Volk359

Hi All,

Just wondering what the opinions are of the bus service/schedule/pricing in Germany is as far as from town to town. For the long haul it certainly makes sense to take the trains, especially with a pass, but on short hops are buses available and are they worth using for the penny pincher?

Also, is it advisable to purchase Eurail Passes ahead of time (thru the web?) or once we get into Germany?

Thanks

swandav2000

Hi Volk359,

I spent a month in Mittenwald Dec-Jan and used the busses to go to Garmisch a few times.

Surprisingly, the busses were no cheaper than the train. I did enjoy the bus more, though, as of course the journey is slower and I could see more of the scenery. I also enjoyed the banter between the regular passengers and the driver.

Overall, I thought the busses were a better experience than the trains for these short hauls.

s

Gary_Mc

Buses do not usually seem to compete with trains but rather complement the train system with routes to smaller locals.

If you are looking for discounts on short routes there is often a länder-ticket (state specific) or local area network. Our family of four is starting in Munich and taking a loop as far north as Würzburg, and then to Salzburg. Because will be traveling within Bavarian we can use the Bayern-Ticket (2-5 people)on local trains with a daily travel cost of 27 euros.

The point is that it will be easier to answer your questions with specifics about where you hope to travel.

Regards, Gary

Volk359

Specifics, well, we're travelling in September so we don't have a lot of specifcs yet.

We'll be coming in to Frankfurt late at night and will go immediatly to Mainz. I checked Eurail website and bahn.de(?), both the bus and the train are 20 mins or so but the train was $20 and the bus averaged $9 depending on when they left. These were based on April fares as they don't go out to September yet.

I was just wondering if this was typical through out the country and will look into using the bas passes.

Thanks

Larryincolorado

>>We'll be coming in to Frankfurt late at night and will go immediatly to Mainz. I checked Eurail website and bahn.de(?), both the bus and the train are 20 mins or so but the train was $20 and the bus averaged $9 depending on when they left.

Coming into Frankfurt airport or downtown (Haubtbahnhof)?

How late is late? The S-bahn to Mainz runs until 29 minutes past midnight and cost €3,55 per person.

How many people?

Eurail has a website, www.eurail.com, and does sell railpasses, but not point-point tickets. You must have looked at the RailEurope website. Bad idea. RE only sells tickets, with reservations, for express trains from the airport to Mainz ($22-$24). Notice they say Frankfurt airport FE. That stands for "Fernbahnhof", where the express trains stop. It is a ways out from the terminal. By the time you walk all the way out there,you won't save any time.

And, BTW, what RE is selling for $22-$24 plus shipping and handling, you can purchase at the airport for $9-$14. Seat reservations would be another €3,50 each, but you don't need them at that time and for such a short trip.

Where did you find bus fares? The only fares I can find are for the local transit district, RMV (www.rmv.de), and they are the same as for the S-bahn. Was that $9 for two people (2 x €3.55 x 1.3 $/&euro? RMV might charge more than €3,55 if you have to take a bus to downtown Frankfurt and another bus from there to Mainz.

Gary_Mc

Frankfurt to Mainz is a good example. Use the following site for the local trans network:

http://www.rmv.de/

From: FRA
To: Mainz

Selected später to select the date (or go to English). At the next menu choose date/time (tomorrow at 10:00 for a test) and under "Linien" select "Nahverkehr" for local trains (Association in English). It will ask you to clarify your destination, use the default Frankfurt Haupt.. and Mainz Haupt.. It costs 6.6 euros by Sbahn or local train.

These local and states (Länder) train networks are often cheaper than what you will get on a default query on Bahn.de. Some of these local websites have a learning curve but if you are trying to save money, it is worth it.

There are others on this board that I much better at finding the bargains than I am. But, again I think that specific questions like FRA (Frankfurt airport) to Mainz will get you the best answer.

Rail passes seem to be best if you want to save on long distance speed trains like ICE, IC etc. But, others probably can better advise you on that.

You also might want to search Bayern-ticket or Länder-ticket here to read about state networks.

"Trip Advisor" for Germany also has many good discussions on this subject:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum...6-Germany.html

Good hunting, Gary

Gary_Mc

I see that Larry was posting as I was, he is the local guru on the subject.

Good luck again, Gary

Hans

Normally using buses in Germany makes sense if you're travelling between small towns or villages. Between larger cities close to each other (as Frankfurt and Mainz), the local transportation is easier by tram or S-Bahn. They're normally part of the same local transportation system as the buses and you're actually buying the same ticket (i.e. fare between Frankfurt and Mainz).