Confused about German rail pass vs Bayern tickets for 4

we tried pricing out the tickets individually but got stuck when pricing Rothenburg to Nuremberg with a VGN fare vs Bayern.

If as you say, you want to go Rothenburg to Nuremberg, then to Munich, then to Dachau, then back to Munich, that can be a 4 person Bayern ticket for 46 EUR. How you will manage to do all this in one day is beyond me, but there it is. Sounds like "Stop, take selfie, move on."

A Bayern ticket works on all public transport in Bavaria. Regional trains, S-Bahns, U-Bahn, buses, trams. It will not work on the Zugspitze.

German Rail Pass is not valid Mittenwald to Innsbruck, but it is a cheap ticket. The GRP covers EC trains from Munich to Innsbruck. Does not work on the Zugspitze except for a 10% discount, but I would assume that would count as a pass day, in which case it would not be worth it.

A GRP may give a bit more flexibility on Rothenburg-Munich day, as you would have the option of taking fast trains plus S-Bahns (for Dachau), but not other local transport. Frankfurt airport to Rothenburg can be done with Quer durchs Land ticket with regional trains without sacrificing much travel time.

Sam, you are correct in that Saturday we can't do it all. I think Dachau won out - so we will try and go straight to Munich. Would a Bayern ticket apply from Rothenburg to Munich? And the when we go to Gamrish from Munich? That may be the way to go. Thanks for your input.

Would a Bayern ticket apply from Rothenburg to Munich?

Yes, as long as you stick to regional trains. Don't, for instance, go to Nürnberg and take the ICE to Munich.

And the when we go to Gamrish [?] from Munich?

Also, yes.

For the trip to Dachau, if you use a Bayern Ticket to get to Munich, it will also work for Dachau (S-Bahn and bus). A GRP would only work for the S-Bahn to Dachau Bhf, not the bus to the Memorial.

Yes, Rothenburg is in Bavaria, so the Bayern Ticket works.
For Munich to Garmisch, you can use a Werdenfels ticket for 43 EUR for 4 adults. If you do not need any local transport, save you 3 EUR.

I said before that Mittenwald to Innsbruck was not valid with the GRP, but it may be, I am not sure. But it is an inexpensive ticket and would not be worth using a pass day for that.

He is talking about only two people going on to Innsbruck. A Regio-Ticket-Werdenfels, for two for €29, only covers travel to Mittenwald. You would need a Regio-Ticket-Werdenfels/+innsbruck for two for €39. Individual Bahn tickets for 2 for GaP to Innsbruck via Mittenwald/Seefeld will only cost €32,60.

The German Rail Pass does cover transport to Innsbruck, but only by the route from Garmisch-Partenkirchen via Munich/Rosenheim/Kufstein, which is very roundabout, will take hours longer, and will be much less interesting scenically.

realize these are mostly by bus so may rent a car for these towns.

What's wrong with the bus? There is bus service all over that area, and an all-day pass for the bus, called an RVO-Tagesticket costs only €10,50/per person. Buses don't run as often as trains, so planning is needed, but you can get the schedules on the Bahn website. I've used the bus for GaP to Oberammergau (goes through/stops at Ettal), and it was a nice 40 minute trip. The bus also goes from O'gau to Füssen (stops on the way at the village of Hohenschwangau, just below the ticket kiosk. It's a short bus trip from O'gau to Linderhof.

As for travel from FRA to Rothenburg, you don't need a rail pass. You can get from FRA Regionalbf to Frankfurt Hbf by S-Bahn, then to Kahl am Main, the first stop on the RE from Frankfurt Hbf to Würzburg using a local RMV ticket for €8,60 pP. From there to Rothenburg you can use a Bayern-Ticket.

But with 4 people, that is 8.60 times 4 equals 34.40 plus 46 for the Bayern ticket comes to 80.40 EUR. A 4-person QdL ticket is 68 EUR. That ticket strategy works with 1 or 2 people, but 3 to 5, the QdL is the way to go.

Even getting an RMV group day ticket for 28.90 EUR alter the advantage of the QdL with 3 to 5 people.

Good catch, Sam. I hadn't spent the time to optimize it. I just know a regional ticket could be less, and I hit on the first thing I came to. The real point is that a rail pass isn't necessary or cost effective for the traveling the OP is planning.

BTW, I've been on the RE from Würzburg to Frankfurt Hbf (then on to FRA by S-Bahn) and it's a nice enough train. I think they are all modern double deck cars.

Sometimes the best of plans don't work. Was putting together our itinerary today and saw that all trains from Munich to Garmisch, Garmish to Mittenwald and Garmisch to Zurich are cancelled because of work on the lines in October on our dates. So now, we are going to have to rework our entire itinerary. Wanted to do the mountains and now possibly looking going south from Frankfurt into Switzerland and will have to forgo Rothenburg, Munich and Garmisch. Perhaps a couple days Strasbourg area (wine towns) , then down to Thun, Wengen and end up in Zurich and fly back to Munich for those who fly out of Munich. We have 6 nights to play with. After all the careful planning, I am exhausted with this! Guess that goes with the fun of travel. I would love any suggestions.

I haven't checked the entire schedule in that area at that time, but I did see that for the 18th - 20th of October they are saying the train between Murnau and Ohlstadt is "cancelled". That's over two month away. I suspect that as we get closer to that date, we will find that they have added an SEV (bus substitute) between those station. I've never seen the Bahn just cancel a train without providing an alternative.

It looks like it is only that 4 mile section from Murnau to Ohlstadt that is being cancelled, and it is on the stretch from Munich to Garmisch. That's part of the route for the train that goes all the way from Munich to Innsbruck via Garmisch and Mittenwald, so the warning shows up for any connection using that train, whether it affects the section you requested or not. I don't think Garmisch to Mittenwald or Garmisch to Zurich will be affected by the work on the track from Murnau to Ohlstadt.

By the way, there is already a spur train line from Murnau to Oberammergau and regularly scheduled buses from Oberammergau to Oberau and from Oberammergau to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, so it's not like "you can't get there from here".