vanne49

My husband and I will be traveling in Germany early December and plan to use the rail system, for the first time. We are scheduled to arrive in Munich on a Monday morning at 7:50 and plan to head to Salzburg. I looked at the bahn.de schedule and it appears that the Bayern ticket would be best. I am thinking that we should be able to catch the 10:06 or 10:35 train for 29 euros. We will then leave Salzburg and travel to Nurnberg for three nights; once again with a new Bayern ticket for 49 euros. After Nurnberg, we will return to Munich for two nights before we head back across the water. The ticket from Nuernberg to Munich is 29 euros. We will be staying near the train station and will take it to the airport for a 9:50 flight out.
My question: is this the best and most economical way to travel by train with the described itenerary? I also saw the 3 and 4 day tickets, but they are considerably more. I realize that the purchase ahead for specific times are locked in.
I would appreciate the guidance.

Andrew

(FYI, you might tag future Fodor's posts about Germany with "Germany" so people monitoring German-only posts will see yours. You can contact the editors to have them tag this thread too.)

I flew into Munich in September and was heading by train to Salzburg on the same day. I considered buying train tickets ahead of time but decided I didn't want to be locked into a specific time. I'm glad I didn't buy ahead - I wound up leaving for Salzburg earlier than I had planned, and the last-minute ticket I bought wasn't much more expensive than if I'd bought ahead. I think the fact that I wasn't leaving at a busy time (middle of the day) may have made it less expensive for my last-minute purchase (10 minutes before departure). The train I got on was a regional train without reserved seats.

One big reason not to purchase tickets ahead of time is: what if your plane into Munich is delayed? Or what if it gets in early and you want to head into Salzburg earlier than you'd planned?

You can buy the train tickets from a machine at the Munich train station or even at the airport S-bahn station, I think. I used cash (Euros from an ATM at the airport) to buy my train tickets from a machine (there are instructions in English). I don't know if the machines will take US credit cards or not. In Salzburg, the machines would accept none of my credit cards, and I had run out of small Euro bills, so I went in to the ticket agent to buy them (used my US Visa card, which their little machine could read).

Cowboy1968

The "Bayern Tickets" are day passes for regional trains (only) and almost any kind of public transport in the state, including the Munich or Nürnberg S-Bahn or subways or city buses (but not the city buses in Salzburg).
The only restriction is that you cannot use them before 9am on weekdays - which could mean that you may have to wait 15mins or so at the airport if your plane arrives on time, longer if your plane is early.
If you can "live" with that, you can buy and print all Bayern Tickets already at home for all the respective dates and not have to wait at or deal with ticket machines.
Not sure why you mentioned €49 for a ticket from Salzburg to Nürnberg. You can cover that day with another regular Bayern Ticket for €29 as the regional trains between Munich and Nürnberg are very fast and use the high speed line.

swandav2000

Hi vanne49,

Yes, the Bavaria Ticket would work best for you in both cases, as it covers travel to/from Salzburg. There is no advantage to buying it in advance, but there is an advantage to buying it from a machine -- it'll be 1-2 Euro cheaper.

Not sure why you say the travel from Salzburg to Nürnberg will cost 49 Euro?? The Bavaria ticket costs 29 Euro and covers the two of you (covers up to five people travelling). Since Nürnberg is in Bavaria, the route is covered (just be sure you're only on regional trains).

Have fun on your trip!

s

Cowboy1968

The (only) advantage of buying (at least the first) Bayern Ticket in advance is that you don't have to queue at the airport's ticket desk which can be a time-consuming procedure or try to deal with the ticket machine after a red-eye flight.

Russ

"Nurnberg for three nights": FYI, if you plan to daytrip to Rothenburg or Bamberg, don't use the Bayern ticket - you can get a daypass called the "Tagesticket Plus" from the local VGN transport authority; it's 15.60 for unlimited travel within the VGN area.

http://www.vgn.de/tickets/?Edition=en

PalenQ

most economical but not best as the Bavarian Ticket limits you to slower moving regional trains taking significantly longer to say Salzburg or Nurnberg but if not in a hurry dirt cheap but watch out what trains you board to make sure the B Ticket is valid on them. Great sources for info on German trains - www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com. There is a German Railpass but if only in Bavaria the Bavaria Ticket is much much cheaper.

vanne49

Thanks so much for the info. I will wait until we arrive to purchase the tickets. We usually drive...sure will miss driving the autobahn. The train will be a new experience!
Thanks

spaarne

For a first timer on the trains http://tinyurl.com/eym5b presents an illustrated introduction.

PalenQ

In December the weather can be icy so taking the train may be a Godsend if so - that said a few years back many trains were cancelled or late due to icy cold weather. But earlier in December much less likely I think than later in winter.

november_moon

For the Salzburg-Nuremburg leg, I would check www.dbahn.de for Saver Fares on fast trains. If you can commit to a particular departure, you can pre-purchase tickets at the Savings Fare price.

I checked a random weekday in December and it shows the Savings Fare to be 49 euros/person, rather than the 49 euro Bayern ticket that would cover both of you - so twice as expensive, but you get to take faster trains and save some time. Your trip, with a train change in Munich would be about 3 hours.

Checking the same routing, but specifying "local transport", for use with the Bayern Ticket, you are looking at a 4.5 - 5 hour trip.

Like most things, it comes down to this: do you have more time or more money?

PalenQ

And regional trains in Germany IME are not nearly as comfy as the crack faster trains - and can be at times IME SRO in 2nd class.

swandav2000

Hi again,

I think you're in for a real treat! Using the train system is quite a lot of fun!

You'll probably find that you'll meet some folks while on the train -- it's quite natural to exchange greetings with folks in the seats around you. And when folks see that you're from the USA, some will open up a conversation.

Many folks also bring along a picnic for the long trips, so you should think about this. There is always a sandwich shop or five or ten in the train station, and you can buy cheese pretzels, sandwiches, coffee, etc. Or you can stop by a grocery store and buy some fresh bread, hams, cheeses, yogurts, etc, and make yourself a real gourmet picnic. You can also buy decent wine with a screw-top to enjoy enroute too. Then, you two just settle back and enjoy the trip.

Or you can just stare out the windows and enjoy the scenery, or listen to an iPod or read a book. It's very relaxing.

I do think you'll have a blast!

s

Carrabella

We've just got back, after using a 5 day German Rail Pass from Frankfurt to Munich (and a quick trip on the same ticket to Salzburg and back to Munich on the same day), Munich to Cologne, and Cologne to Frankfurt. We did day trips from Berlin to Hamburg, and from Cologne to Trier.

I loved the train travel too, but depending on when you travel, if you have luggage or if you definitely want a seat, it is advisable to book. Lots of trains (ICE mainly) were full. DH who did all the booking, says you save several euros by booking online, and not at the station at the time of travel.

Another advantage of booking is, you can book opposite window seats with a table in between, in a quiet carriage if you want (no mobile phones) and really enjoy the trip.

PalenQ

If you go in first class you will always IME have empty seats to find but yes in 2nd class you may well not. First class well worth the extra cost IMO - especially for those with luggage.

FoFoBT

"You'll probably find that you'll meet some folks while on the train -- it's quite natural to exchange greetings with folks in the seats around you."

Just make sure you're not in the "quiet car". A few weeks ago, we were in the quiet car and the British couple behind us were having a very soft spoken (murmured) conversation with long periods of silence in between. Not all all annoying, in our opinion. But after they'd had a brief (less than a minute) murmured exchange, a German man suddenly shouted SHUT UP!! (in English) at the top of his lungs.

PalenQ

Well Quiet cars are indeed where folks who voluntarily sit there expect complete quiet - more designed I thought to prevent cell phones and such but still ssssssshhhhhh! But yes learn what Quiet cars are and how they are denoted, with symbols and the words Quiet Car in Germany

Cowboy1968

It's not common to expect dead silence in "quiet cars" which exist only in ICEs. The main difference is that those don't have internal repeaters for mobile phones so chatting away on the phone is not expected there (and often not even possible, technically). If someone shouts "shut up" when you exchange a few words with your neighbor that person is simply an idiot. To advance that person's manners I would simply inform him in the same tone to mind his own fu**ing business.

PalenQ

cowboy reinforces my notion of what a Quiet Car is - a place to escape Mobile phone conversations that can be quite loud.

vanne49

Ok, have looked at the dbahn.de site and see rates for 29,00 euros leaving at 1006, 1035, 1106. Will the same rate be available when I arrive in Munich en route to Salzburg?