My wife and I are traveling in southern Germany and Austria this summer. She will be arriving from Turkey where she will be on another trip while I will be spending about 5 days in northern Germany before she arrives. My question is this. If we buy two Rail Passes together we can get a "saver pass". If I need 10 days while she only needs 8, are we still able to buy them together and get the saver pass prices?
Any help would be appreciated.
I've traveled extensively in Germany, and I can tell you that, most of the time, a rail pass will not pay off. There are so many specials for regional and express trains in Germany and in Austria. You really need to investigate these before you commit to a rail pass. A more complete itinerary would be helpful.
And, you can't buy a saver pass that has a different number of days for two travelers. You either buy an eight day saver pass for both of you, and individual P2P tickets for the other two days, or a 10 day saver pass for both of you.
You can't purchase a 10 day saver pass and use it for just you for 2 days and then the two of you use it for 8 days. This is because you would have to show passports for both names on the rail pass when you validate it before the first day of use.
From the section on Saver passes on this website, "Members of each pair or group must order the same pass together and all must be present to validate the pass in Europe."
On my trip to Germany and Austria last August, I did a lot of travel "off the beaten path". My six most expensive days of travel averaged less than €25/day (single). Only one day was more (€49) than €24. An eight day Saver pass for is almost €37/day/person (€75/day for two people).
For any day that you are traveling to small towns on regional trains, Austria and all German states (Länder) have passes which allow you on/off travel all day long on regional trains. Austria's Einfach Raus Ticket is €28 for 2-5 people. German Länder tickets are €26-€35 for 2-5 people, depending on the state; most are under €30.
