Hi. Two of us are flying in and out of Frankfurt landing on 12/1. We plan to take the train from Frankfurt to Munich. 12/2 Stay in Munich. 12/3 Train to Innsbruck and back to Munich. 12/4 Train to Nuremberg and back to Munich. 12:5 Train to Salzburg and back to Munich. 12/6 Train to Stuttgart and spend the night. 12/7 train to Frankfurt and spend the day. 12/8 Train from Frankfurt to Cologne and back to Frankfurt. 12/9 Train from Frankfurt to Rudishiem and back to Frankfurt. 12/10 Frankfurt to Hidelberg and back to Frankfurt. 12/11 Spend day in Frankfurt. 12/12 Fly home. Is the 10 day flexi rail pass the best one for us?? And do you order them online or is it better to do it at the Frankfurt Airport Train Station? Thank you for your help. Suzanne
Posted by
Paradise
7014 posts
If I wanted railpasses, I'd probably go with the 5-day ($718/2) and do the shorter journeys/outings to Salzburg, Nuremberg, Heidelberg, and Rüdesheim by regional train using the Deutschland Ticket (€58 ea, covers all regional trains for the month.)
Travel times by regional train:
To both Heidelberg and R'heim the regional train trip is only 1.25 hours and the regional trains are direct. (You would ride the same trains with the rail pass.)
To Salzburg the regional train trip duration is nearly the same by regional train (1.75 hrs) as for the long-distance train and also direct.
To Nuremberg the 9:04 departure takes 1.75 hours with one change in Ingolstadt.
D-Ticket = $125/2 at current rates of exchange
Railpass = $718/2
Total: $843/2
The ten-day railpass goes for $1010/2, so the D-Ticket + railpass strategy saves you $167.
I am not 100% certain that the Rail pass brochure link at the DB site, which includes certain trains to Innsbruck on a certain route, is accurate, now that Eurail is the seller of this pass:
https://int.bahn.de/en/offers/german-rail-pass
You may want to inquire about this issue.
Please note that the D-Ticket, since it's good every day of your stay, can be used for buses, trams, subways etc. (not in Salzburg or Innsbruck, however.) This saves you even more, but how much is hard to say.
You could perhaps save more by getting individual p2p saver-fare tickets for the 5 railpass days instead. You'll have to check those out at DB on your own. However, you will be on a fixed schedule with no refund options with those cheapest tickets.
I would buy the railpass online from Eurail as early as possible to avoid shipping problems.
Posted by
Alsenborn, Germany
1410 posts
I'd plan to do the whole trip on regional trains using the Deutschland ticket except the Munich to Stuttgart stretch which is best via ICE. Since I've done that for everything you list, except Salzburg, in the last six months I know it can be done. It may take a bit longer in a couple spots, but it's a lot less expensive.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8853 posts
Even if you pay for High speed rail tickets between Munich and Frankfurt, the D ticket is going to save you quite a bit of money over a rail pass and cover local transport as well. I wouldn’t bother with expensive rail pass.
Posted by
Paradise
7014 posts
There are multiple journeys on this itinerary that would be pretty unappealing by regional train only (the only option with the D-Ticket.)
The first day's journey, for example... After a transatlantic flight with arrival at FRA, let's say you are ready to go at 10 am... it would look like this...
- 10:09 am: take 21-min. bus from FRA to Frankfurt Hbf
- 10-minute transfer time
- RE train to Würzburg (1:41)
- 20-minute transfer time
- RE train to Munich (3:39) Arrival 16:20 pm
Total travel time = 6:11, assuming the trains run on time with no missed connections
By contrast, the FRA > Munich ICE train is direct (10:01 - 14:01) - no possible missed connections, total travel time = 4:00 hours. This ICE journey is the one I would want if I had to reach Munich that same day after an overnight flight. It would require either a rail pass (cost per rail pass day w/5-day rail pass is roughly €70) or a flex-fare ticket (€145.)
The 12/8 Frankfurt > Cologne > Frankfurt day trip by regional train vs ICE train would add approximately 4 hours to the travel time on this day.
The 12/3 Munich > Innsbruck > Munich day trip would not be fully covered by the D-Ticket. Using the regional trains will require an additional ticket of some sort and add 1.5 hours to the travel time.
Personally, I find much of this particular itinerary undesirable. It's perfectly possible to have a nice 11-day trip using the D-Ticket, and I would probably have built the itinerary with the D-Ticket in mind. But with the journeys the way they are, I would be using the D-Ticket only for certain short travel segments and for inner-city transport.
Posted by
OP
16 posts
It sounds like the best would be the 10 day flexi rail pass for around$500 per person would be the best. While the D-Ticket may be cheaper it’s a lot of monkeying around and I am not great with the trains as I have made mistakes in the past. Lol
Thank you