Travelling with children in Germany
As a family, you can enjoy impressively cheap travel together.
Advantages:
Offers and services for families with children
You will find family areas with a children's compartment on almost all ICE trains. The special seats are suitable for families with up to 5 persons. They are ideal of kindergarten and primary school children. You can find the family area by looking out for the family symbol on the inside and outside of the train as well as on the coach sequence board on the platform.
- Enter at least one child up to the age of 14 in the Passengers section during booking.
- You can select Family area later on in the booking process.
- Seat reservation for families EUR 9,00 per way in 2nd class or EUR 11.80 in 1st class
All ICE and most EC/IC trains have a family compartment or area. This area is suitable for families with babies and children up to the age of 3. There is room to park a pram in this area or nearby. The compartment offers space for crawling and playing, a childproof socket for a bottle warmer and a changing table to fold out.
On the platform, the location of the family compartment is depicted by the mother-child symbol on the coach sequence board.
- Enter at least one child up to the age of 5 in the Passengers section during booking.
- You can select Family compartment/area later on in the booking process.
- Seat reservation for families EUR 8,00 per way in 2nd class or EUR 10.60 in 1st class
Information on our childcare service on ICE trains
Dear parents, please note that we have had to suspend our childcare service due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- Saturdays and Sundays on many ICE trains on selected routes
- Free and with no need to book
- Experienced and trained caregivers walking through the train and drawing attention to the service.
- When booking your ticket, you can see here (in German only) whether childcare is available on board the train.
Popular destinations for families with children
Questions and answers about travelling with children
In the "Advanced search options" of the first booking step, enter the number and age of the children up to the age of 14. Children aged 15 and above travel as adults.
Children up to 5 years of age always travel free of charge and do not need to be specified when booking. Children aged 6-14 travel free when accompanied by someone aged 15 or over. However, they must be specified at the time of booking. The ticket holder can bring up to 4 children per ticket.
No, children up to the age of 14 are not entitled to their own seat.
You can reserve a seat if you want to make sure your child has a separate seat. For families it is cheaper to make a family reservation (see "Reserving a family area")."
Young people aged 15 and over pay the regular fare. For young people in particular we recommend our saver fare offers.
In Germany, children up to the age of 14 always travel free of charge. Children aged 6-14 must be specified during booking.
Different conditions for children apply to the following offers:
- Flexible fare
- Saver fare Europe London, Saver fare Europe France, Saver fare Europe Sweden and Saver fare Europe Czech Republic
With 4 or more children aged 6 to 14, the best way to travel is with the DB family ticket. Up to 8 children can be entered on the ticket. If your family consists of more children, a second ticket can be issued. The family ticket is available in Germany at sales points and DB agencies near you.
Here you can find DB agencies near you: Contact
Yes. Please note that the space available on the train is limited. We recommend slings or prams that can be easily folded and stowed away.
Make sure you are standing in the platform section where the train with the children's compartment will stop. You can find this information on the coach sequence board on the platform. It is best to get in backwards with a pram. A second person can help by lifting the pram and pushing it into the train.