Prague - Vienna : oebb.at or cd.cz (about 3€ optional). Trains operated by CD have a seat map on their website and vice-versa

Vienna - Zurich : oebb.at (3€ optional). Seat map available

Questions welcome. More info : https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

Thank you for your help

these are the dates;

Rome to Florence 27 Dec

Paris to Amsterdam 1 Jan

Amsterdam to Berlin 4Jan

Berlin to Prague 7 Jan

Prague to Vienna 9 Jan

Vienna to Zurich 11 jan 

Thank you for your help

these are the dates;

Rome to Florence 27 Dec

Paris to Amsterdam 1 Jan

Amsterdam to Berlin 4Jan

Berlin to Prague 7 Jan

Prague to Vienna 9 Jan

Vienna to Zurich 11 jan 

Thank you so much

we booked the 12.22pm 🥰

We have 1st class seat reservations with a 1st class eurail pass. Is that all we need? Is the eurail pass our ticket? Do we still need to activate the tickets? 

Yes you need to log all trains you'd like to take, whether they have mandatory reservations or not. This can be done at any point prior to boarding. The pass on the app is indeed your ticket. On top of that you sometimes need to show reservations separately to the staff.

Activating the pass will give you a QR-code (your ticket) but it is recommend not to do it in advance (feel free to test though !) as once a pass day has started you cannot delete it. More info : https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a-eurail-pass.htm

With a 1st class pass you get free optional reservations through ÖBB (Amsterdam - ... - Zurich) ! Add Eurail as a discount and select one-way tickets. :)

Thank you so much for your help