I've been to Europe many times, including numerous times to Germany. Trains in generally are very easy to use. Changing tracks is generally easy; sometimes, you need to walk down steps and go to another line and walk up another set of steps. If you're confused, just ask....usually conductors are readily available. If you miss a train, there generally are many trains a day going from place to place. Have fun! Rail trips in Europe are great!

at www.bahn.de German rail web portal you get all the schedules as well as what platform your train will be on - where you may have to change, again with platform info

and the site can also tell you what bus, tram or S-bahn to take you from any address to the train station

A Wunderbar site!

Definitely recommend BudgetEuropeTravel.com. You can call the 800 number and they have excellent information and helpful advice.
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Between the clarity of the announcements, the charts and signs I found German rail stations the easiest to figure out. I have been quite confused in England and Scotland and I speak the language. You'll be fine.

And rail station staff and train conductors inevitably speak some 'train English' - again print out the schedules from www.bahn.de and have them ready in case you need to ask where the heck is my train. But like Danna says it's an easy system to use - and yes if you want to be baffled go to the U.K. where language is no barrier from confusing info is. (Like the train i was waiting for that forgot to stop at the station and screeched to a halt a few hundred yards away - rules said train could not back up so went on and announcements in English told passengers who wanted to reach some destinations to take a local train somewhere, switch to another train, etc. - the poor foreigner non-english speaker would have been totally nonplussed.

penne2538,

<i>Is there a site where I can find tips about using the train?</i>

Yes. http://tinyurl.com/eym5b is a good general introduction in 4 parts, including plenty of photos.

<i>Since I have your attention. For the below specific routes would you suggest I buy in advance and make seat reservations or just play it by ear? Id prefer not to be locked into specific times of the day.
1. Frankfurt Airport to Rothenburg (Sunday morning in early September)
2.Rothenburg to Munich (Tuesday afternoon in early September)</i>

Play it like a butterfly. As others have pointed out, there are frequent trains.

Rothenburg is only served by a local train, 2 per hour, from Steinach, and by buses from W&uuml;rzburg and Mannheim, 1 per day. Reach Steinach from W&uuml;rzburg which is convenient to Frankfurt Flughafen (airport).

Can't believe I never responded to these:

&gt;&gt;1. Frankfurt Airport to Rothenburg (Sunday morning in early September)

It is rather pointless to reserve for this connection as you don't know when your plane will actually arrive. If you do want a reservation, buy it with your ticket when you get there.

FRA to Rothenburg takes a little over 3 hours by express train and usually 3:47 by regional connections. Also, the regional station is closer in so you don't have as long a walk. With the regional trains you don't have to commit to a time. There is a connection every hour and there are no reservations. In the station, buy a Bayern-Ticket-Single for &euro;19 (one person) from a ticket automat and a local (RMV) ticket to Kahl am Main, the first stop in Bavaria, for &euro;6,60. Since this is a weekend day, if there are two of you, split a &euro;33 Sch&ouml;nes-Wochenende-Ticket. That will cover the entire trip, including FRA to Kahl, for less.

Take the S-bahn from the regional station to Frankfurt main station, come up from the underground S-bahn station, and find the next RE to W&uuml;rzburg. They leave at about 1/2 past the hour on track 7, 9, or 11.

2.Rothenburg to Munich (Tuesday afternoon in early September)

In some cases, express trains make the trip only a half hour faster than regional, sometimes no faster at all. You will save money by using a Bayern-Ticket for this trip.

Larry about express trains only being 30 mins faster

I checked yesterday Roth-Munich and express trains were over an hour quicker than regional trains. Not much for some - eternity for others it seems

any routing involving ICE trains are at least an hour slower in the, granted fairly epehermal check i made

Admittedly the difference of half an hour was a quick and dirty calculation. I think I overestimated the express times because I averaged all displayed express connections. DB often shows two leaving at the same time, one about half an hour slower, but included because it has fewer train changes, and they include some with a bus leg.

I did a more exact analysis, for Tues, Sept 4, starting at 1 PM (a Tues. afternoon in early Sept), and including only the faster connection leaving at the same time. The first six express connections are 2:29, 2:58, 2:32, 2:58, 2:32, and 2:58 - an average of 2:44. The first six regional connections are 3:24, 3:26, 3:27, 3:27, 3:27, and 3:27 - an average of 3:26. That's a difference of 42 minutes - a little more than half an hour, but certainly not &quot;over an hour&quot;.

Also, the Bayern-Ticket costs &euro;19 for a single person vs. &euro;56, almost three times as much as for the express ticket (&euro;27 vs &euro;112 for two). Not much for some... .

Of course, if you purchase well in advance and don't mind being locked in to a specific train, you can travel by express using the Dauer-Spezial promotional fare for as low as &euro;29.

Larry i should have looked at notes i took yesterday - 45 mins is not over an hour and i stand corrected. But also i've ridden my fair share of regional trains and they IME are just not as comfy as plus ICE IC trains. Three hours in a fairly hard and more cramped seat it seems, with periodic crowding as i've seen due to school students groups swarming on board for a few stops - has happen more than occasionally leads me to think the ICE or IC would be more up to the comfy status of most Americans at least.

Um, I know that this is a train question, but have you thought of driving? Rothenburg is a very easy drive from FRA, and not an easy train trip, what with all the connections. Same for Rothenburg to Munich.

Just a thought.

Larry - however you point out such a price different so i would certainly sit in a harder seat for 45 mins longer to save so many euros. Lots of folks benefit from your pointing all this out. thanks.

We just got back from traveling in Germany (with the help of many from this site!). We had twin passes for 4 days but also used the RE trains for within areas when possible. We thoroughly loved our trip from Salzburg to Berlin (change in Munich) by IC and ICE trains. We found some of the local trains to be hot with no air conditioning. But, overall, we had no major complaints with the local trains. They weren't bad by any means and the seats were not uncomfortable. We were never too crowded. When the time difference is minimal and the cost so much less, I say go with the local trains and the Laender passes. You can't beat them!

PalenQ,

I think our mission here is to introduce less experienced people to as many options as possible.

And by so doing, Larry has saved many folks a lot of euros just by presenting options most folks find too hard to ferret out. Seems Larry should get a service fee for doing so.

I'm more pass oriented as i usually take long trips on ICEs but now will also supplement pass days with the Lander Tickets, which also can, i believe be used on local transport like U-Bahns and buses not covered by a railpass. A railpass, however, for Germany still remains a big bargain for those who want flexibility - i think ICE full walk up fare Berlin-Munich can run 100 euros or about $140 - making the cheapest pass at about $175 for four unlimited travel days a real bargain. Two longish ICE or IC trips could more than pay for it. But once in Berlin or Munich investigate the Lander options Larry has so tirelessly investigated to maximum your pass. (Or of course book online far ahead to get the 29, 39, 59, 69 euro fares, which are available but not it seems on or near the day of travel.

For longish trips such as the not too uncommon Frankfurt-Munich-Berlin axis the pass seems to be a great deal in light of walk up fares (again deep discounts available as Larry so often has pointed out, but for ones desiring flexibility or who didn't plan in advance)

Munich-Berlin ICE 105 euros 2nd; 165 euros 1st class - some IC trains are a bit lower.

Frankfurt-Munich 81 euros 2nd

Berlin-Frankfurt direct ICE 104 euros - some 89 euros depending on routing.

Thus for the Frankfurt-Munich-Berlin type trip, tickets at stations would cost about 275 euros or about $365 in 2nd class

vs Pass - 4 day (min) flexi in one-month period 1st class Twinpass $245 p.p.; 2nd cl twin $180 p.p.

thus at walk up fares the $245 first class pass would be $120 cheaper than 2nd class fares.

And 2nd class pass would be $185 cheaper and you'd still have one more unlimted travel day on the pass to boot

extra days on twin passes as $29/day 1st cl and $22/day 2nd - the $22/day or $44 for a couple compares favorably with Lander Cards for 2 (29 euro or about $40 and no restricted trains (but no buses or U-Bahns either - S-Bahns can be used with the pass.

But book early fares would yield 29, 39 or 59 euros on each route - making that the best route for those not wishing flexibility.