Deutsche Bahn pricing question
 

We're going to get the SchönerTagTicket Nordrhein-Westfalen to get us around the Bonn-Cologne area, but we'd also like to see Trier.

It's outside the region covered by the ticket, so how do we get there? Can you get an "extension" from the border of the Land-Ticket? Or do we pay from the nearest town from the border? Or what?

Related question: how do we ticket to Holland and Belgium? Again, are there "border-to-destination" tickets, or do they have to be from Cologne or somewhere?

I think I can answer your second question. If you are going to take the Thalys from Cologne, then you have to have the specific Thalys ticket the whole way. If you want to take a regional train to Aachen with a day ticket, then you can buy a separate ticket from Aachen on to your destination.

Trier is in the Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) state. To get there you either need single tickets from Bonn to Trier or the Rhineland-Palatinate Ticket. The same conditions as for the NRW-Ticket apply there.
I think it is only valid from Bonn - Bad Godesberg station southwards, so you would need a single ticket from where you stay to Bonn-Godesberg. Even if you stay in Cologne it will still be cheaper to get a VRS minigroup ticket than a NRW-Ticket.

I have to retract the Bad Godesberg statement - the RLP-Ticket is valid from Bonn HBf on. But not on public transportation (subway/trams/buses) within Bonn.

altamiro -

" Even if you stay in Cologne it will still be cheaper to get a VRS minigroup ticket than a NRW-Ticket. "

What is a "VRS minigroup ticket"?


Peace, Robyn :)>-

VRS (Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg) is the integrated transportation system where Cologne and Bonn are in.
www.vrsinfo.de
A minigroup ticket is a (day) ticket for groups of 2-5 people which is usually cheaper already for 2 persons than 2 day tickets for one person. Most "Verkehrsverbünde" in Germany have such.

Thank you, altamiro, for your quick response.

Do you know if there are other areas that offer similar passes? Particularly, Mannheim, Heidelburg, Ludwigshaven area? Or the Karlsruhe/Bruchsal area?

Peace, Robyn :)>-

>Do you know if there are other areas that offer similar passes? Particularly, Mannheim, Heidelburg, Ludwigshaven area?

This is the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar VRN:
www.vrn.de

>Or the Karlsruhe/Bruchsal area?

Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund:
www.kvv.de

About 75-80% of Germany is covered by "Verkehrsverbünde", some are rather small, other very big. Most of them offer similar minigroup tickets for the entire area or parts of your choice.

Thanks for the input, all. I think we'll combine our Trier jaunt with a Rhine Gorge trip, so the Rhein-Pfalz Land-Ticket will be just the thing. Does anyone know if the K-D boats are included à la Eurailpass?

But why would Bonn be included in the R-P ticket? It's in another Land.

Here's a direct link to the Länder-Tickets: http://www.bahn.de/p/view/internatio..._tourist.shtml

>But why would Bonn be included in the R-P ticket? It's in another Land.

1) BONN is right on the border and
2) the Deutsche Bahn BU Regio would like to increase the amount of passengers in RLP - extending the validity of the ticket by another 10 km isn't really a problem.

Btw from Karlsruhe you can also use RLP ticket.
Overlapping the validity areas makes sense to get more people to use trains (and pay for them). After all Rhineland-Platinate and NRW don't somehow compete for train users.

Thanks again for the info. Now I have to go back and rethink our train travel....but that's okay. Planning the trip can sometimes be more relaxing than actually taking it! Peace, Robyn :)>-

I remember an earlier thread about Laender tickets that were valid into other cities a few kilometers into the next Bundesland. Someone wanted to know if there was a site with a list of all such extensions. The consensus was that there was no such unified list.