Germany Train Passes Question
 

Hi, my husband and I are going to be staying in Nuremberg for 5 days in September and want to take the train to Munich, Bamberg, Regensburg and Wurzburg on day trips. We are flying in and out of Frankfurt so we will be taking both regional and ICE trains. I have been reading up on train tickets and I am still confused! :-)
Would you recomend that I buy my ICE tickets between Frankfurt and Nuremberg and Nuremberg and Munich in advance on bahn.de and then buy Bayern Tickets for the other day trips? Or is there a Rail Pass that covers both that will help me save more money? Also, does anyone know if I can call my airline after I have bought my plane tickets for the Rail&Fly vouchers? And even if I can is there a benefit over buying ICE tickets in advance on bahn.de?
Thanks so much!

Hi V,

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de /bin/query.exe/en

often has discounted fares.

((I))

>And even if I can is there a benefit over buying ICE tickets in advance on bahn.de?

The advance purchase specials on bahn.de (those 19 and 29 Euro fares) are not flexible - this means, no change, no refund in any case. With the normal tickets (doesn't matter whether you buy them online or on arrival) you can take any train within 48 h, and almost the same is valid for the rail&fly coupons (the day of arrival and the next day).

In this case, let the price decide.

I wouldn't advise using the Dauer-Spezial on the day you arrive by trans-Atlantic flight because you can't count on the flight being on time. However, a FRA to Nürnberg ticket is only €49 each by ICE and €44 each by slightly slower IC. You can get a Dauer-Spezial fare for the trip back to FRA because you can be sure of your times. You can also do the trip from FRA to Nürnberg by regional trains for about €20 each with a Bayern-Ticket and local RMV tickets.

< Also, does anyone know if I can call my airline after I have bought my plane tickets for the Rail&Fly vouchers? >

I don't think you can do that without paying for a change fee (since technically speaking, you are changing your destination), but it won't hurt to call and see.

I would suspect buying individual tix (plus the Bayernt ticket) will be cheaper than rail pass.

I went to Nuremberg last April and did daytrips to Bamberg and Wurzburg (plus Bayreuth). You can read my trip report if you're interested:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34991739

I am not very well versed on train fares, but I wonder if the TwinPass would be a good deal for you?

Thank you all so much. I didn't see the 49 euro price from FRA to Nurnberg but maybe I wasn't reading something right....but good point about not knowing if our flight will be on time!

And thank you yk for your trip report! Great details and information! Now I am getting excited about the trip :-)

>>I didn't see the 49 euro price from FRA to Nurnberg<<

That is the standard (2nd cl) fare from FRA to Nürnberg via ICE. You can hardly find anything for more. What are you looking at?

I found the 49 euro fare - I was looking at the round-trip saving rate. I have done a bit more seraching on the bahn.de website and think I figured it out now - looks like we will just buy the ICE tickets when we get there and the Bayern Tickets for the rest of the side trips. I was just hoping there was a pass to help cut the cost a bit on the ICE trains between FRA, Nurnberg and Munich.

Thanks for all of your help!

As for the German Railpass - a Twin pass costs, for the 4-day minimum/one month period format $213 (130 euros) p.p. for having two names on one pass - a Twin Pass in 2nd cl - extra days per day $25/day or (15.5 euros/day)

and $289 in 1st class extra days $33/day

so for a 2nd class 4-day pass you pay 32 euros a day p.p. and days after that 15 euros p.p.

then compare with the various discounts, regional pass, etc. You may not save much money for the restrictions - pass can be used on any train any time (except for thie rare ICESprinters most tourists will never encounter) - regional passes cannot be used on express trains.

so the math is easy but if the pass does not cost much more then consider its fully flexible benefits to hop on any train any time.

For passes in U.S. and info i always refer to www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - two sites that have more than the usual pricing and i recommend for buying - budget europe IME has experts you can talk to. Prices are universal. 5- and 10-day passes (only not the 4- 6- 7-, etc for some reason) are sold in believe at main stations in Germany bahn.de for pricing

You don't need to take the ICE from Nürnberg to Munich. There is a Regional Express leaving Nürnberg at 9:10. It takes 1:44 vs 1:02 for the ICE, but you can do it with a Bayern-Ticket, €27 for both of you vs €47 each, one way, for the ICE. If you do it all in a day, it's €27 by the regional trains, €54 if you stay overnight.

Because of the possibility (probability?) of a late arrival, the only way you can savely save over the ICE to Munich would be to plan on spending the first night in the Frankfurt area (Bacharach, St. Goar?) and then use a discount fare the next day.

<b>If</b> you are staying in N&uuml;rnberg over a Sat night, you can get a Sparpreis 50 fare from Frankfurt. The first person pays half of the full roundtrip fare and the &quot;Mitfahrer&quot; (co-traveler) pays half of that. That should come to &euro;73,50 RT for 2, but they are showing &euro;70,50 on the website.

Let's see. If they bit the bullet and take the ICE at full fare from FRA to N&uuml;rnberg, then use Bayern-Tickets for the day trips to Bamberg, W&uuml;rzburg, and Munich, and come back on a regional trains to Frankfurt using a Bayern-Ticket and RMV tickets from Kahl to Frankfurt, then I calculate they would spend &euro;110 each, or $342 for both. A five day twin pass is $476, so they save $134 (28%). For me, that would pay for a day of room and board for two. The total extra time on the train over 5 days is 5hr 20min, just over an hour a day.

Larry - just want to say you're full of useful information!

And Vanmurphys - in case no one has mentioned it above (I didn't re-read all the replies), another advantage of Bayern Ticket is that it includes local transportation as well. So if you're in Munich or Wurzburg and are tired of walking, you can ride the bus/tram etc for free (using the Bayern Ticket).

IIRC, you also get that benefit with the railpass. But not if you buy individual ICE tix N&uuml;rnberg to Munich.

Thank you to everyone for all of your help - you guys really know your stuff :-)

I believe a railpass only includes S-Bahnen, but not other modes of transport in the transit districts.

Yes a railpass includes only S-Bahns and in the case of Berlin only S-Bahns that go between main rail stations and not all S-Bahns.

Only buses that would be covered by a German railpass would be those that are subsituted for trains on occasion or on old rail routes that are now served only by DB buses - like to Bernkastel-Kues on the Mosel (last i knew)

Even though the lanugage of the German railpass vis a vis S-Bahns says in Berlin only S-Bahns between main rail termini when i've asked in Berlin several times the answer was always yes it's good on all S-Bahns and i have used a pass on many that technically i guess may not qualify