Larry- Switzerland also lets folks under 16 travel free, though i think they have to buy a Family Card for 20SF a year.

According to the Swiss Rail website, "Juniors" (6 - 16 yrs. old) can travel free when accompanied by a ticketed parent if they have a Junior Card. First two children in the family pay CHF 20 each for the Junior Card; all other children after that can get the card free.

And the benefits of the Swiss Junior Card can be immense for tourists as kids this age always get a free ticket to match whatever the parents buy - like on the Jungfraubahn, which costs over $100 for about a six-mile run - kids would get a free ticket - similarly on other pricey mountain top trains and cables - Schilthorn, Titliss (sp?), Rigi, Pilatus, etc.

Swiss Passes bought in US come with a free Family Pass where kids under 16 always travel free, like with the Junior Pass sold for CHF 20 each in Switzerland (Swiss Passes are cheaper by themselves if bought in the States last i checked and families save even more over buying the same pass in Switzerland - figure that one out - note that the Swiss Railways own about 25% of Raileurope, who sells these passes cheaper than in Switzerland.)

I have a Swiss Junior Card for my kids and a Swiss Half-Fare Card for myself. It's a good deal but remember that there are some cable cars and chair lifts which are private and the reduction cards are then useless.

Schuler: you mention some cables which are not covered - i was under the impression that everything that moved in terms of transport in Switzerland was covered. What kinds of conveyances do you think are not? I'mnot doubting you but just curious - i've been saying everything so want to get it right.

Merci PalQ

>What kinds of conveyances do you think are not?

First of all, small, privately owned chairlifts. Unless you are hiking around in the parts of Switzerland outside of the major tourist regions (BO, Gstaad, Upper Engadine) you won't encounter those.
Additionally a few cable cars in the Upper Engadine opted out of the Swiss Travel System because the latter restricted the price increases. I think some of them (Muottas Muragl?) are back in now.

thanks high wall (??) - now i know not to see everything but nearly everything a tourist will encounter. Merci.

<now i know not to see everything but nearly everything a tourist will encounter. Merci.>

of course i mean now i know not to SAY everything!

>high wall (??)

I thought it means "looking up", but I can't be sure...

"High wall" is correct. I took the the cable car from Brunnen to Urmiberg. They were not part of the half fare system. Many of these smaller chairlifts don't have enough visitors or can't afford the conditions that the SBB dictates.

Most tourists only go to BO and Pilatus anyway (where the half card is accepted) so it's not a problem.

I hope someone is still reading this thread. I have tried to find information on tickets from Munich to Nurnberg but they keep telling me there is not train at the time I'm choosing....

How do I find the train schedule so I can chose a time that a train would be running in order to get cost?

"they keep telling me there is not train at the time I'm choosing...."

Who they?

If "they" are RailEurope, don't use them. They only show schedule for trains they sell tickets for, which aren't many.

On the other hand, if you are already using THE authority, bahn.de, then your problem might be that you're looking at a date beyond Dec. 9. German Rail shakes up their entire schedule (slightly) and their pricing stucture (sometimes more than slightly) at this time of year. Until they announce the new schedules and fares, probably at midnight Sunday morning, Continental Europe Time, 6:00 PM EST on Sat. Dec 9, it isn't possible to get schedules and price beyond that date.

Just be patient.

I put Dec 21 in on bahn.de site and schedules are loaded for then - two trains an hour taking about 65-70 minutes; 40-41 euro in 2nd class.

The journey time Munich-Nurnberg has recently been reduced with the opening of a new high-speed rail section on that trajectory so ICE trains can realize their top speeds of up to 190 mph.

Anyway forget about needing schedules with two trains an hour - just show up at station and there will be a train within a half-hour - no need to reserve seats in my and Larry's experience (he says above i believe) on hundreds of German trains - nearly always empty seats. This train would fall into the bounds of the Bavarian ticket but i believe you'd have to take local trains and not the ICE, making a longer journey time.

Bob,
now I am not sure what is going on, because I too can find schedules beyond Dec 9. But yesterday, when I queried for a date beyond the 9th, I got the message, "there was an unsuccessful or incomplete search due to a timetable change."

I am not sure how many times I was searching ahead that way. The only route for which I am sure is Rothenburg to Hohenschwangau. They are currently working on the tracks into Füssen, so everyone must take a bus from Hopferau to Füssen, making the trip longer. I wanted an accurate schedule for after they finish the track work (Dec 18), so I was using a later date. I get the same error message today for the route to Hohenschwangau, but not to Füssen. Maybe the bus line, RVO, is changing to a winter schedule.

Maybe the search was unsuccessful because wrong spelling was used? To be sure you have to use Muenchen and Nuernberg (nt just leaving away the points), although I think bahn.de will also understand Munich.

I suggest you go to BudgetEuropeTravel.com and call their 800 number. They are rail experts in Europe and are very helpful. Purchasing tickets from them isn't any more expensive, except for a very small S&H fee to get paper tickets mailed to you. It's definitely worth the small fee to get the peace of mind that you've got the right tickets and at the best price.
:)>-

HighWall - yes that happened to me - i put in Nurnberg and lots of things came up but nothing i could see that was Nurnberg Hbf - then i spelt it Nuerneberg and it came up with the German umlahs over the u and no e.

MaureenB,

I have talked to BETS before, and I agree that they are very knowledgeable. However, I was under the impression that they sell rail passes, but not point-to-point tickets.

In any case, IMHO, the only case that would justify buying German Rail tickets from here is if you can get a better price. Examples of this would be tickets you want to use in the first three days that require advance purchase or, and these often go together, tickets that have a limited quantity and often sell out. Examples would be SparPreis and Europa-Spezial tickets. I don’t think BETS sells any of these.

Other than that, you are best off to just buy your tickets over there.

Hi, Larry. BETS sells point-to-point, passes, and any combination of them. They give very good advice on what purchase makes the most sense for you. Their prices are very good, not marked up like others.

I liked buying our tickets in advance from BETS, because we needed four seats, preferably together, and for long haul rides. So I wanted to avoid any anxiety, mishaps, and also spending the extra time to go in advance and get the tickets, dealing with a language barrier, etc. Just felt a lot more convenient and efficient for us to have tickets in hand, know our schedule, be able to inform hotels when we'll arrive, etc. Call me a control freak!
:)>-