domuco

Hi all--
I need help from those of you that travel often, especially by train. I have another thread and got some excellent advice but thought I should start another with more detail.
We have set our itinerary after much debate and I went to go check out ticket prices on bahn.com and the prices jumped up on me. I know there are regional passes etc... but am overwhelmed at stringing together so many different options.
I would be grateful if someone could give me some advice on the best ticket options because at this point the rail pass is looking like a better idea. If this is true, It's my understanding that we can buy these at the airport in Frankurt. Is this true?
Here is our itinerary-
May 11-land in Frankfurt
Train to Munich and spend the night there.
May 12-Train to Hallstatt
May 15-Train to Garmisch
May 17-Train to Colmar
May 19--Train to Dusseldorf
pick up rental car and hubby has work 21-22
May 22--drive to cochem late afternoon
May 24-drive to Frankfurt and drop off car/fly home
Looking at our schedule, we have several train trips--does a pass make more sense?
Thank you all so much for all your help so far--y'all are amazing!

StCirq

Have you checked this out?

http://www.seat61.com/Germany-trains.htm#.U17tZFcXKG8

oedipamaas

Yes, I think the 4-day DB twin pass would be a better bet for you. And it would be handier for the Frankfurt to Munich ride since you'll want to be flexible with the time.

This is a lot of train travel. You've probably gotten itinerary feedback already, but I would be finding alternatives to avoid 7 hour train rides every other day.

treplow

Frankly, the part-itineraries for which you want to use trains, and those for which you want to rent a car make no sense to me.

Here is what I would do: Train Frankfurt - Munich OK. Pick a train on www.bahn.de that (1) leaves from the FRA airport to Wuerzburg - Munich, eithet via Wuerzburg or Stuttgart. Buy the ticket on the www.bahn.de internet 92 days (or fewer) ahead of the travel date and get a heavily discounted ticket, which you can print on your home computer. The closer the the day of the ticket purchase to the date of the travel, the more the price goes up.

Rent a car in Munich, with pick-up on the day you are leaving Munich for Hallstatt. Use www.gemut.com (an excellent consolidator in Seattle WA) to book the car. Check on what people have to say about Gemut on TripAdvisor or some other site.

Drive to Hallstatt. There are different possible routes, all quite scenic. Check with me, and I can help you there.

Drive Hallstatt - Garmisch on a route different from that on which you came, most likely via Innsbruck. Drop off car in Garmisch. Take train to Colmar (again getting ticket on www.bahn.de)

Take train to Duesseldorf, buying a regional, discounted ticket. (On the www.bahn.de website look for Regio trains, the only trains you can travel with on a regional ticket.)

Take train Duesseldorf - Koblenz - Cochem. Again with regional ticket.

Take train Cochem - Koblenz - Frankfurt. Get ticket on the Internet again.

The stretch Munich - Hallstatt - Garmisch is the most scenic that you will encounter, but to really appreciate it you should travel by car. Besides, Munich - Hallstatt by train requires you to travel to Salzburg, change trains there for Hallstatt station - take a boat to Hallstatt proper. Then you have to do the whole thing in reverse, going either Salzburg - Munich - Garmisch, or Salzburg - Innsbruck - Garmisch, with change of trains either in Innsbruck or Munich.

dugi_otok

treplow has it right!!!

We enjoyed staying here in Garmisch:

http://www.hoteledelweiss.de/english/garmisch.html

It is walking distance to the pedestrian zone, many restaurants.Great breakfast.Pleasant staff.What Germany is all about.

PalenQ

A German Twin Railpass could be you're ticket to ride for German trains - just hop on any train anytime with few exceptions. The more days you buy the cheaper per day they are - a 6 day/ flexipass within a one-month period costs 35 euros a day p.p. on a Twin Pass (two traveling on one pass) and you can forget about pre-booking, restrictions on trains in regional passes (though you still may want to mix in some of those) - just hop any train anytime.

There is a Germany-Austria pass but I think it costs a lot more so the German only pass is the one I would dwell in on.

Check these sites for lots of great info on German trains, passes, etc: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

PalenQ

Railpasses are also valid on S-Bahns in cities like Munich, Berlin, etc. so when using the pass to arrive in a city for the rest of the day you can also use S-Bahns by just hopping on - very useful in Munich and Berlin and other cities.

ira

> itineraries for which you want to use trains, and those for which you want to rent a car make no sense to me.<

nor me

domuco

I appreciate the advice and help. Regarding the rental car thought process--As stated, my husband has to work while in Dusseldorf and he will need a car. It's been our intention to just keep it as we travel back to Frankfurt via Cochem and turn it in at the airport before we fly out. I have also been told several times that we would enjoy having a car while in Colmar. As far as not renting a car on the front end, honestly, we were thinking we would enjoy the train ride through the mountains. I hope that provides a more clear understanding of the need for a car and where/when we need it.
That being said, I made a rookie mistake and didn't make note of the actual train travel times on each leg, just the distance on google. I know, really dumb mistake!!! Thanks to you, oedipamaas and Treplow, I went back and looked again and realized my mistake. I'm usually very, very detailed when researching but will chalk the error here up to just finding out about this trip about 3 weeks ago and being completely overwhelmed with trying to narrow down where we wanted to go. I hope I'm not the only one that grossly underestimates distances at times
So, we are now looking at either eliminating one of our stops altogether or renting a car much like Treplow suggested but probably keeping the car rather than turn it in in Garmisch because it wouldn't make sense to turn it in only to rent another in Freiburg or even in Dusseldorf. Plus, the train ticket from Garmisch to Colmar is something like 175 euros with 4 or 5 changes.
Anyway, that's why we need a rental car. Thanks again for the help.

dugi_otok

Hi domuco
You need a car to make your vacation more enjoyable. If you were visiting just large cities the train would be recommended.But to enjoy the villages and countryside car travel is best.
My advice for the train on this trip is Skip it!

If this were my trip I would rent a car at the Frankfurt airport and drive to Rothenburg ob der Tauber for one night.

https://www.google.com/search?q=roth...u&source=univ&

The next day to Garmisch or Mittenwald for a few days.



0CDkQ7Ak&biw=1093&bih=489#channel=sb&q=Garmisch+pi ctures&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&tbm=isch

0CDkQ7Ak&biw=1093&bih=489#channel=sb&q=Mittenwald+ pictures&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&tbm=isch

Then to Alsace for a few days staying in a villaqe. We stayed in Riquewihr last year. Your choice of the larger Colmar is also good.

https://www.google.com/search?q=riqu...w=1093&bih=489

We rented from http://www.i-love-riquewihr.com/.

Then meander up to Dusseldorf.

PalenQ

Plus, the train ticket from Garmisch to Colmar is something like 175 euros with 4 or 5 changes.>

fares like those make the German Railpass a bargain - hop on any anytime.

domuco

dugi_otok-- I love your plan and it's a funny coincidence, I just logged on to say that we are going to:
1. Drop Austria from this trip. Trying to find a way to include it and not be traveling a ridiculous amount was giving me (more!) gray hair. Not good.
2. We are going to stay in Garmisch and will include a few nights at the Eibsee Hotel. After that we are going to France and plan on staying in Riquewihr. From there we will head to Dusseldorf and proceed with the rest of our plan.
We had thought to either train and spend one night in Munich and either take the train to Garmisch or go ahead and get our rental car or take the train directly from Frankfurt to Garmisch and then train to Freiburg to pick up our rental car. Your idea gives us another option to look into--thanks!
I feel MUCH better about this plan!
Thanks to each of you for your help!!!!

PalenQ

Frankfurt to Rothenburg you could take the sweet Castle Road road that meanders along the xxxx River Valley passing thru neat old towns and by yes many castles - by car that is - theRomantic Road to Rothenburg from Wurzburg to me is very un-romantic - being a two-laned road full of heavy lorries and traffic when I've taken it.

carmar

Call B.E.T.S (Budget European Travel Service) You will get the best advise for train travel.

1.800.441.9413 budgeteuropeantravel.com

Byron is a wealth of knowledge whether you buy train tickets from them or not.

They are located in Ann Arbor, Michigan

swandav2000

Hi domuco,

I hope you know that the Eibsee Hotel is not actually in Garmisch? It is in Grainua, or rather outside of Grainau. It's about 7 miles from Garmisch.

I hope you do decide to take the trains! We've had pretty bad effects from Global Climate Change (no more summer snow on Zugspitze, cancelled ski race in Feb 2014 because of lack of snow, etc), so you may be pretty happy to help this beautiful area stay beautiful!

I also think it's much more fun to use the trains. You can take a road trip practically anywhere in the world, but using a good train/bus network is pretty rare. It would seem to be a shame not to use it when it's already here! You'll be closer to the locals, and everyone will be able to enjoy the scenery instead of driving or navigating.

I live in Garmisch, and I gave up my car when I moved here. I can testify that you really don't need one here.

Have fun as you plan!

s

PalenQ

Plus with the bargain Bavarian Pass for 39 euros I think - may be 29 euros - you can travel on regional trains and buses and city buses and trams and metros and S-Bahns all day - two for that price - about the cost of a couple of gallons of fuel and cars are isolating - mix in with the locals on local transports.

Most of the trains to Garmish, Fuessen, etc are regional trains so though with that pass you cannot use the faster ICE trains on those routes there are few if any of those.

Buy Bavarian lander Cards in any German station - valid for the whole day - just hop on hop off at will and help save the environment to boot.

PalenQ

I have also been told several times that we would enjoy having a car while in Colmar>

Yes indeedy - driving along the serpentine-like Mosel Valley is one of the most awesomely scenic drives anywhere! And to drive to nearby Burg Eltz, one of Germany's most famous castles is neat too.

If you have car drive upstream from Cochem to Beilstein - arguably over the most scenic of the always scenic Mosel Valley.

PalenQ

Oops you said Colmer and I read Cochem - forget what I posted about the Mosel - but from Colmer yes you can drive along the designated Alsace Wine Road north of town thru numerous cute quaint wine villages - I biked it once and loved it - note however if stopping for a winery tour and imbibing in free drinks France now has a zero tolerance law about driving with even small amounts of booze with roadside checks to enforce it.

PalenQ

If in Colmar try at least to take a quick look at nearby Strasbourg - one of the finest French cities - great cathedral and quaint canal area - really underrated IMO. En route to Dusseldorf stop by Strasbourg!

PalenQ

By train getting from this part of France to Germany means going to Strasbourg - again be sure to have at least a quick look around - baggage storage in Strasburg main station - then take a shuttle train across the Rhine to Kehl or some town in Germany to connect with the north-south main rail line to Frankfurt and then Cologne and Dusseldorf.