Questions about Germany/Switzerland rail travel
Dec 9th, 2006, 10:34 AM
#1
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Questions about Germany/Switzerland rail travel
We are flying into Frankfurt in May 2007. My husband has family in Germany and Switzerland, so we decided on the open jaw air tickets for RDU-FRA and ZRH-RDU. We haven't purchased those yet, but are looking at the train options for the following:
Frankfurt to Pirmasens (stay 2 days with family)
Pirmasens to Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
We've never booked train tickets before. Looking at www.bahn.de, it appears we can't purchase tickets until 90 days out. Any advice on this? What has been your experience in ordering these online? Is it better to call an agent?
Thanks so much for your help.
Frankfurt to Pirmasens (stay 2 days with family)
Pirmasens to Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
We've never booked train tickets before. Looking at www.bahn.de, it appears we can't purchase tickets until 90 days out. Any advice on this? What has been your experience in ordering these online? Is it better to call an agent?
Thanks so much for your help.
Dec 9th, 2006, 10:40 AM
#2
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Although there may be some price advantages to ordering ahead of time (and others can comment on that) yuu may be just as well off waiting and buying when you arrive in Europe.
I suspect you already know that both FRA and ZRH have attached rail stations.
Unless you are traveling during some peak period you probably won't have to worry about getting space at the last minute.
I suspect you already know that both FRA and ZRH have attached rail stations.
Unless you are traveling during some peak period you probably won't have to worry about getting space at the last minute.
Dec 9th, 2006, 11:20 AM
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A second to Dukey's comments. Besides, trains to Pirmasens are locals and DB probably wouldn't sell you a seat reservation anyway. Service from Frankfurt to Kaiserslautern includes regional, EC, and ICE trains. Buy your tickets when you get there.
Dec 9th, 2006, 01:33 PM
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Most people don't buy a seat reservation when travelling. It means that if you walk up to the ticket counter half an hour before train departure you will still be able to reserve seats for the part of a journey that use long-distance trains (IC/EC, ICE etc.). Local trains from Pirmasens don't have reserveable seats.
The seat reservation is separated from the ticket anyway. There is no need to "book" the ticket - you buy one, and if you get a normal ticket it is valid for all trains along the route you take, within a certain time. For domestic German tickets it is 48 hours; for international ones (Germany to Switzerland) 2 months. With advance buying you can possibly get a discount (SparPreis), but by doing so you lose any flexibility your ticket has.
For the trip from Biel/Bienne to Zürich Airport (there are direct trains every 30 min) there is absolutely no need to reserve anything anywhere, yiu arrive at Biel station just before departure and take the train.
I recommend you following: on arrival in FRA, go to the ticket counter of the airport trains tation, and ask for a ticket from Frankfurt airport to Zürich airport via Pirmasens and Biel. It is somewhat bending the rules, but not breaking them. (If they refuse, ask for the ticket to Pirmasens and buy in pirmasens the ticket to ZRH airport via Biel - it is a bit of a detour, but absolutely within any rules). This ticket is international, and valid for 2 months one way. After that you only need the schedules...
For these, look at www.bahn.de and www.sbb.ch
The seat reservation is separated from the ticket anyway. There is no need to "book" the ticket - you buy one, and if you get a normal ticket it is valid for all trains along the route you take, within a certain time. For domestic German tickets it is 48 hours; for international ones (Germany to Switzerland) 2 months. With advance buying you can possibly get a discount (SparPreis), but by doing so you lose any flexibility your ticket has.
For the trip from Biel/Bienne to Zürich Airport (there are direct trains every 30 min) there is absolutely no need to reserve anything anywhere, yiu arrive at Biel station just before departure and take the train.
I recommend you following: on arrival in FRA, go to the ticket counter of the airport trains tation, and ask for a ticket from Frankfurt airport to Zürich airport via Pirmasens and Biel. It is somewhat bending the rules, but not breaking them. (If they refuse, ask for the ticket to Pirmasens and buy in pirmasens the ticket to ZRH airport via Biel - it is a bit of a detour, but absolutely within any rules). This ticket is international, and valid for 2 months one way. After that you only need the schedules...
For these, look at www.bahn.de and www.sbb.ch
Dec 9th, 2006, 05:26 PM
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If you want to have your ticket in hand when you arrive in Frankfurt, the process is very easy.
Go to the Deutsche Bahn web site at this link:
http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en
It will be in English.
At the top embedded in th red bar, you should see this link: Internat. Guests
Click on it and proceed to the next page.
On the left side of the screen you should see a heading marked Planning Your Journey.
Under it, you should see a sub heading that reads: On-Line Ticket.
Click on this link and go to the next page.
Under the heading:
Online-Ticket - All you need to know
look toward the right side of the screen and find the link Register Now.
Sign up with your personal information including your credit card number which now becomes your travel ID.
Once you have registered, back out of the registration and go to the red bar again. This time select Planen&Buchen
(Planning and booking.)
If the screen pops up in German, simply go to the place where it says Benutzer and put in your online ID. The next line is Passwort, which should be self explanatory. (You are the user or Der Benutzer.)
Then click on English. (If you need to that is.)
The screen should change again and you will be at the master scheduler.
You can then enter your to and from cities, dates of travel, etc.
When you pay, you will be logged in and should be processed right away.
When I bought my ticket last summer, there was no problem. I got an email with a pdf attachment that contained my ticket. I printed this on my ink jet printer and stuck it in my passport case.
You may printe a second copy for backup if you like. Just present only one copy to the conductor checking the tickets.
You MUST present the same credit card as the one you used to register your number.
It sounds a little complicated, but in reality it was fairly simple. I have an account now with Die Bahn and I don't need to restablish it.
You can even get seat reservations this way. (I like to reserve a seat so I can be sure of a window seat. Usually we get two window seats facing because my wife does not like to ride "backwards." I don't care so she gets her choice.)
When you arrive in Frankfurt airport you will know your track number in advance, provided you look at the detailed information for your train, and head directly to your coach.
You can find the detailed information by drilling down from the scheduler page.
For example, I looked at the web site to check on the above detail and looked at the 15:54 departure. It leaves from Fern (foreign) track 5. (Gleis is the German term for track.) You MUST know the correct track number!! No two ways about it.
Armed with your track data and the ticket, there is no need to stop for anything except to buy something to eat and read.
I understand your concerns, but the German train service, as are the ones in most all of Western Europe, is very efficient. Many trains run daily between the major cities.
For example between the Frankfurt airport and Stuttgart there are 9 trains between 6 am and noon. Between noon and 18:00 there are about 10 more.
Go to the Deutsche Bahn web site at this link:
http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en
It will be in English.
At the top embedded in th red bar, you should see this link: Internat. Guests
Click on it and proceed to the next page.
On the left side of the screen you should see a heading marked Planning Your Journey.
Under it, you should see a sub heading that reads: On-Line Ticket.
Click on this link and go to the next page.
Under the heading:
Online-Ticket - All you need to know
look toward the right side of the screen and find the link Register Now.
Sign up with your personal information including your credit card number which now becomes your travel ID.
Once you have registered, back out of the registration and go to the red bar again. This time select Planen&Buchen
(Planning and booking.)
If the screen pops up in German, simply go to the place where it says Benutzer and put in your online ID. The next line is Passwort, which should be self explanatory. (You are the user or Der Benutzer.)
Then click on English. (If you need to that is.)
The screen should change again and you will be at the master scheduler.
You can then enter your to and from cities, dates of travel, etc.
When you pay, you will be logged in and should be processed right away.
When I bought my ticket last summer, there was no problem. I got an email with a pdf attachment that contained my ticket. I printed this on my ink jet printer and stuck it in my passport case.
You may printe a second copy for backup if you like. Just present only one copy to the conductor checking the tickets.
You MUST present the same credit card as the one you used to register your number.
It sounds a little complicated, but in reality it was fairly simple. I have an account now with Die Bahn and I don't need to restablish it.
You can even get seat reservations this way. (I like to reserve a seat so I can be sure of a window seat. Usually we get two window seats facing because my wife does not like to ride "backwards." I don't care so she gets her choice.)
When you arrive in Frankfurt airport you will know your track number in advance, provided you look at the detailed information for your train, and head directly to your coach.
You can find the detailed information by drilling down from the scheduler page.
For example, I looked at the web site to check on the above detail and looked at the 15:54 departure. It leaves from Fern (foreign) track 5. (Gleis is the German term for track.) You MUST know the correct track number!! No two ways about it.
Armed with your track data and the ticket, there is no need to stop for anything except to buy something to eat and read.
I understand your concerns, but the German train service, as are the ones in most all of Western Europe, is very efficient. Many trains run daily between the major cities.
For example between the Frankfurt airport and Stuttgart there are 9 trains between 6 am and noon. Between noon and 18:00 there are about 10 more.
Dec 9th, 2006, 08:45 PM
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When you go to this page: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/que...ogram=esi&
You'll find FRA ZRH costing only 39 euro. Enter the departure date and when you're asked for "via", enter Karlsruhe (or Mannheim) and Basel. Then you'll be asked how long of a stop in each cities. Then enter the days(in hours) you want to spend in Pirmasens for the Karlsruhe stop and how many days(in hours) you want to stop in Basel. You buy the local train connections when you get to Kerlsruhe (to get to Pirmasens) and Basel (to get to Biel/Bienne). You'll save a lot of money this way. Alternatively you can just get off in Basel and blow the remaining Basel-ZRH. Buy a direct ticket to go to ZRH from Biel/Bienne. Hope you can figure out my complicated recommendation. It's actually quite sumple once you do it. It's very easy to buy tickets online from Bahn.de. It's good not to buy the tickets till February anyway as you never what can happen btw now and May. Good luck.
You'll find FRA ZRH costing only 39 euro. Enter the departure date and when you're asked for "via", enter Karlsruhe (or Mannheim) and Basel. Then you'll be asked how long of a stop in each cities. Then enter the days(in hours) you want to spend in Pirmasens for the Karlsruhe stop and how many days(in hours) you want to stop in Basel. You buy the local train connections when you get to Kerlsruhe (to get to Pirmasens) and Basel (to get to Biel/Bienne). You'll save a lot of money this way. Alternatively you can just get off in Basel and blow the remaining Basel-ZRH. Buy a direct ticket to go to ZRH from Biel/Bienne. Hope you can figure out my complicated recommendation. It's actually quite sumple once you do it. It's very easy to buy tickets online from Bahn.de. It's good not to buy the tickets till February anyway as you never what can happen btw now and May. Good luck.
Dec 10th, 2006, 03:22 AM
#7
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Thanks for the many replies! We won't need a ticket from Biel to Zurich, as my in-laws will be providing transportation back to the airport for us.
Bob Brown - thanks for your perspective because my husband is quite a planner and would prefer to have the ticket ahead of time. We've used the Swiss rail system many times before, but have never had to purchase tickets ourselves. I'm sure the German rail system is just as efficient.
We're looking forward to our journey and I appreciate the input!
Bob Brown - thanks for your perspective because my husband is quite a planner and would prefer to have the ticket ahead of time. We've used the Swiss rail system many times before, but have never had to purchase tickets ourselves. I'm sure the German rail system is just as efficient.
We're looking forward to our journey and I appreciate the input!
