A general guide to Seat Reservations on European Trains

The info on this page has been curated for people who will be buying tickets for European train journeys, but if you will be travelling with a Eurail or InterRail pass, we have a whole other world of info available here.

This guide to seat reservations will hopefully remove some of the more confusing aspects of booking European train tickets online, particularly if you do usually prefer to reserve a seat when making long distance train journeys.
On some train services, you can also select the part of the train in which you wish to travel by, hence the info for using seating plans when booking European train tickets.

How the booking agents which sell European rail tickets manage the assigning of specific seat(s) varies, so it's a good idea to look out for these scenarios:

• If during the booking, you haven't been offered the opportunity to tick a box, or click a button asking if you want to add a reservation, but are then asked for a type of seat that you would prefer (window or aisle etc), it's very likely that you will be booking a ticket which includes specific, assigned seats.
• If during the booking, you didn't need to request access to a seating plan, but this feature automatically appears, you will then be travelling in either the seat(s) you have been assigned, or chosen - See the note below.
• Don't assume that you will be assigned seats - you may need to look out for a checkbox or a button that asks if you want to add a reservation - if you take up the option and follow this path, you will be assigned specific seat(s).
• If you don't see an option to add a reservation when booking and no seat numbers are included on your booking, you will be travelling on a train on which assigned seats aren't available.

If you will be booking a train with mandatory seat reservations, the online ticket agents will usually include a link to a seating plan.
These seating plans aren't usually integral to the booking path, meaning that you don't have to use them to book a ticket, so in the rush to make a booking they can be easily missed.

What you can select on seating plans:

In addition to being able to choose window or aisle seats, we recommend using them for these reasons:

(1) You can select seats near the exit doors, particularly useful if you've got heavy luggage, as you can then avoid having to manoeuvre it into the middle of the train.
These seats also tend to be nearer any luggage racks, so you'll be able to keep an eye on your bags more easily.

(2) If you will be making a tightly timed connection, that can be another good reason for choosing a seat by the doors, but if you want to have a quieter trip you'll be better off choosing a seat in the middle of the train.

(3) You can choose between table seats and airline style seating.
Don't choose a table seat on the assumption that you will have more leg room, if somebody tall takes the seat opposite yours then you'll actually have less.

Targeting table seats is obviously a good option if you are travelling in a group of three or four, but when we're not, we prefer the greater privacy of the airline style seats.
And if you are planning to eat on the train, then the airline seats have a pull down tray.

(4) A plus of table seats, is that they nearly always line up with the windows, but a surprisingly high number of the 'airline' seats won't.
The more modern the train you will be travelling by, the greater the chance that you won't have a good view out of the window, in both 1st and 2nd class.
So our top reason for using a seating plan is to ensure that we have a good view out of a window.

(5) If you will be travelling on a TGV Duplex or TGV Oceane train, you can also choose to sit on the Upper or Lower Decks.

What you can't select on seating plans:

You often can't choose seats which face the direction of travel on a seating plan - train services on which we HAVE seen this option include:

(1) TGV Atlantique trains
(2) TGV Oceane trains
(3) Some TGV Lyria services (but not departures on which double-deck TGV trains are used)
(4) ICE 1 and ICE 4 trains
(5) the TGV France-Italy services
(6) Regiontog trans on the Oslo to Bergen route'
(7) the Snabbtåg services in Sweden by the X2000 and SJ 3000 trains,
(8) on Azuma trains in the UK,
(9) on any of the train services which can be booked online in Czechia/The Czech Republic.

Train services on which you CAN'T select forward facing seats when making an online booking include Frecce trains, other ICE trains and TGV Duplex trains.
The core reason for this is that many European express trains reverse direction when they make some station calls, thereby flipping the train from back to front- and this can happen multiple times per day.
So when tickets are being sold online, the ticketing websites won't know in which direction a seat is facing, so they can't guarantee whether seats are facing forwards or backwards

When taking a long-distance daytime rail journey operated by the USA's national rail operator, Amtrak, when you make a booking the terminology is that you have booked 'a reservation' - Because you will be travelling on a specific departure and the number of tickets available to travel by it, won't exceed the number of seats on the train.
So you may be used to a system on which you have reserved a place on the train, but unless you also use a 'seat selection' service, when it's available, you won't have a specific seat(s) / place on the train assigned to you.

Hence many clients from the USA who use the Concierge Service understandably assume that European trains can't be boarded without a reservation.
However, in Europe:

• a ticket is the equivalent of what Amtrak refers to as a reservation,
• a reservation is what Amtrak refers to as seat selection.

So a ticket and not a reservation is required to board - in fact, as can be seen below, when travelling by some train services, what European's refer to as reservations won't even be available.

In contrast to travel by some other trains:

• You will have specific seats assigned to you, because what the European's classify as a reservation is mandatory on certain trains, so specific places will be included on the ticket.
• You will have seats / places assigned when booking, because you need to travel by a specific train for the type of ticket to be valid.

If when booking a ticket you offered the option to add a reservation, you will be accessing 'a seat selection' service and can then either;

• choose seats from a seating plan - similar to the seat selection service Amtrak offers when traveling by the Acela;
• choose a type of seat - window / aisle / table / etc.

When boarding a train passengers will encounter one of these scenarios:

(1) Your place(s) on the train must match the coach and seat numbers on your ticket(s) - so you will need to find these seats using the number info on the train to guide you.
This is the scenario when boarding a train service which has mandatory reservations.

(2) You will have coach and seat numbers, either on your ticket or on your booking confirmation, so you will need to locate your seat(s) when boarding.
To aid you, there will be additional info associated with the seat, the most common being info showing between which locations the seat has been reserved - similar to what's pictured at the top of this page.
You can therefore also match the stations that you will be travelling from and to, with the info associated with the seat.
If after departure, you can see unoccupied seats, that don't have any similar journey info associated with them, that you prefer to your assigned seat(s), you can move and travel in those alternative seat(s) instead
This is a typical scenario when boarding a train service which has optional reservations.

(3) You will have a ticket, but don't have coach and seat number - because you didn't opt to add a reservation when booking, or weren't aware that opting for specific seats was available.
When boarding you therefore you need to occupy seat(s) that haven't been assigned to travellers boarding with seat reservations.
Therefore you need to avoid the seats that have journeys between stations allocated to them, as they are reserved for the travellers making the indicated journeys.
On busy trains double-check the journey info, the seat(s) may actually be available for travel between your stations.
If on departure there are no seats which haven't been assigned, check after departure for assigned seats that haven't actually been occupied, because the traveller(s) who have booked them haven't actually boarded the train.

(4) You will have a ticket, but don't have coach and seat number - because booking specific seats / places isn't available when travelling by this type of train service.
If you don't have a seat number and there's nothing on the train to indicate which seats are available and which aren't, you can sit in any available seat(s).

What can vary when booking tickets for train journeys in different European countries, is whether a reservation (an assigned seat) is:

• included when booking a train ticket online, and therefore mandatory, or
• optional, or
• not available at all.

When booking tickets for these train services listed below you can OPT to add a reservation when booking online, or request them when booking at the station.
If you don't specifically ask for a reservation at a station ticket desk, the booking staff may assume that you don't want to reserve.

There will be an additional charge for booking these reservations, so when booking online check to see whether the price of the reservation has been included in the price that you initially see,
Though the 2nd class fees are always under €5.

EuroCity (EC) trains year round:

• EC Austria ↔ Hungary
• EC Austria ↔ Switzerland
• EC Germany ↔ Switzerland
• EC (within Czechia)
• EC Czechia ↔ Hungary
• EC Czechia ↔ Slovakia
• EC (within Denmark)
• EC (within Germany)
• EC Hungary ↔ Slovakia
• EC (within) Slovakia
• EC (within Switzerland)

EuroCity (EC) trains not June 1st to Sept 1st:

• EC Germany ↔ Czechia
• EC Germany ↔ Denmark
• EC Germany ↔ Hungary
• EC Germany ↔ Slovakia

IC trains:

• IC (Austria)
• IC (Czechia)
• IC (Denmark)
• IC (France) some routes
• IC (Finland)
• IC (Ireland)
• IC (Switzerland)
• IC (Germany)

Other express trains:

• ICE trains (journeys within Germany and to/from Switzerland)
• ICE trains (international journeys to/from Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, except June 1st to Sep 1st)
• ECE trains Zurich - Munich
• Lyn (Denmark)
• Railjets (both within Austria and journeys between Austria and Czechia, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia; but NOT between Austria and Italy)
• Norwegian long-distance trains - though reservations are highly recommended as trains are infrequent and can sell out days in advance
• SJ Intercity (Sweden)
• SJ Regional (Sweden)
• Turkish express trains including the YHT trains.

Also note that if you book a discounted ticket for a journey by these trains, the train departure you will travel by is specified on your booking, but that won't mean that you also have a seat reservation.

Reservations on British trains:

Reservations are not mandatory in Great Britain, but when booking Advance tickets online for long-distance journeys on trains operated by Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, EMR (on London routes, Grand Central, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, LNER, ScotRail (longer-distance routes), TFW (longer-distance routes), TransPennine Expres, your seat(s) will be assigned.
The reservation will be included with the booking.

The cut off time prior to departure, at which the reservations for other types of tickets can be arranged at the station, or when booking Advance tickets, varies according to which company will be operating the train you will be travelling by.

When travelling by Cross Country (some routes); Great Western Railway; Hull Trains, TFW and Scotrail, you'll need to have requested a reservation around 2 - 3 hours ahead; though this isn't fixed.
For journeys by Avanti West Coast; CrossCountry; EMR; Grand Central; LNER and TransPennine Express, the time limit for reservations will be between around 15 mins and an hour prior to departure..

Reservations are compulsory and therefore included when booking these train services

International daytime train services:

DB-SNCF l Eurostar l Lyria

RENFE - SNCF l TGV France-Italy l

Thalys

On ICE trains Germany ↔ Austria, Belgium and The Netherlands between June 1st and Sep 1st.

EC trains on these routes:

• Switzerland ↔ Italy
• Germany ↔ Italy via Austria
• Germany ↔ Poland
• Germany/Austria ↔ Slovenia/Croatia
• Austria/Hungary/Czech Republic ↔ Poland
• EC trains Germany ↔ Austria, Czechia. Slovakia and Hungary between June 1st and Sep 1st
• IC train Germany ↔ The Netherlands between June 1st and Sep 1st
• Hungary ↔ Croatia/Slovenia/Serbia

National daytime train services:

Reservations are complimentary and therefore included when booking these NATIONAL daytime train services:

• in Czechia/The Czech Republic on the SuperCity services and the trains operated by Leo Express and Regiojet
• in France on the TGVs plus when travelling on the long -distance Intercités routes
• in Germany when booking 1st class tickets for journeys by IC and ICE trains; also included when booking 1st class tickets for international journeys by ICE trains.
• in Hungary* on IC trains and on EC trains for journeys within Hungary
• in Italy for journeys on Trenitalia’s Frecce and Intercity trains, plus the Italo trains which are not operated by Trenitalia.
• in Norway for journeys by Regiontog trains
• in Poland for journeys by the EIP and EIC and IC and TLK services.
• in Sweden for journeys by Snabbtåg services within Sweden and from/to Sweden, and on IC trains operated by SJ, and on SJ Regional trains
• in Spain for journeys by Altaria, Alvia, Avant, AVE, Euromed, MD and Talgo trains.

*In Hungary reservations are automatically included when booking journeys by IC trains, daytime trains to Croatia, Poland, Romania, Serbia and all overnight trains irrespective of whether tickets are booked online or at stations.
However, when booking international daytime journeys by train to Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany and Slovakia they are only included if booked online and NOT at the station.

Night trains:

Reservations are always compulsory when booking beds, couchette berths and most seats on OVERNIGHT trains.

The assignment of specific seats is NOT available when booking these train services (and more):

• Any national train journey within Belgium and Luxembourg.
• Any national train journey within The Netherlands
• journeys by TER trains in France
• on IR trains in Switzerland
• journeys by Regionale and Regionale Veloce trains in Italy
• on the Oresundtag trains between Denmark and Sweden
• virtually all journeys on independent railways in Switzerland
• journeys by Regional Express trains in Spain
• trains in Great Britain operated by c2c, Chiltern Railways, Great Northern, Greater Anglia*, Northern, Southern, Southeastern, South Western Railway and Thameslink.
  *Reservations are usually available on the London <> Norwich route.

Despite seats not being assigned, the number of tickets sold per train won't be limited - In a scenario when you book a station ticket office, the idea is that you board the next available departure, but only if it's the type of train service that's valid with the ticket.
To minimize the possibility of boarding to find that no available seats are available:

• If you will be joining such a train at a station where it commences its journey - aim to be at the station at least 15 mins before departure, so that you can be among the first to board.
• Avoid travelling away from cities immediately after the end of business hours
• Try not to travel between noon and 8pm on Fridays
• Try to avoid travel between cities and tourist destinations on Saturdays
• Avoid travelling to cities on trains which arrive between 8am and 9am

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