ICE / TGV between France and Germany: which reservation to buy with a rail pass

The rule in one line

Interrail’s own page on trains with additional supplements says: “When travelling on TGV or ICE trains between France and Germany, a passholder fare including a reservation is required. A normal seat reservation (€5,50/€6,90) is not sufficient to/from France and only valid for trips within Germany.” It applies to all ICE and all TGV routes Germany–France.

Which trains and stations

• Paris ↔ Frankfurt, Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Munich, Saarbrücken, Freiburg (ICE and TGV inOui)
• Paris ↔ Berlin direct ICE
• Marseille / Avignon / Lyon ↔ Mannheim / Frankfurt once-daily direct TGV
• Reservation is compulsory on all of them, all year round.

How much and where to buy

€19 in 2nd or 1st class (Interrail, checked 2026-10-04). Official ways to buy it:

• DB “Passzuschlag” booking page: int.bahn.de/en/buchung/start?KL=2&ET=PASSZUSCHLAG — leave “book seat only” switched OFF and make sure the €19 passholder rate is shown. Interrail notes this link does not work if it opens the DB Navigator app.
• The Interrail reservation service on interrail.com (adds a €2 booking fee per passenger per train).

Third-party note (seat61): the DB link charges no booking fee and sells half-price child reservations (€9.50) for ages 6–14.

What goes wrong in practice

The usual mistake: you open bahn.de, see that ICE reservations are optional, and buy a €5.50 “seat only” reservation for Paris–Frankfurt. Travellers on r/Interrail report that on the French side SNCF staff refused such reservations and charged the difference on board; a September 2026 thread describes a group that only had seats-only reservations being made to pay about €35 each, with a train manager explaining the €5 reservation is not enough. These are traveller reports, not official tariffs — the official point is simply that the €5.50 reservation is not valid on these trains.

If the passholder places are sold out

Passholder places on these trains are limited. Community answers on the Interrail forum show the Munich–Paris TGV passholder quota selling out on specific dates.

• Try another departure the same day (ICE and TGV alternate on Paris–Frankfurt/Stuttgart).
• Use the Interrail timetable’s “no reservation needed” filter to find a slower connection with a change.
• Inside Germany your onward ICE/IC needs no reservation (optional €5.50 / €6.90).
• If nothing works, compare with a regular ticket — it can be cheaper than you expect when booked early.

Checklist

• Global Pass (or a pass valid in both countries) — activated for the travel day
• €19 passholder reservation, not a €5.50 seat reservation
• Book via the DB Passzuschlag link or the Interrail reservation service
• Keep the reservation PDF together with your pass

Sources

• Interrail — Trains with additional supplements (TGV and ICE France–Germany) (official)
• Interrail — International train reservation fees (official)
• Interrail — ICE high-speed train (official)
• seat61.com — Interrail reservations, France ► Germany (third-party) (third-party)
• r/Interrail — Validity of DB reservations on international ICEs to France (third-party) (third-party)