I will be arriving in Frankfurt on this Saturday morning and taking the train to Munich, where I will be for a week. I want to go to Nuremburg probably Monday for the Christmas fair and maybe to Salzburg on Sunday. May not go anywhere on Thursday but will be returning to Frankfurt on Friday afternoon.<BR><BR>When I have been in Bavaria before and have gone to Christmas markets I have had some kind of special ticket, and also had a special ticket to go to Salzburg with friends during this season. I have visited the deutsch bahn site and am still confused about what kind of ticket to get to go to Munich and back from Frankfurt, and if I should get some kind of pass to do the whole thing or get some combination of tickets. Can somebody help me get this figured out before I leave?<BR><BR>Thanks. Judy

The whole price structure on the German rail system just underwent a major revision. As I understand it, the more in advance you buy your ticket the cheaper the cost. But the exact details are complex and I don't know them. <BR><BR>In Bavaria itself, there was last summer, a special ticket known as a Bayernkarte, or a Bavarian ticket.<BR>I rode to Salzburg for 21 euro.<BR>BUT I could not ride the fastest trains at that price, I had to take a local that made many stops or I could pay a supplement to ride the express train, which would have negated the discounted price.<BR><BR>It was my understanding that I could ride anywhere in Bavaria, including Salzburg and Kufstein in Austria (which are treated as being part of Bavaria for purposes of the ticket), for this low fare. (The route between Salzburg and Munich is actually served by the Deutsche Bahn. When you buy a ticket in Salzburg to go to Munich, you go to a DB window in the Salzburg train station.)<BR>Hopefully someone fully up on the new price structure will tell us about it.<BR>I asked my friend who lives in Munich, but she rarely takes the train locally and did not know the details of the new price structure.<BR><BR>

You can read about the cheap daypasses at<BR>http://www.bahn.de/pv/int_guest/true/pv2_offers_national.shtml#8<BR>Look for the Bayern (Bavaria) Ticket and the Happy Weekend Ticket.<BR><BR>You should probably consider starting off in N&uuml;rnberg, especially if you'll be using the weekend ticket (28 euros for a group of up to 5, 3.5-4 hours by train with 1 or 2 changes depending on the train; 38 Euros each, 2.5 hours on the fast trains.) This would also save you some backtracking to see N&uuml;rnberg from Munich. Munich is a lot farther, a long way to go on your first day especially if you're using the daypasses. If you must get to Munich on Saturday, the fast trains are best.<BR><BR>Either of the daypass options will get you to Salzburg and back.

Judy, <BR><BR>take an ICE to Munich from FRA. The new discount rail pricing system probably won't help you much this time if you're not traveling in a group. Under the new regime, you can buy a Bahn Card (good for one year) for 35 Euro, which entitles you to 10-40% discount of face value, depending on time of purchase. Because you're traveling so soon, I think only the 10% discount is available for you (but I'm not certain). Thus, you're better off just paying full fare (approx 120 Eur for a return ticket on the ICE).<BR><BR>The discount ticket in Bavaria is called the &quot;Schones-Wochend Ticket&quot; on the weekends (28 Eur/day up to 5 people) and &quot;Bayern ticket&quot; on the weekdays (21 Eur./day up to 5 people). These tickets are only good on certain trains (the RB - regional bahn, RE - regional express, and BOB - Bayern Oberland Bahn) trains, i.e., the slow-moving trains with frequent stops. <BR><BR>Note, though, that you cannot travel before 9 a.m. on the weekday ticket (but you can travel as early as desired on the weekends). Either of these tickets is all you need to travel to Salzburg, despite the border cross.

Thank you, Steve, Russ and Ben, for helping me with this information. I am staying with friends in Munich so want to go straight there on Saturday. I plan to go to the Christmas market in Nurmberg on Monday and I guess can use the local pass, at least I did last time. There will be 3 of us going and then a friend is meeting us with a car to drive to Rothenburg, then we'll return. Sounds like a combination of ICE for the Frankfurt to Munich round trip (Is that about 120 E?) and then perhaps the Bavarian pass for the Munich to Nurmburg round trip with the other 2 people? If we got to Salzburg we can do the same. I considered the weekend pass to go on Saturday morning from Frankfurt to Munich, but it's on slow trains and then I still have to return to catch a flight on Friday afternoon, so probably not a good idea.<BR><BR>Many thanks and Froehlich Weihnachten (or something like that--I'm a beginner!)<BR><BR>Judy