Germany train help!
 

Hello!

I need to book my December 31 train from Berlin to Frankfurt but I want to stop in Potsdam on the way. Should I just take the local S-Bahn to Potsdam and book a ticket from there to Frankfurt, or book Berlin to Frankfurt with a stop over in Potsdam?

Opinions on seeing Potsdam in winter----worth it?

Be careful with this. You may, notice I said <B>MAY</B> end up having to return to Berlin (from Potsdam) in order to get the usual "faster" connections to Frankfurt.

Now, I'm certain somebody is going to roll in and say there's a way around that and if there is you will perhaps be all the better for it.

Yes you are far better off stashing your bags in a locker at Berlin Hbf (Hauptbahnhof) or main central train station and taking the S-Bahn to Potsdam and back to Hbf- Berlin-Frankfurt ICE trains do not seem to stop in or go via Potsdam (according to www.bahn.de/en -the German Railways website which you should go to and see all the options).

Go to www.bahn.de/en and book your own online -get the cheapest price -limited number of discounted tickets can sell out early so ASAP - at least 60 days if not more before.

www.seat61.com explains all of that for those countries- for general info on trains (like 1st vs 2nd cl) also check www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

tickets rarely sell out, especially in first class so you can always buy once there but at a higher price usually.

Tickets may not come with a seat reservation so be clear on that and make one for the usual extra few euro fee-many trains are chuck full these days (though there are so many you can always buy tickets at the last minute - especially in first class).

<Now, I'm certain somebody is going to roll in and say there's a way around that and if there is you will perhaps be all the better for it.>

Seems to be none really on the quick check I made at www.bahn.de/en.

A Potsdam-Frankfurt ticket will take you back to Berlin first normally anyway. It sells for €29.90 right now for 12/31 leaving Potsdam at 14:55 (current saver fare price.) That train leaves you a 15-minute layover in Berlin Hbf to fetch your bags before the DIRECT connecting train leaves for Frankfurt, where you arrive at 19:44.

Note: If you want to leave Potsdam earlier, you CAN catch an earlier train into Berlin Hbf with the saver fare. The 14:55 train is an RE train. You can use ANY RE or other regional/local trains that same day to reach Berlin with your saver fare ticket. The saver fare only commits to the high speed trains (IC, ICE, EC) that are scheduled on your ticket.

So yes, it's OK to leave bags in a Berlin Hbf locker before heading to Potsdam. Buy a single one-way ticket to Potsdam. Then use your pre-purchased Potsdam - (Berlin Hbf) - Frankfurt ticket after that.

If you don't like the 14:55 departure time from Potsdam you can search your own connections. Just check to make sure your saver fare ticket goes back to Berlin Hbf, where you left your bags, and not some other Berlin station (some do that.)

If you find an itinerary you like better, but it doesn't go back to Berlin Hbf, no worries. You can drag your bag with you to Potsdam and put it in a locker there.

Presuming you mean Frankfurt(Main) HBF, one danger trying to book from Potsdam is that there are trains to the other Frankfurt, Frankfurt(Oder) at the Polish border from Potsdam.

You guys are right. The Potsdam trains go back to Berlin. Saver fair, for my family of 5, directly to Frankfurt or with a Potsdam stop is 86 Euro. So, may as well book with the stop.

*****Anyone know....if I don't use the first part of the ticket to Potsdam, am I still able to get on the train for the Frankfurt part without issue?****

You're all brilliant and helpful. Thanks!

>Anyone know....if I don't use the first part of the ticket to Potsdam, am I still able to get on the train for the Frankfurt part without issue?

Of course. Trains are not plains. ;)

Saver fair, for my family of 5, directly to Frankfurt or with a Potsdam stop is 86 Euro>

Is that for all 5 or p.p.?

"Is that for all 5 or p.p.?"

€86 is the price on some of those journeys for 4 persons age 15+. The 5th person is likely under 15.

DB tickets, including saver fares, offer significant savings for families with children under 15 - they travel for FREE with their parents. With German Rail or Eurail passes, there is a less generous policy... children 12-14 must have their own rail passes.

children 12-14 must have their own rail passes.>

with eurails at least now kids under 15 get a free pass to match their parent(s)' pass.

so for 23 euros p.p. on that ticket you can go from Prague -stop in Dresden and go onto Berlin - wow that is a deal plus the free kinder fare.

"...with eurails at least now kids under 15 get a free pass to match their parent(s)' pass."

This sounds like misinformation to me. If true, where did you read it? Eurail says this:

http://www.eurail.com/eurail-passes/...mily-discounts

Raileurope says the same: https://www.raileurope.com/promotion...-families.html

http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id...#select%20pass

got it a bit wrong -under 12 not 15.

And German passes can now be used to take German trains or DB buses to Prague, Verona, Innsbruck and anywhere a German train goes -I read this I think on that site too but can't be sure my recall is always correct/

http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id9.html>

yes all those places and even to Venice on a German Railpass!

86 Euros total for the five of us, that includes our 12 year old.

May next ticket to buy is the Prague/Dresden/Berlin. Here we go!

Fuss- thanks for correcting me -I got mixed up in my responses above - not carefully reading your post kids 12-14- I will try to do better. I stupidly read that you said all kids needed their own pass. Thus the needless posts. Should read better.

as usual you were spot on right about German rail tariffs!

No problem, PalenQ. I corrected you not for fun but because other readers can suffer consequences when bad information gets into the forum.

Yes indeed Fuss- and I do the same as it should be.

May next ticket to buy is the Prague/Dresden/Berlin. Here we go!>

You may consider staying a day or even two in Dresden - lots to see and do and more compact than huge Berlin. Just a thought.

And when going to Dresden from Prague be sure to sit on the east side of the train if possible for the best views of Saxon Switzerland, just before Dresden - not much awesome as that on the west side.

https://www.google.com/search?q=saxo...w=1920&bih=950

Saxon Switzerland that the train to Dresden goes thru!