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Recommended seats on European trains

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peteb

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Travelling second class or the equivalent can be a bit of a lottery. For me a good view out is important, and if possible with a table, not airline style. Perhaps we can share recommendations for good seats, with operator, train type and seat numbers?

RENFE 3 car media distance dmu, as on Algeciras- Antequerra route. Carriage 3 seats 163-170 are sat round tables for 4 aligned to windows. I recommend. NB on this dmu seats are not reversible.
 
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route101

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DB loco hauled set Berlin to Amsterdam. Coach 25 near the front so wasn't busy. Seat 72, facing forward airline seat.
 
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peteb

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route101 said:
DB loco hauled set Berlin to Amsterdam. Coach 25 near the front so wasn't busy. Seat 72, facing forward airline seat.
Click to expand...
Done this route Amsterdam to Berlin, got 4 seats round table, full window so very happy with that.
 
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rf_ioliver

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Varies quite a bit in Finland, on the InterCity trains - all of which are double deck - you have quite a few possibilities: there are seats around tables upstairs and down, and also over the bogies. You can also find 2-4 person compartments and a family compartment on the trains. If you like peace then avoid the play area section. If none of that suits then there is bookable seating upstairs in the restaurant car - you can sit sideways looking out, though not a fan of this myself.

For tourists I recommend upstairs for the views...trees, lake, trees, swamp, trees, more trees etc. I try to aim of a downstairs table seat (same views)
 
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peteb

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Madrid to Cordoba AVE 02162 Carriage 3 seats 8A and 9A face and back table for two. Large window. Carriage 3 is sold as turista confort but is essentially a first class carriage with 2+1 seat layout. Next to buffet car but quiet.

AVE 02080 Cordoba to Seville. In this set carriage 3 is estandard which has 2+2 seating. Seats 11ABCD and 12ABCD are sat round tables for four with full window.
 
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nwales58

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If you want 2+1 seating on any AVE, Alvia etc pick Elige Confort (or butaca XL on some sites I think) then pay to pick a seat.
On Avant a few use long distance sets so you may find 2+1 in one end coach at the fixed fare.

For seat maps generally, seat61 has an index to quite a few.

Vagonweb for Czechia and many easterns has consists often with links to seat maps by coach type

Whether window locations are precise varies of course
 
LNW-GW Joint

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My main advice is to remember/work out where train reversal takes place, and reserve accordingly.
I very carefully booked what I thought would be the best seat (forward off-side, table, sea-view) on a Naples-Catania day train.
The seat map for the train, which was valid when it started from Rome, didn't reflect the reversal at Napoli Centrale (the train was also reversed again with the ferry route across to Messina).
A backward-facing near-side seat with a mountain view was not what I had in mind, for the main leg of the journey. ;)
But the coastal views on Sicily were great.
 
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peteb

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LNW-GW Joint said:
My main advice is to remember/work out where train reversal takes place, and reserve accordingly.
I very carefully booked what I thought would be the best seat (forward off-side, table, sea-view) on a Naples-Catania day train.
The seat map for the train, which was valid when it started from Rome, didn't reflect the reversal at Napoli Centrale (the train was also reversed again with the ferry route across to Messina).
A backward-facing near-side seat with a mountain view was not what I had in mind, for the main leg of the journey. ;)
But the coastal views on Sicily were great.
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Yes I was caught out in Spain when the Cordoba to Antequerra Santa Ana train reversed on arrival from Seville so I was backwards........

nwales58 said:
If you want 2+1 seating on any AVE, Alvia etc pick Elige Confort (or butaca XL on some sites I think) then pay to pick a seat.
On Avant a few use long distance sets so you may find 2+1 in one end coach at the fixed fare.

For seat maps generally, seat61 has an index to quite a few.

Vagonweb for Czechia and many easterns has consists often with links to seat maps by coach type

Whether window locations are precise varies of course
Click to expand...
Vagonweb is very handy, as are the DB and OBB seat maps when purchasing reservations.

I found on some Avant's in Spain, carriage 1 is 2+1 seating, but beware they've started to install luggage racks amongst the seats (which wasn't obvious from the seating plan), so you might end up sitting opposite a huge precariously stacked luggage mountain!
 
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route101

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peteb said:
Done this route Amsterdam to Berlin, got 4 seats round table, full window so very happy with that.
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I do like a simple carriage with end doors compared to a smaller DMU/EMU. I am happy in an airline seat as I am travelling by myself.
 
Austriantrain

Austriantrain

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If you use an ÖBB railjet and don‘t have a seat reservation in second, board the coach closest to the loco, on the locomotive side. For some reason, seats there get to be reserved last and it’s not overrun either - passengers gather towards the middle of the train. Avoid the other side of this coach though, because it has the family section with childrens‘ TV running (maybe not a coincidence re seats getting reserved last).

Other than that, I could not honestly recommend specific seats on a railjet.
 
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peteb

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route101 said:
I do like a simple carriage with end doors compared to a smaller DMU/EMU. I am happy in an airline seat as I am travelling by myself.
Click to expand...
Good point- busy trains with one set of central doors e.g. the Media Distance DMUs in Spain, lose time loading and unloading.
 
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