confused about the Bayern ticket for Germany and Austrian travel

The Bayern Ticket is valid to Salzburg but not to Hallstatt. Nor is it valid to Innsbruck (only as far as Kufstein AFAIK.)

To reach Berchtesgaden on a Bayern ticket by train you would re-enter Germany via Freilassing. 1 change of train. Then a bus from B'gaden to the Königssee. However, buses alone can get you to B'gaden and to the Königssee a little easier...

The direct #840 Watzmann Express bus from Salzburg to Berchtesgaden takes close to an hour: Bayern ticket may or may not work - I have no solid confirmation, (only the word of one particularly knowledgeable expert who claims it does.) Anyway it'd be too expensive because you can buy a RVO bus day ticket for the round trip which should be around €10 each.

RVO route map: http://www.rvo-bus.de/oberbayernbus/view/mdb/oberbayernbus/fahrplan/mdb_220504_20160408_buslinien_rvo.pdf

You can consult the Austrian railway site for transport to Innsbruck and Hallstatt. I do not find it very user-friendly.
www.oebb.at

Bayern is the German word for the state of Bavaria, one of the states of Germany.

It is only valid within Bavaria. As exceptions it is also valid to two Austrian cities right on the border - Kufstein and Salzburg, but it is not valid into the interior of Austria.

Austria does have something similar, the Einfach-Raus-Ticket. 34 EUR for 2.
https://www.oebb.at/en/angebote-ermaessigungen/einfach-raus-ticket

It does not work very good for a day trip to Hallstatt on a week day, as the first valid train is the the S-Bahn to Attnang-Puchheim at 10:38, and you would nor get there until 13:24. You could finesse that by getting 2 one-way tickets to Neumarkt-Koestendorf for 10.60 EUR total in addition to the Einfach-Raus-Ticket. Then you could leave on the 8:38 S-Bahn. That would cover you to Neumarkt-Koestendorf, where the train stops at 9:02, then the E-R ticket kicks in, arriving Hallstatt at 11:24. Last return is at 18:32, giving you about 7 hours there plus the ferry ride.

Alternative, if you have your schedule set in stone, you can buy Sparschiene Tickets now that are nonrefundable and train specific. Do that for the trip to Verona as well.

thank you all for your advice, I appreciate the help!

The direct #840 Watzmann Express bus from Salzburg to Berchtesgaden takes close to an hour:
Bayern ticket may or may not work - I have no solid confirmation, (only the word of one particularly
knowledgeable expert who claims it does.)

A Bayern-Ticket WILL NOT work for the Watzmann Express from Salzburg to Berchtesgaden, at least not for the entire route. It definitely will not be valid for the part that goes through Austria. It might be accepted for the part in Germany - from Marktschnellenberg to Berchtesgaden - the last half hour of the trip (No, see edit, below). The Bayern-Ticket will be valid for most of the local buses in Berchtesgaden, including the bus from the Hbf to Königssee and the bus from the Hbf to where the special buses go up the private road to the Eagles Nest. It is not valid on the special buses from there to the Nest.

But as you say, there is little reason to use a Bayern-Ticket. RVO (Regionalverkehr Oberbayern) sells a day ticket (Tagesticket) for 10,20€/adult that covers the Watzmann Express, including the part through Austria, as well as the same buses in Berchtesgaden that are covered by the Bayern-Ticket. However, the last bus back to Salzburg leaves Berchtesgaden at 6:15 pm. If you want to stay later, you'll have to use the train, and the train is not covered by the RVO Tagesticket.

There is a day ticket that covers both the bus and the train between Salzburg and Berchtesgaden as well as the same buses in Berchtesgaden. It is called the BGL Tagesticket Bus & Bahn and sells for 12,-€/adult.

EDIT: I don't think the Bayern-Ticket will cover the portion of the RVO 840 route from Marktschnellenberg to Berchtesgaden. I went to the Bahn website and put in Munich to Königssee with a stopover in Berchtesgaden and with enough people to make the Bahn website show the Bayern-Ticket, and it showed the Bayern-Ticket as covering the complete trip - Munich to Freilassing (M), Freilassing to Berchtesgaden (BLB), and Berchtesgaden to Königssee (bus) - but when I substltuted Marktschnellenberg for Königssee, it indicated that the Bayern-Ticket covered only a partial fare, even though the entire trip was inside Germany. So it appears that no part of a route that goes outside Germany, even the part still inside Germany is covered by the Bayern-Ticket.

"A Bayern-Ticket WILL NOT work for the Watzmann Express from Salzburg to Berchtesgaden, at least not for the entire route. It definitely will not be valid for the part that goes through Austria... it appears that no part of a route that goes outside Germany, even the part still inside Germany is covered by the Bayern-Ticket."

Lee, check the Oberbayernbus Beförderungsbedingungen, P. 38 section 6.5.1. It seems to me that the Bayern Ticket in fact would be valid on the entire 840 route:

Bei ausländischen Strecken gilt das Bayern-Ticket bis zur letzten deutschen Haltestelle (Ausnahme: Salzburg Hbf.)

(For travel using foreign bus routes the Bayern Ticket is valid to the last German station before the border. The exception to this rule is when Salzburg Hbf is the destination.)

The only RVO routes named inaccessible with the Bayern Ticket are 847 and 849:

Das Bayern-Ticket und das Bayern-Böhmen- Ticket werden auf folgenden Strecken nicht anerkannt:
Linie 847 ALM-ERLEBNIS-BUS
Linie 849 Kehlstein Busabfahrt – Kehlstein Parkplatz

Bayern Tickets are sold on the RVO buses at the ticket machine price:

Bayern-Tickets werden auch in den Bussen der RVO GmbH verkauft, hier gilt der Preis für den Automatenverkauf.

So, marie, if you want to buy a Bayern Ticket and ride the 840 bus to B'gaden and the Königssee, then return in the evening by train to Salzburg Hbf, as Lee has suggested, it looks to me like that is possible. (You must of course observe the after-9-am weekday rule when you use the Bayern Ticket.)

There is much confusion about the validity of the Bayern-Ticket on the "Watzmann Express" beyond Marktschellenberg, even at the DB info portal ++). I've just called the RVO information in Berchtesgaden (+49 8652 94480) and got the confirmation that the BT is valid for the entire leg.

++) That's due to conflicting info by different RVO / Oberbayernbus sources. The summary of tariff information states exactly the opposite to what Russ (correctly) quotes:

Bayern-Ticket, Bayern-Ticket Nacht, Bayern-Böhmen Ticket werden
auf allen innerdeutschen RVO Linien (Ausnahme Salzburg HBF) anerkannt

And the "Tarif- und Beförderungsbestimmungen der RVO" valid from january 1th, 2018 state
Bei ausländischen Strecken gilt das Bayern-Ticket bis zur letzten deutschen Haltestelle.

Quite a mess.

OK, I stand corrected. I was looking at the Bahn website, which, anytime the 840 route between Berchtesgaden and Salzburg is shown, says that the Bayern-Ticket is a partial fare. But that's not the first time I have found the Bahn website to be in error when a bus use is included. Funny, the Bahn website included the bus from Berchtesgaden Hbf to Königssee with a B-T starting in Munich (M to Freilassing, BLB train to Berchtesgaden), but not the bus from Berchtesgaden Hbf to Salzburg or even to Marktschnellenberg (the last stop in German on 840) with the same route to Berchtesgaden.

As for the contradictions identified by SLA, I think I would always refer to the AGB as the final word.

if you want to buy a Bayern Ticket and ride the 840 bus to B'gaden and the Königssee, then return
in the evening by train to Salzburg Hbf, as Lee has suggested, it looks to me like that is possible.

Possible but not practical, at least for less than four adults. The BGL TagesTicket Bus & Bahn, at 12€ per adult, will cost less than the Bayern-Ticket for three or fewer adult users.

There are also a few other differences for the BGL ticket vs. the Bayern-Ticket. The BGL ticket does not have the 9 AM restriction, but it doesn't say it is valid until 3 AM the next day, either (kind of moot since the train stops running before midnight). The child provision is slightly different. The BGL ticket also gives you discounts on, for instance, the bus up the private road to the Eagles Nest, the Königssee boats, and the Salt Mine and Therme in Berchtesgaden.

Note: there might also be discounts with the Bayern-Ticket. There used to be a listing online of discounts available with the Ticket, but I can no longer find anything.

But that's not the first time I have found the Bahn website to be in error when a bus use is included.

Very true, but it's not the DB that has to be criticized here. There are bus operators that every year are notoriously late in delivering their data or unclear about the acceptance of the Bayern Ticket. The RVO is a notorious case. The DB protects itself against recourse claims by displaying only the price of the train(s) involved. The golden rule is to ask the bus driver about the BT before paying too much.

The DB protects itself against recourse claims by displaying only the price of the train(s) involved.

Not always. As I mentioned above, I put in a route from Munich to Berchtesgaden by train, then by bus to Königssee (RVO 841), and the Bahn website showed the entire trip to be covered by a Bayern-Ticket. So the Bahn doesn't always just consider the trains involved.

When I put in by bus to Salzburg instead of Königssee, it said "partial fare". Same thing when I put in to Marktschnellenburg.

However, if I put in Füssen to Garmisch-Partenkirchen (with 5 people to make the Bayern-Ticket less than the flexifare), is says "no special fares available" for the direct bus via Oberammergau and shows the Bayern-Ticket as "partial fare" (covers train only) for the route via Pfronten-Weißbach and the Außerfernbahn. In both cases the buses would actually be covered by the Bayern-Ticket. If for only four travelers, the RVO TagesTicket would be less expensive than the Bayern-Ticket, but it doesn't show that, either.

Use the Bayern ticket to get to Salzburg. Buy your tickets to B’gaden and Hallstatt on the day at the station or from the driver. For your tickets to Verona via Innsbruck, use oebb.at.

Buy your tickets to B’gaden ... from the driver.

Assuming you don't go directly to Berchtesgaden using the Bayern-Ticket you bought in Munich.

Buy your tickets to ... Hallstatt ... from the driver.

If you take the train from Salzburg towards Hallstatt the train driver will probably not sell you a ticket. However, a nice deviation from the norm would be to take a bus to Bad Ischl, at least (then you do buy your ticket from the driver). You go through Bad Ischl either way. You'll get to see more of the Salzkammergut by bus; it goes through St. Gilgen and along the west side of Wolfgangsee. It's actually a little faster by bus from Salzburg to Bad Ischl than it is by train, but you'll have connection time to the train.

You can also take the bus from Bad Ischl to Hallstatt Lahn. You'll avoid the boat ride over the lake to Hallstatt, but you'd have to walk the approximately 1 km along the lake side path to Hallstatt, or stay in Lahn, which is at the base of the funicular up to the salt mine.

Instead of a day trip to Hallstatt, consider spending the night in Hallstatt and then going on by train via Stainach-Irdning to Innsbruck.

Exactly, I said at the station OR from the driver. Obviously if you take a train, you buy at the station. I ain’t stupid :) - I’ve been places and seen things.

The summary of tariff information states exactly the opposite to what Russ (correctly) quotes:

"Bayern-Ticket, Bayern-Ticket Nacht, Bayern-Böhmen Ticket werden auf
allen innerdeutschen RVO Linien (Ausnahme Salzburg HBF) anerkannt"

Exactly the opposite? Not quite. The Bahn's statement is extraordinarily convoluted. "Ausnahme Salzburg" means "exception, Salzburg". So how is (the line into) Salzburg an exception. Since it is not an "innerdeutsche RVO Linie", it cannot be an exception to the rule that all inner German lines being accepted. So the statement must mean that RVO 840, being an "außerdeutche" line is an exception (or really an addition, zzg) to the "innerdeutsche Linien" acceptance rule. There might have been a better (less confusing) way to say that.

But then, two "Innerdeutsche RVO Linie in Berchtesgaden are also exceptions, in that they are not accepted.