Rail pass in germany
Jul 22nd, 2012, 08:02 AM
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Rail pass in germany
Is the Benelux Germany rail pass good for local trains from Fuessen to Gengenbach and from Gengenbach to Bacharach? Thanks for your help. The more I look at the Bahn website the more confused I become!
Jul 22nd, 2012, 08:38 AM
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You might find it cheaper and more convenient to just buy your tickets at the train station. That's what I always do.
However, I don't know much about rail passes, so maybe someone who uses them can help you.
However, I don't know much about rail passes, so maybe someone who uses them can help you.
Jul 22nd, 2012, 09:48 AM
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Another question - are reservations needed or will we be able to find 2nd class seats easily?
Pegontheroad, it looks like we can save money over the rail pass if we buy tickets online at least three days in advance, but then we have to use those tickets with any flexibility. The rail pass saves money over the tickets purchased that day at the station. I just want to make sure I could use the rail pass on local trains through the Black Forest. I know about the Lander pass, but most of our travel will be before we get to our hotel in Gengenbach where we would get the pass.
Pegontheroad, it looks like we can save money over the rail pass if we buy tickets online at least three days in advance, but then we have to use those tickets with any flexibility. The rail pass saves money over the tickets purchased that day at the station. I just want to make sure I could use the rail pass on local trains through the Black Forest. I know about the Lander pass, but most of our travel will be before we get to our hotel in Gengenbach where we would get the pass.
Jul 22nd, 2012, 06:03 PM
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BevK: The trip between Füssen and Gengenbach via the Black Forest typically uses local/regional trains, as you have indicated. This means that instead of using a railpass day, on Sat or Sun, you can use a Happy Weekend Ticket (not a Länder Ticket, a daypass good at any hour for all of Germany) to complete the trip for 40€ (total price for 1-5 travelers.) If it's a weekday, the trip is 48€ total with a "Quer Durchs Land" ticket, a daypass like the HW ticket good after 9 am.
These tickets can be bought from any DB ticket machine in Germany.
But if you decide to go with the railpass day instead, it is good on the same regional trains.
Also: Gengenbach is a "KONUS" town - which means you'll get a pass for free travel on the regional trains during your stay and on the day of departure: http://www.blackforest-tourism.com/konus So when you head to Bacharach, you can use the trains for free between Gengenbach and Karlsruhe w/ the KONUS card. Karlsruhe to Bacharach can be accomplished on a Rheinland-Pfalz Länder ticket - 25€ for two - using the regional trains.
SO... your entire trip from Füssen to Gengenbach (plus whatever training around you do while you're in the BF) could cost as little as 65€ total for two.
I don't know where you're going after Bacharach, but I do know the R-P ticket can get two of you to Luxembourg for 25€ total; the QDL ticket at 46€ or the Happy Weekend ticket at 40€ would be good to the Dutch or Belgian border.
I figured you'd want to be aware of all this before deciding on the Germany-Benelux pass. Feel free to repost if you have questions or need details.
These tickets can be bought from any DB ticket machine in Germany.
But if you decide to go with the railpass day instead, it is good on the same regional trains.
Also: Gengenbach is a "KONUS" town - which means you'll get a pass for free travel on the regional trains during your stay and on the day of departure: http://www.blackforest-tourism.com/konus So when you head to Bacharach, you can use the trains for free between Gengenbach and Karlsruhe w/ the KONUS card. Karlsruhe to Bacharach can be accomplished on a Rheinland-Pfalz Länder ticket - 25€ for two - using the regional trains.
SO... your entire trip from Füssen to Gengenbach (plus whatever training around you do while you're in the BF) could cost as little as 65€ total for two.
I don't know where you're going after Bacharach, but I do know the R-P ticket can get two of you to Luxembourg for 25€ total; the QDL ticket at 46€ or the Happy Weekend ticket at 40€ would be good to the Dutch or Belgian border.
I figured you'd want to be aware of all this before deciding on the Germany-Benelux pass. Feel free to repost if you have questions or need details.
Jul 23rd, 2012, 03:43 AM
#6
Railpasses can be used on all the trains pretty much in Germany. Some might require a seat reservation (the regionals won't) and you usually can find a seat in Second Class since the majority of seats, especially on regional routes, ARE in Second Class.
And there are no time restraints on passes as there are on some special tickets. IOWE you can use a pass 24 hours a day seven days a week within its validity period.
As to whether or not the pass will be cheaper to use is another question entirely.
Generally speaking the more you use a pass the cheaper it becomes and given the costs of some passes you might have to use them quite a lot in order for them to be cheaper than buying point-to-point tickets.
And there are no time restraints on passes as there are on some special tickets. IOWE you can use a pass 24 hours a day seven days a week within its validity period.
As to whether or not the pass will be cheaper to use is another question entirely.
Generally speaking the more you use a pass the cheaper it becomes and given the costs of some passes you might have to use them quite a lot in order for them to be cheaper than buying point-to-point tickets.
Jul 23rd, 2012, 05:33 AM
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I just returned from 3.5 weeks in the Frankfurt area and I traveled by train 15 times (some of that was S-Bahn only). I had an 8-day German RailPass and then purchased day-tickets for the other days.
The RailPass had the advantage of NO time restrictions and NO type of train restrictions, and I used IC/ICE trains a few times, sometimes unexpectedly, so that was a plus.
The day-tickets I used were also any time and almost any-train--no IC or ICE but that was ok for those days.
There are other regional day/weekend passes, like Russ is discussing, which didn't apply to my needs but are a bargain--with some time and train restrictions I think.
I found almost all (but not smallest ones) stations to be manned, which was good, because the regional tickets machines wouldn't take my credit card.
For all the regional trains I used, I never had a problem getting a seat. For the IC/ICE trains I used, there were also plenty of 2nd class seating. I did ignorantly sit in several reserved spots on one ICE train until I figured out where to look for the reservation cards, but in another car there were plenty of seats.
There are ICE trains that on the DB site say something about reservations, either required or recommended. I made 2 reservations--from Heidelberg and then that train got cancelled and I had to scramble around and find a regional way back to Frankfurt--wasted the reservation fee! Yay, flexible RailPass though. I also made reservations on an early ICE to (and mid-afternoon from) Nuremberg just because I didn't want to have a problem. There were many many seats available on both those trains, though. Reservations cost a little extra. In my case I didn't need any, even the ones I ended up having.
I found the train system to be remarkably efficient and reliable, but stuff did happen to stop or seriously delay me. Beware of tight connections to some critical spot, and it's good to have some alternative routes/itineraries handy!
In general I highly recommend train travel in Germany.
The RailPass had the advantage of NO time restrictions and NO type of train restrictions, and I used IC/ICE trains a few times, sometimes unexpectedly, so that was a plus.
The day-tickets I used were also any time and almost any-train--no IC or ICE but that was ok for those days.
There are other regional day/weekend passes, like Russ is discussing, which didn't apply to my needs but are a bargain--with some time and train restrictions I think.
I found almost all (but not smallest ones) stations to be manned, which was good, because the regional tickets machines wouldn't take my credit card.
For all the regional trains I used, I never had a problem getting a seat. For the IC/ICE trains I used, there were also plenty of 2nd class seating. I did ignorantly sit in several reserved spots on one ICE train until I figured out where to look for the reservation cards, but in another car there were plenty of seats.
There are ICE trains that on the DB site say something about reservations, either required or recommended. I made 2 reservations--from Heidelberg and then that train got cancelled and I had to scramble around and find a regional way back to Frankfurt--wasted the reservation fee! Yay, flexible RailPass though. I also made reservations on an early ICE to (and mid-afternoon from) Nuremberg just because I didn't want to have a problem. There were many many seats available on both those trains, though. Reservations cost a little extra. In my case I didn't need any, even the ones I ended up having.
I found the train system to be remarkably efficient and reliable, but stuff did happen to stop or seriously delay me. Beware of tight connections to some critical spot, and it's good to have some alternative routes/itineraries handy!
In general I highly recommend train travel in Germany.
Jul 23rd, 2012, 07:05 AM
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Thanks so much for your replies. This is exactly the information I was looking for. After pricing savings fares vs. a rail pass we've decided to go with the rail pass for it's flexibility, although it is about $75/person more expensive. And I don't think we'll worry about reservations since it sounds like we won't need them. Now if any of you can tell me what type of clothes to take and if my smart phone will work in Europe, I'll be all set!
Jul 24th, 2012, 02:15 PM
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Clothes--layers. And rain gear. Good walking shoes. Depending on where and when and for how long and your type of travel, maybe stuff that can be washed and dried in hotel. There ARE white tennis shoes and jeans on the "locals"; women wear scarves a lot.
As for phone, check with your provider now and see what your phone is capable of (e.g., my BB has international capability but my sons' BB's don't) and how much services will cost if you use it/take it.
About reservations--you may have noticed if you spent much time on the DBahn site that very rarely an "R" symbol (in a circle?) shows up next to a particular train--look at details and it will say whether Reservation is required or recommended.
As for phone, check with your provider now and see what your phone is capable of (e.g., my BB has international capability but my sons' BB's don't) and how much services will cost if you use it/take it.
About reservations--you may have noticed if you spent much time on the DBahn site that very rarely an "R" symbol (in a circle?) shows up next to a particular train--look at details and it will say whether Reservation is required or recommended.
Jul 25th, 2012, 06:56 AM
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I bought our railpasses yesterday and found a $50 discount code from Rail Europe so that helped bring the price down. I didn't notice the "R" symbol so I'm planning to go back and check the trains we will probably take and see if we need to make reservations. Also found out my smart phone will work in Europe - it's not cheap, but we don't plan to use it much. Thanks for the reminder to take rain gear, texasbookworm. Living in Arizona we sometimes forget that it rains in other places!
