Is there anyone familiar enough with this to give me a brief synopsis.

Thanks in advance.

I assume that you are asking about Bayern Munich ticket?

If so, the season is almost over. I believe they have maybe 1 or 2 more games coming up. If you are interested for next year 06/07 season then check their official website:

http://www.fcbayern.t-com.de/en/inde...887416a5b1e986

That said I never had a problem just getting to the stadium ~2 hours before and purchasing a nice ticket from a scalper and I'm talking about Manchester United. They are totally sold out for every league game, yet I always get to experience the game when in Manchester. I can't imagine Bayern Munich would be any different.

Are you referring to the rail pass in Bavaria?

I am sure you mean the Bayern rail ticket.

The Bayern ticket is a promotion that allow you to travel all day long (after 9 AM on weekdays), in 2nd class, on all the regional trains in Bavaria. It costs €18 for a single person and €25 for a group of up to 5 people (that's €5) per person.

A Bayern ticket is also valid for travel on all the means of transport (buses, trams, U-bahns, S-bahns) in most Verkehrverbunden (definitely in Munich) in Bavaria.

Often regional trains are only slightly slower, or not any slower at all. For instance, Munich to Füssen is all on regional trains. Regional train connections from Munich to Rothenburg are often no slower than the faster express trains, which might take longer routes. A trip from Munich to Salzburg takes 1/2 hour longer (2 hours) than the fastest express train connection.

Bayern tickets can be purchased easily from ticket machines in train stations. You can also purchase them at a ticket counter, but it costs €2 more.

The Bayern ticket is not unique to Bavaaria. Most German states have similar offers, and on weekends, the Schönes Wochenende ticket is good all over Germany for €30.

The biggest limitation to the Bayern ticket is the after 9 AM on weekdays. There are four trains leaving Munich between 8:32 and 8:52 for Garmisch, Rothenburg, Salzburg, and Füssen. The following trains (which leave after 9 AM) get into these cities an hour later. This doesn't bother me, because I like a leisurely morning, but for someone who wants to get out earlier there is a trick. It cost a little more, but it allows you to use these earlier trains for less than full fare.

An MVV Partner All Zones day ticket costs €17 (it just went up from €16 on Apr 1) and covers you until 9:00 on those trains. So, for up to 5 people you can leave before 9 AM for €42.

LarryinColorado:

I started another thread with that question. The MVV Partner Card starts before 9 am, correct? I just want to be sure it is worth it. I like getting an early start. Also, do you know if I purchase it at the airport, if I can then use it right away to get to the city center?

Thanks!

I think everything you want to know about the Munich transit system is at www.mvv-muenchen.de/en/index.html. They have description of the various ticket types, prices, and system maps.

The day tickets are valid from the time you buy them (presumably it could be just after midnight) untiil 6 AM the following day. If you buy the all zones ticket (€9,60 single, €17 partner - up to 5 people) at the airport, it is good into town and all over the entire system that day. It is good on S/U-bahns, trams, and buses.

However, for most sightseeing in town, the Inner Zone day ticket for €4,80/€8,50 is a better deal. Almost everything in Munich, except Dachau is in the inner zone.

Just to be clear, the Bayern ticket is valid everywhere in Bavaria after 9 AM weekdays - also into Salzburg, Kufstein, Ulm, and the Ausserfernbahn from Garmisch to Kempten.

The MVV Tageskarte is valid the entire day, but only within the Munich transit district, which is pretty far-reaching.

Go to that MVV English website, and, on the left, click on MVV network > Network maps > Urban rail network. Then click on the link to the pdf file. That is the classic map showing the entire S and U-bahn network. That is where the day pass is valid.

I seem to recall that the Bayernkarte was not valid on Ubahn, trams or busses. Am I wrong on that? In checking the website, no mention is made of those vehicles, though Sbahn is specifically noted.

Länder-Tickets web address:
http://www.bahn.de/-S:-ptVORN:eNNION..._tickets.shtml

It says so right on the page you gave us, "It can be used on ... the entire transport system of the Verkehrsverbünde." MVV is one of the Verkehrsverbünde.

JN,
further down on that same page, under Bayern Ticket, it specifically says it is good on the entire transport systems of Munich, Nürnberg, and Augsburg.

I think the best place for information is on www.bayern-takt.de. Click "Englische Version" in the blue banner, then "more" where it starts to talk about the Bayern Ticket. You will notice it is good in several other VV, but you have to know the "code" to know where they are. It is also valid for travel on many regional buses, in particular the RVO (Regional Verkehrsverbund Oberbayern), which runs all the buses along the Alps from Berchtesgaden to at least Füssen.

German Rail passes, however, are only valid for the S-bahn, not the other means of transport in cities. I believe that Eurail passes are also valid for the S-bahn, but someone who sold Eurail passes said no, so verify it.

We just returned from Germany where we used the Bayern Ticket for most of our travel. As Larry implies, it can not be used on Intercity (IC) trains or Intercity Express (ICE) trains, but that is no real problem as local trains (RB & RE) is nearly as fast.

With a little practice we found that the newer ticket machines can even be used to get printable route and connection information (using an English menu). Just be sure to indentify "local transportation" near the bottom of the touch screen when looking for trains on which the Bayern ticket is valid.

Buying the Bayern ticket is an easily identified option at ticket machines.

Regards, Gary

bookmarking

<i>Author: Larryincolorado
Date: 04/06/2006, 04:04 pm

The biggest limitation to the Bayern ticket is the after 9 AM on weekdays. There are four trains leaving Munich between 8:32 and 8:52 for Garmisch, Rothenburg, Salzburg, and F&uuml;ssen.</i>

Sometimes you can game the system, though. If you have a <i>Tageskarte</i>, you might be able to ride the earlier train within the MVV region, then let your Land-Ticket take over after 9:00.

We did this once with the K&ouml;ln WelcomeCard (pass) combined with a Rheinland-Pfalz to head out from K-M&uuml;lheim to R&uuml;desheim at 8:21. I'll call it <i>Beat the Bahn&trade;</i>.