Planning Train Travel: Germany & Amsterdam
 

Hi everyone,

My husband and I have booked all our hotels for our honeymoon in Germany this summer. We plan to travel by train and are looking for the most economical options. When I traveled around Europe in 2019, I used a Eurail Global Pass, but we no longer qualify for youth passes. We will primarily be in Germany with a four-day trip to Amsterdam. Should we book any passes or individual train rides? Are there regional passes we should consider? We prefer train travel for the scenery and relaxation but are open to flying or driving if it's more practical.

Our itinerary:

• August 7: Arrive in Munich
• August 7-10: Munich
• August 10-13: Garmisch-Partenkirchen
• August 13-15: Rothenburg ob der Tauber
• August 15-17: Burghotel auf Schönburg, Oberwesel (Rhine)
• August 17-19: Traben-Trarbach (for a wine tour)
• August 19-23: Amsterdam
• August 23-27: Berlin
• August 27th: Head Home

Thanks for your help! Any other suggestions for our itinerary are welcome.

Best,
Taylor

I'm not an expert on train tickets or passes, so take this with a grain of salt. Since your first whole week is all in Bavaria it may make sense to use some kind of Bavaria regional ticket. These that I see on bahn.de (the german railway website) seem to be for day tickets only. I'm curious if there is some kind of multi day ticket that is also valid on regional / local buses.

You can compare prices for point to point tickets on Bahn.de as well.

https://www.bahn.de/angebot/regio/laender_tickets

Hi taylormartin,

Long-distance trains are cheaper the earlier you buy them, but then the ticket is locked into that train at that date & time. These will IC, ICE, EC, & Thalys trains. So it makes sense to buy these as soon as you have decided on your itinerary.

Regional tickets are the same price whenever you buy them and are good for unlimited travel all day long, with a price for the first person and an additional few Euro for each additional. They are only valid on regional trains. You'll have to see which region your towns are in; Garmisch & Munich are in Bavaria and the Bavaria Ticket is good there. There are somerestrictionsnwith using the Bavaria Ticket, such as on weekdays it's only valid after 09.00.

Have fun as you plan!

s

You are consistently counting te same day in two different places. In your planning what you actually have is:

• August 7-9: Munich. 2.5 days
• August 10-12: Garmisch-Partenkirchen. 2.5 days
• August 13-14: Rothenburg ob der Tauber. 1 day plus a few afternoon/evening hours on the 13th
• August 15-16: Burghotel auf Schönburg, Oberwesel (Rhine). 1 day plus a few afternoon/evening hours on the 15th
• August 17-18: Traben-Trarbach (for a wine tour). 1.5 days
• August 19-22: Amsterdam. 3 days plus a few afternoon/evening hours on the 19th
• August 23-26: Berlin. If you take the train - 3 days plus a few evening hours on the 26th
• August 27th: Fly Home

Since you are spending quite a number of days in Germany, you may want to consider the 50 euros Deutschland ticket. https://int.bahn.de/en/offers/region...schland-ticket That should cover your

Between Amsterdam and Berlin, you have a few options.

The 50 euros monthly ticket allows you to take regional express trains, so you can also take RE all the way from Berlin to the border of Netherlands to reach Amsterdam. It will probably take you the whole day.

Otherwise, Flixtrain is an open access train - https://www.flixtrain.com/train-lines Flixtrain goes from Berlin to Essen/Duisburg, where you can take the train to reach Amsterdam. Or, you can compare the fare with advanced ICE fare, too.

Taylor, congratulations on your recent marriage!

Since Swandav2000 lives in one of the places you intend to visit, and knows train travel well, pay extra attention to her comments. Except for the mention of the "Thalys" train, which was merged recently into the Eurostar brand. Since Eurostar now has taken over the fast train network in Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands (and a bit of France that crosses borders with the other three), if you want to use the former "Thalys" trains, I'd suggest getting the Eurostar app, which will allow you to book these trains, and download the tickets to your mobile phone.

Everyone else's advice with links is also good.

Finally, you can find more information on train travel within each European country on Mark's website, seat61.com -- The Man in Seat 61. He helped me a lot on our recent trip from Paris to Belgium and in and around Belgium, and our last September's trip in Italy and Sicily.