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9 Euro Germany Pass this Summer?

We heard on PBS NewsHour - and then found articles (by using Google) about Germany offering a one month pass for each of the 3 months of Summer 2022 for only 9 Euros. This is good on local transport as well as trains running within the country. We'll be there in August and I'm wondering if anyone has had any success in buying one before departing the U.S.

Posted by
37 posts

We will be travelling to Germany tomorrow. A few days ago we bought the 9 euro ticket for August on the https://www.bahn.com/en website. It can be hard to figure out how buy the ticket if you are on the normal ticket buying page. This is what we ended up doing:

a) register for an account. add your credit card as a payment method.
b) log in
c) then go to the home page
d) click the 9-Euro-Ticket advertisement link
e) click Choose Now on the next page
f) you will then on the correct page to buy the ticket.

You need to buy each person's ticket separately. You must indicate each person's name. We printed them out and added them to the Bahn app. You do that by using a code on the ticket.

In case it isn't clear to everyone the ticket also covers the U-Bahn and local buses in addition to local and regional trains. There are good FAQs on the Bahn website.

Posted by
591 posts

I used it this month (July).

Go to www.bahn.com/en. Click on 9-Euro-Ticket. Select choose now. Select month - August (if that is when you will be using it). See Fare 9,00 EUR. Click Book. You’ll be prompted to set up an account or continue as a guest. Continue to follow prompts until ticket is purchased.

I downloaded the DB app to the cell phone that I would be using while traveling and set up an account first. This made for a readily convenient and handy mobile ticket. The staff onboard regional the trains checked tickets regularly. It is also good for buses, trams, s-bahn, u-bahn, RB and RE trains. See the DB website for conditions.

This is not usable on the high speed trains - ICE, nor the IC and EC. The app and website allows you to plan a route and easily check for this.

Posted by
11 posts

Thanks, samc and raymonelee. Did either of you use the pass to get to a border with Austria, or a border with Czech Republic, and then switch to an Austrian or Czech pass?

Posted by
2308 posts

use the pass to get to a border with Austria, or a border with Czech Republic, and then switch to an Austrian or Czech pass

How far the 9€ ticket is valid depends on whether there is a common border station or not. There are such between Germany and Austria, namely Passau, Simbach/Inn, Salzburg, Kufstein and Lindau-Reutin. Between Germany and the Czech Republic, there is only Bayrisch Eisenstein / Železná Ruda. For the other borders you have to buy a ticket from the last German station, e.g. Schöna (for Prague via Decín), Schirnding (via Cheb) or Furth im Wald (via Domažlice). You should buy these tickets on the website of the Czech Railways (cd.cz), because there they are much cheaper than at the DB.

Posted by
34 posts

These were great! No worries about tickets when travelling locally anywhere in the county

When I bought the tickets for my family on the website, I received an e-mail with and pdf of the ticket. The ticket includes a QR code to show the conductor when they were checking tickets. We used it dozens of times over the three weeks we were in Germany and were asked to show tickets only once - a conductor on an U-Bahn in Munich looked to be targeting groups of foreign tourists. A screenshot of the QR code was sufficient for one of us.

One downside is that there are a ton more people traveling using these. We took the hourly regional train (designated either RB or RE) between Hamburg and Breman and it was packed. We got to the platform 30 minutes early and barely got on with our bags.

As an reminder, these are not valid on long distance IC or ICE trains and the conductors checked for tickets on those every time we travelled on one of them.

Posted by
361 posts

You can buy the €9 tickets right from the ticket machines located in every airport and train station. It takes about 40 seconds.

They’re only good on the regional (slower, w stops) trains and public transit in cities. These trains will be super crowded so be prepared to crush into a door quickly or you’ll be sitting apart. Some routes it might be worth a splurge on a direct fast train if your schedule is tight.

Posted by
104 posts

We just returned from Munich and it was super easy to just buy the ticket when you get there. Ticket kiosks are everywhere and easy to use. We didn't find the trains to be crowded at all. And the tickets are good for trams and buses too!

Posted by
58 posts

Myself and my wife just returned from a 10 day trip to Berlin, parts of Rhineland Palatinate and Heidelburg. We purchased 9 euro tickets (for July) on DB website and carried paper copies of tickets as well as on DB App on our phone. We used them liberally on any RB, RE trains as well as S- Bahn and U-Bahn trains in Berlin and elsewhere. The local trains along Mainz to Koblenz stretch were extremely busy and crowded. Not sure whether that is the usual occurrence during summer tourist season in the area. Other local trains that we used with 9 Euro tickets were not overcrowded and we could get seats for our travel. In any case, I feel we may have saved a fair amount of cash needed for train travel otherwise, with these 9 Euro tickets. Interestingly, no one checked our 9 Euro tickets on any of these trains!

Posted by
361 posts

The trains are especially crowded, through no small fault of this promotion.

Again, there is no need to buy these in advance. They sell them from every DB train ticket machine in Germany. These machines are everywhere

Posted by
2308 posts

The trains are especially crowded, through no small fault of this promotion.

"The trains"? Nope. Some trains on popular routes such as the Middle Rhine route are overloaded as predicted. In many others, you don't notice much. And in three weeks, all that nonsense will be over anyway.