How and When to Make Train Seat Reservations

[shaz]

I have a railpass that I'll be using on most of my trip. I've checked the normal train schedules from a PDF on www.eurail.com and noticed that the vast majority of the trains I will want require a reservation. I was planning to make these reservations on the day I arrive in the city, so that I will have a seat when I am ready to leave the city. However, I have a problem.

It seems that trains within Switzerland do not allow seat reservations, but trains leaving the country for Italy require a reservation. A particular train route that I want to take will leave from Interlaken but has stops in Spiez and/or Brig on the way to Milan. Then I need to change trains and go from Milan to Florence, which also requires a reservation. Basically, I need to get from Interlaken to Florence, which requires multiple train reservations along the way, but no reservation from my starting point.

Can someone give some input as to how this works? I'm thinking that I need to get off one train, run to a terminal and make a reservation for the next train before hopping on it and then doing the same thing at the next stop. But how will I know that train won't be "sold out"? I really don't want to get stuck in Brig or Milan overnight when my hotel reservation is in Florence. Maybe this isn't an issue? Maybe especially during September the chance of trains being too full is not an issue?

- Shaz

[BigRay]

usually train stations will have an international desk where you can purchase tickets. just go to the international desk and say you only want a reservation for a specific train (date, time, etc). They will give you a reservation which has an assigned wagon and seat. This will look almost exactly like a ticket, but only costs a few euro. When you show it to a conductor on the train, he will also ask to see your train pass.

so you don't need to get reservations in between changeovers. You can get them in advance at almost any train station along the way, up to months in advance. if you miss the train, however, your reservation might be lost, and you will have to get a new one for the train you end up catching (you may be able to get a credit for your old reservation, however).