Germany Rail Pass or Point to Point tickets
 

I will spend 10 nights in Germany traveling from Lake Constance to Fussen, then making 2 stops for overnight. I looked at ordering rail pass but since I am traveling solo have not been able to get much on train fares so will I be better waiting to purchase point to point tickets ? I looked at the railfare compare but wasn't able to get the details for some routes even though the cost for some routes looked good. This is proposed route:
Lindau to Fussen
Fussen to Oberammeragua
Oberammerague to Heidelberg
Heidelberg to Boppard or Braubach or town in area of Rhine
Continue to Frankfurt airport for late flight.

I am wondering if I can save some money by getting some kind of rail pass. I am senior so might qualify for discounts and could take early morning or late evening trains.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

It is so easy to calculate it all - go to www.bahn.de - the German Railways web site and you'll get all the fares to compare against the pass

Now for your Bavarian trips you can get the Bavarian Pass - good on regional trains but not the fastest ones by cheap - 29 euros to do Lindau-Fussen and Fussen to Oberammergau (best by bus which i think the Bavarian Pass covers but not sure) - and on bahn.de when entering info put in senior as that may influence the fare as well.

Oberammergau to Heidelberg could be real expensive if you want flexibility to hop any train anytime - but on bahn.de you can get, if you act far enough in advance - SPAR fares - deep discount fares sold in limited numbers on each train - they are train specific and non-changeable, non-refundable i do believe.

Ditto for Heidelberg to Frankfurt - but there may be a Lander Card (like the Bavarian Pass) that would cover all those as they are not that far apart.

Buy the Bavaria Pass at any station - either in machines or at ticket windows.

I would think that the Bavarian Pass and equivalent pass in the Heidelberg-Frankfurt area if there is one plus a SPAR fare for your long journey Oberammergau to Heidelberg would be your best bet.

But if you want to hop any train anytime - even in Bavaria where the Bavaria Pass limits you to regional trains and not the much faster often ICEs, etc. then the pass may be a good deal. For loads on German trains i always highlight these info-laden sites: www.budgeteuropetravel.com (on their home page they have a link to the English schedule page of the Wunderbar bahn.de site and give you several valuable tips on how to fully use it); www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com - you will find pass prices at all three.

Lindau to Fuessen, definitely Bayenkarte/Bavarian Ticket. Cost for 1 person EUR22, unlimited travel for one day in Bavaria. Limitations: On Weekdays, can't start trip before 9AM and you are limited to Regio trains (locals). But since that's all that runs between Lindau and Buchloe, where you have to change to another regio to Fuessen, it doesn't make any difference.

Fuessen to Oberammergau - bus, again Bayernkarte.

Oberammergau - Heidelberg: Check the fare (as suggested) on www.bahn.de. You want to go from Fuessen (note spelling!)Bahnhof to Heidelberg Bahnhof. You could possibly safe some money by buyng a Bayernkarte from Oberammergau to Munich, then buying Munich to Heidelberg a regular ticket on a faster IC or ICE train.

Heidelberg to the Rhein you can again get some discounted ticket, on a Regio, because that's all that stops at the towns you picked. Ditto for return to Frankfurt airport (which has its own station). Check DB (Deutsche Bahn) office in Heidelberg for best deal. They are very helpful.

In other words, if you want to save some money, a pass doesn't make much sense for your itinerary, except perhaps offering a bit more convenience and flexibility.

Play around with www.bahn.de and get familiar with its (English language) contents. Then decide on your options.

Thank you for responses. I have been looking at Bahn site schedules. Where do I buy the Bavarian Pass Bayernkartetickets, when I arrive in Lindau or can I order and print them on Bahn site before I leave?

I have looked at several of the routes from Fuessen going north towards Rhine for overnight stop to see if I could find cheaper tickets. I would like to have the tickets on order at least before I arrive in Germany. Any more thoughts? Thanks.

>Thank you for responses. I have been looking at Bahn site schedules. Where do I buy the Bavarian Pass Bayernkartetickets, when I arrive in Lindau or can I order and print them on Bahn site before I leave?

From any ticket machine. You can buy them from a counter too, but they will cost 2€ more.

>I have looked at several of the routes from Fuessen going north towards Rhine for overnight stop to see if I could find cheaper tickets. I would like to have the tickets on order at least before I arrive in Germany.

Why? Either you can get cheap advance tickets well beforehand (in which case you should not hesitate to buy as soon as you see them), or they are sold out and only the standard tickets are left - then you can buy them as you go, absolutely no need to have anything "on order". You just go to the ticket machine (or the counter where it is available), punch in the destination and time, pay and go to the train. That's all.

Yeh to altamiro - only buy ahead if you can save - otherwise you just have the tickets to lose and if some unforeseen thing happens and you must cancel your trip - no refund or at least a refund easily gotten.

The machines are very easy to use in the stations. You can now IME wait a long time in line at manual ticket windows so try the machines first.

Lindau-Fuessen: With a Bayern-Ticket you are limited to regional trains and you must depart after 09:00 (except on weekends). If you can commit to a specific departure date and time, book up to 92 days in advance at bahn.de and get a Sparpreis fare as low as 19 EUR with no limitations on departure time or type of train.

Fuessen-Oberammergau: Bus. A regular ticket should be cheaper than a Bayern-Ticket.

Oberammergau-Heidelberg: Book ASAP (up to 92 days allowed) to get a Sparpreis fare as low as 29 EUR.

Heidelberg-Boppard: Book ASAP to get a Sparpreis fare as low as 19 EUR.

Boppard-Frankfurt Flughafen: Book ASAP to get a Sparpreis fare as low as 19 EUR.

Thanks for help and suggestions for Sparpreis tickets. So, to get these fares I use the Bahn.de site and put in departure point to destination with approx. time of travel and when I see the lowest fare offered just go ahead and purchase ticket? Is this is what you mean for Sparpreis tickets? If this is best way to secure lower fares I can do this and print them from home.

After my day trip to Oberammeragua I will return to Fussen and take train next morning to Heidelberg for 2 nights and finish the trip staying 2 nights in St. Goar to be near Rhine and see some of area. Hope this is not too far from Frankfurt FRA for my flight at 8pm. I am most grateful for all help offered.

>So, to get these fares I use the Bahn.de site and put in departure point to destination with approx. time of travel and when I see the lowest fare offered just go ahead and purchase ticket? Is this is what you mean for Sparpreis tickets?

You have to look at the offer - if it is marked as SparPreis (or some sort of XXX Spezial like Sommer Spezial, Oeuropa Spezial etc.) then yes, buy it as long as it is available. If it is a Länder Ticket (Bayern Ticket, Baden-Württemberg Ticket etc.) then you don't need to buy it right away.

>Oberammeragua

... sounds like a place in Central America :-)

The town you visit is called Oberammergau. The scheduling software will want correct spelling.

2 nights in St. Goar to be near Rhine and see some of area. Hope this is not too far from Frankfurt FRA for my flight at 8pm. I am most grateful for all help offered.

For 8pm flight you could take a train from anywhere in Germany and be at the airport hours earlier

From St Goar it's perhaps an hour at most i would think by train to the airport - probably changing trains in Mainz.

Thanks for latest updates.

Altamiro: My spelling has improved, and now I have Oberammergau and Fuessen right. Am looking forward very much to this adventure. I am looking forward to taking the routes planned and will see so much more this way. I always start out early morning so hope to enjoy the train journeys.

Many thanks.

>Altamiro: My spelling has improved, and now I have Oberammergau and Fuessen right.

I didn't mean to be snarky, but contrary to people, the software requires correct spelling and doesn't have all possible misspellings built in. And sometimes a misspelling is just a name of another town. There were already people wondering where they are after coming to Rothenberg (a small, non-distinctive village in Odenwald hills) when they wanted to go to Rothenburg (the "romantic road" fairytale town)...

Ah yeh and even the old burg (castle) and berg (town) - i think i have it right can make a huge difference in searching for train schedules, etc.

Lots of -burg and -berg on ends of town names

I do wonder if there is a Bergburg or Burgberg?

Palenque: That's funny but very true! I will be very careful getting my tickets.

By the way, I had a website for looking to compare cost of entire journeys to check against the prices on bahn.de and cannot find the one that I used. I had all the trips put in and got a fairly good deal for the entire single journeys but now I am at a loss to fine the one. It was like farecompare or something? If you know this one please help. Thanks to all.

We found this a easy and inexpensive way to get from Heidelberg to Frankfurt airport. There is one change if you go by train. You might want to check
www.lufthansa-airportbus.com/strecken_html
We are going to several of the same places in September and
I also need to do a pass and ptp comparison. Happy travels!

Before the grammar police get me, it should be "an easy" I
believe. :)

Thanks to all. I booked 4 of my journeys this morning using bahn.de and did quite well. Lindau/Fuessen 19eu., Fuessen/Heidelberg 29eu, Heidelberg/St.Goar 19eu and St. Goar to FRA airport 15.50 eu, so that is a good deal for Eu 82.50 and I have printed my tickets. I just need to buy the bus ticket to Oberammergau which is cheap.
I should arrive at airport approx. 1.5 hrs. before departure so hope that gives me enough time to go through security and to gate.

Many thanks to all who gave me so much help here.

Pal,

Berg is a mountain.

Thanks for your info on DB. Does that work for French and Italian trains also? The best I have been able to get from DB for F and I is schedules. Maybe I am missing a link?

Please check with your airline about how long before your
flight you need to be at the airport. We were told three
hours last year flying out of Milan back to the USA. Sounds
like you are all set.

>I do wonder if there is a Bergburg or Burgberg?

There is quite a lot of Burgbergs (castle hills), although they are mostly a geographical feature name, not a place's own name.

The English-speakers seem to mispronounce both -burg and -berg in the same way, no wonder it gets confusing for them...