Rail Pass question
 

I am trying to decide the best option for train travel in Germany. We will be there March 8 - 14. We will be in Munich and Frankfurt as our bases and day trips from there. I looked at point to point tickets and for two people on Monday from Frankfurt to Munich is $243. A 7 day Germany railpass is $543. It seems best to get the railpass, am I missing something?

Usually everyone on here says point to point tickets.

You checked this on www.railsaver.com -- really?

The fares seem high.

Best wishes,

Rex

And besides - - are you commuting daily? or am I missing something?

Railsaver was $214, so about $20 cheaper. We will be using the train often for day trips from the cities. We are not renting a car.

But $300 worth of day trips? Are you trying to see Germany or the inside of rail cars? There are plenty of day trips that are $10-20 a person. Are you not interested in seeing any of Munich? You are staying IN Frankfurt? Why?

areinert-

Did you check Die Bahn's website? I plugged in for you for March 11, 2004 from Frankfurt to Munich. The price I got was €64,80 per person 2nd class.

www.bahn.de

You need some help getting accurate information.

According to the Bahn website, the fare, 2nd class, from Frankfurt airport to Munich for two people is 97.20 Euros - about $125. Double that for round trip.

You can get two 4-day 2nd class railpasses (twinpass price for 2 people) for $270. Add $18 per day/per person for additional days you wish to travel on the railpass. If you traveled every day, you'd pay $378 total for two. But I doubt you really want to travel that much.

So the 4-day railpass ($270) looks like a good deal compared with a round trip ticket ($250) if you are indeed traveling round trip from FRA to Munich - for $20 more, you get two extra days of unlimited travel. If you want to travel more than 4 days, just buy point-to-point or daypasses when you get there (between 22 and 30 Euros per day total for two if traveling on the regional trains.)

Sorry-
Russ was correct about the trip from FRA-Munich. €64,80 was for 1 person traveling alone, but €97,20 for 2 traveling together.

But when I plugged in a return trip (for March 13) from Munich-FRA; if you buy your roundtrip ticket at the same time, you can get a discount for certain trains. So a roundtrip ticket is not necessarily double the price of one-way. The lowest price I get for the entire roundtrip ticket is €145,80 for 2 people.

Also, you will be there during the weekend, DB has a Happy-weekend ticket, which you can buy and use it for daytrips.

areinert & yk: The 97.20 fare applies to the bulk of the high speed equipment (IC, ICE, EC, generally.) It is possible to ride the RE trains for about 70 Euros, I believe - but this does extend the trip by a couple of hours, as a rule. Still, saving around $30-$35 or so each way might make the slower ride worth it. Are those the trains you refer to, yk, or did you find something fast for that price?

OH, I think that 145 Euro price might be the 25% discount price you get for purchasing roundtrip and at least 3 days in advance (discount is capacity-controlled; it's a good deal if you can get it, as you can use the fast trains.)

Russ-

For example, from FRA HB to munich.
For the outward journey I chose Mar 11 (thur), the ICE that leaves 09:50 (no changes required). For the return journey I chose Mar 14 (sun), the ICE that leaves at 18:34 (no change).
That is eligible for Sparpreis 25, which comes out to 145,80 EUR for 2 @ 2nd class!

Am I reading it wrong?

Thanks Russ

Is there any reason to buy first class?

areinert, I can't shake the feeling you're playing us. YOU answered your own question about about 1st vs. 2nd class after your trip last year:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34426395

Yeah, I found the same fare, yk; it is the Sparpreis fare, and saving 50 Euros is no minor thing. If areinert can get this in advance and before it's sold out - and doesn't mind making that decision for a specific day and time in advance on each leg - then the difference between a 4-day railpass and the two legs becomes about $85, meaning they'd pay $85 extra for two additional days of unlimited travel with the pass. I doubt they'd need to spend that much on daytrips without the pass.

Elberko, I hope you didnt mean your post as offensivly as I took it. I asked the question to get others input. Yes I feel that after our last trip second class is about the same as first. BUT, logic would say there must be a difference due to price, etc. So, I am asking to learn from people that have been to europe more then the one time I have.

areinert-
I have never traveled 1st class on DB, so I cannot comment. The 2nd class on ICE trains (which runs between FRA-Munich) is very nice.
I am still unclear whether you are going just one way from Fra-munich or a roundtrip back to FRA. If you are traveling roundtrip and book in advance, you can get up to 50% off savings in both 1st & 2nd class. I suggest you go to DB's website and plug in your dates and check on several schedules in both 1st & 2nd class and find out which is the best deal.

Hi areinert,

If you are under 30, go 2 cl.

If you are over 40, go 1 cl.

We are not sure if we will be doing a roundtrip yet. The plan is to base camp in two cities, Munich being one of the cites. We fly in and out of Frankfurt so we have consider Frankfurt as one of the cities to base out of. But we might base out of a city along the Rhien or Mosel river.

areinert-

To be honest, when I was in Germany last summer with my mother, we bought the Twin Pass. I think I probably would have saved some $ by buying point-to-point tickets, but I liked the idea of the pass - being able to take whichever train whenever we wanted. We didn't have to worry about lining up at train stations to buy tickets for each trip, or rushing to catch any pre-booked trains. Also, the train pass covers the K-D ferries on Rhine & Mosel, which we took for 2 days.

Railsaver.com recomends a 4 day Germany twin pass. I ran the numbers for point to point and it seems cleat that the germany pass will be cheaper. The last question is; should I buy the pass now or buy it in Germany when we get there???