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Amsterdam to Bern Train Reservations

  • 21 April 2022
  • 6 replies
  • 161 views

Hello!

Myself and three friends are planning on taking the train from Amsterdam to Bern, Switzerland this May. However, we are running into issues when trying to book the reservations. It appears that the Frankfurt connection is not allowed due to construction. Does anyone have any advice on how to get between these two destinations? I have read that some German trains do not require reservations. Any clarification would be helpful! Thank you! 

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Best answer by MartinM 21 April 2022, 16:37

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Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hey,

if you travel between Amsterdam and Bern via Germany you won’t need any reservations. Only if you would travel via France there would be some reservations required.

In general you should be able to book the reservations via bahn.de (if you want, but as said, it is not needed on the route via Germany)

For more advice on the route(s) exact travel dates would be needed.

Hey,

if you travel between Amsterdam and Bern via Germany you won’t need any reservations. Only if you would travel via France there would be some reservations required.

In general you should be able to book the reservations via bahn.de (if you want, but as said, it is not needed on the route via Germany)

For more advice on the route(s) exact travel dates would be needed.

Thanks so much Martin! We plan to travel this route on May 29th. I tried booking a reservation from Frankfurt to Basel on bahn.de what it says this leg is unavailable due to construction. I am just worried we will make it to Frankfurt and not be able to get from there to Bern. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Bahn will show all alternative connections. it is indeed the case-as is so often on rails here&there- that there are important works somewhere en-route-but this is not USA/AmTrak so there should be plenty of alternatives routes-and in any case there is always a replacement BUS (schienen ersatz verkehr) between last/first stop around these works. THEse buses are of course included-but noone will ever check tickets for them.

IF you REServe on bahn (advisable, as you USAers always seem to fear big problems-like not able to sit cosily together for some time), click on ´seat only´-it will for 4€/pp include also connections (except IN Swiss-as trains there do not do that-as they also do not do for domestic In NL).May 29 is the last SUNday after a long weekend for many (4 days off) so it will be busy-and railways like to use those times to do those works. The weekend after is also a long weekend (incl MO).

Oh-USA may be now be off, NL also, but Germany certainly not-its wearing masks-and even a prescribed type-all the time.

Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hey,

if you travel between Amsterdam and Bern via Germany you won’t need any reservations. Only if you would travel via France there would be some reservations required.

In general you should be able to book the reservations via bahn.de (if you want, but as said, it is not needed on the route via Germany)

For more advice on the route(s) exact travel dates would be needed.

Thanks so much Martin! We plan to travel this route on May 29th. I tried booking a reservation from Frankfurt to Basel on bahn.de what it says this leg is unavailable due to construction. I am just worried we will make it to Frankfurt and not be able to get from there to Bern. 

Then for example you could use this connection:
 

 

If you are 4 people then definitely would recommend making reservations as it is a Sunday and as mcadv said also a long weekend, so it might be really busy on parts of the route. Otherwise you will very likely not sit together or even have to stand. The later in the day, the more crowded the trains will be.
For Basel-Bern no reservation is needed → in Switzerland nobody makes reservations for trains as they run so frequent and you will enter the train at the first stop, so shouldn’t be a problem to catch a seat.

Userlevel 7
Badge +9

You can also be in Bern a bit earlier:

But as MartinM said: just book seats until Basel SBB and shortly before arriving there decide what you do.

@MartinM , @rvdborgt , @mcadv , these suggestions were all so helpful! We will definitely be using these routes and following your guides. Thanks for helping to de-mystify this part of our journey! 

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