Railpass or Point to Point....
 

My german itinerary for this coming September includes train travel from:

Frankfurt to Wurzburg
Wurzburg to Rothenburg
Rothenburg to Garmisch
Garmisch to Munich

I typed everything into www.bahn.de, and came up with an overall price of $265.20 - this doesn't include my travel from munich, into the airport.

For a 4 day german twin railpass, it will cost $290.

Should I travel point to point, or get the railpass? I read in a guide book that train tickets are much more expensive if you buy them the day of travel, so the numbers I put together for point to point could be off, I'm just not sure by how much. Is the railpass that much more convenient?

I already put all the numbers through, I know the railpass is only a few dollars more...

I'd really like to know - is it cheaper, or more expensive to buy the tickets once I get to Germany. My guidebook says it is signifcantly more expensive to buy tickets the day of travel, but I also just read on the gemut site that it's cheaper. Which is true?

4-day German Twin 2006 price is $150 p.p. or $300 plus RailEurope's mailing and handling fees. If that is definitely all the train travel you're doing then you'll be better off buying regular tickets in Germany - can buy them all at once at Frankfurt Airport but specify the days you'll want to use them. Otherwise there's no big hassle except waiting a bit in line to buy them at stations - and if you can learn to use the automatic ticket machines even better. Or go to www.bahn.de where you can often print off your own tickets.
And for the Bavarian part of your trip you can buy the bargain Bavarian Pass, used on regional trains only but you're not going that far so that's what i'd do, wait until Bavaria to buy Rothenburg-Garmish and Garmish to Munich - would be much cheaper than buying regular tickets, especially for two folks.
I'd say no pass for you unless there is other train travel you'll be doing. For current pass info: www.budgeteuropetravel.com and click on German Railpasses for 2006 prices as you have outdated prices $290 is now $300 for two on a twin. If buying a pass i do recommend BETS as in above home page for their expertise and lack of some of Raileurope's mailing fees. But i'd wait until Germany or go to the bahn site and print off your own tickets.

<< read in a guide book that train tickets are much more expensive if you buy them the day of travel... >>

Never encountered anything like this, barring a few specific exceptions (none of which apply to you)...

...there ARE some specific sale fares (for example, the PREM fares of France) which require advance purchase...

and...

some "high-demand" (high "prestige") lines, such as the Eurostar between London and Paris also have advance discounted fares, which cannot be purchased on the day of travel.

I would personally not buy the pass.

Best wishes,

Rex

Ordinary tickets are priced from the distance in kilometres and, since the ticket is valid on any train, the fares don't vary according to when you buy the ticket.
For longer journeys where tickets come with a seat reservation, booking in advance may give a cheaper fare.
For local journeys in Bavaria (and some other areas of Germany), there is a very good fare allowing unlimited travel on local trains for a day. The details are on the Deutsche Bahn web site.

The Bayern Tickets and other Länder tickets are explained at the following link:

http://www.bahn.de/-S:PtVORN:eNNIONN..._tickets.shtml

Buying a Bayern Ticket is easy as it a specific choice on the ticket machines. BTW you can also get a schedule of possible connections at the same ticket machines even if you are not buying a ticket. We usually went to the train station the day before we traveled and printed out possible schedules, then bought the Bayern ticket the day that we traveled.

Regards, Gary

New recently in Germany ICEs do charge quite varying prices as the bahn site proves - railpass is good on all but there is no longer a set price as to distance on ICEs - is on other trains. Much of Europe is moving to market pricing on trains.
Once again though the pass is not a good deal for the OPs plan.

> New recently in Germany ICEs do charge quite varying prices as the bahn site proves - railpass is good on all but there is no longer a set price as to distance on ICEs - is on other trains.

It is set also on ICE's - they just slap on supplements which are fix for a given route (like 20+ Euro extra for Frankfurt -Cologne HS route). Therefore the ICE price is different from the normal train ticket price, but does not change significantly with time.

>Much of Europe is moving to market pricing on trains.

Yes, but it hasn't gone as far as it did with airlines. Two years ago Deutsch Bahn tried to introduce a plane-like ticketing system, experienced a very consistent loss of passengers and mostly reverted to the old system within less than a year.

Well i think you're using semantics - 20 euro supplement for the same distance just validates what i said - prices no longer are the same from point a to b - call it a supplement or whatever you like.

Berlin-Frankfurt ICEs cost generally 98 euro 2nd class but IC trains cost 81 - thus for the same kilometers there is a varying price - i may have phrased my wording wrong, again semantics, but the point is the a charge per kilometer is no longer always the norm. Granted trains can take different routes but that's another matter.

I believe that your guidebook (BTW, what is it) is significantly errant. There is no price penalty for purchasing your tickets over there on the day of travel. I have priced many German Rail tickets online from their website and then bought them over there on the day of travel, and they have always been the same price.

This may sound like symantics, but it IS possible to get tickets for significantly LESS before the day of travel, but usually only when you order them online through a national rail company's websites. For instance, French Rail has significantly reduced PREMS fares that are only for advance purchase online. German Rail sells SparPreis fares for a 50% or more reduction with a 3 day advance purchase, either online or over there. Italian Rail (Trenitalia) has €29 EuroStar fares and €15 Freedom fares available for purchase up to the previous day, either at a ticket counter or automat over there, or online.

You are unlikely to get cheaper tickets by purchasing them in advance from U.S. ticket sellers like Rail Europe.

Unlikely often but not always - Raileurope's site lists many $25 fares on trains between Italy and Switzerland, Austria and Germany - seems available on many trains on their site. But as usual add their fees - for a single traveler makes it much higher but for small groups not so.
I agree with Larry that there is no surcharge for full fare tickets at the ticket windows in any country - except in some, like Holland, tickets are a tad cheaper if you use the automatic ticket machines - machines are becoming so popular that train companies like SNCF in France are stuck with surplus ticket window operators.

Why don't you try with a Germany-Benelux SAVER pass 2nd class for 5 days.

I think it's $205.

You don't have to use the Benelux pass

the only reason to buy a German-Benelux Pass for train travel only in Germany over the much cheaper Germany only railpass (Twin $150 p.p.) is that the German-Benelux pass is good over a 2-month period whereas the German is good just for a one-month period.

Yes, you're right PalQ.

I was confused because gypsy said in the first post that the price was $290.-

The German Rail "twin" pass is only sold for two people, not per person, like many of the saver passes. That is why the price is shown only for two people ($300, not $150 per person). Gypsy should have said in her OP that the price would be $300 for a twin pass, not $290.

Incidently, if one wants to "play" the system, using regional trains will only take about 2 hours longer, total for the whole trip, vs. express trains, and the full fare would be €209. By using Bayern tickets, that price could be reduced to €107,50 (about $135). If the Frankfurt to Würzburg leg were on a Saturday or Sunday, using a Schönes-Wochenende ticket would bring the entire cost down to €100.

As for cheaper tickets from Rail Europe, I deliberately said "unlikely", because it isn't necessarily always true. I did see a few years ago that the one way ICE fare from Frankfurt to Berlin from Rail Europe was a few $$ less (including their shipping) than the price shown by DB, but that was the only case I have ever seen where RE was cheaper.

I would REALLY like to know where you have found $25 fares on RE from Germany to Italy, Switzerland, or Austria. DB does sell €19 Europa-Spezial tickets from Stuttgart to Zurich, but I did not see that RE had matched it. From limited cities in Germany to limited cities in those countries, DB does sell, online, tickets for €39 or less. Go to http://www.bahn.de/-S:PtVOR9:eS7oHtN...internat.shtml and get out your German-English dictionary.

BTW, the prices I quoted for "playing" the system (€209, €107,50, and €100) were for two people, not pP.