German Rail Pass for Christmas Markets

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Hi Suzanne:
My best friend and myself have done a very similar itinerary - trying to see as much as possible. We have always gone with the Twin German Rail Pass. We've arrived into FRA as early as 5:30am from the US, or as late as 9am (I think). We grab our luggage and head for the DB office (on the way to the trains) and get our pass validated (when we had a paper pass - it's now electronic). Then head downstairs to the train. Count on at least one escalator not working - and it's always the "up" one. Anyway, we go and hop on the ICE/IC train and head to Munich - nonstop. Then for the remainder of the trip, we hop on whatever train(s) we want, when we want (and per DB schedule). When going to Salzburg, you can catch the DB trains or the OBB trains (actually, any of the network trains. DB and OBB (Austrian) trains are great. We've always purchased the 1st class pass because it's quieter, can often get a nice compartment, and if it's crowded, have the option to move to 2nd class. We've gotten the consecutive day passes. I do see that now the Twin pass has to be purchased at a DB center, vice online. I am seeing that DB has teamed with Eurail. However, in doing some price comparisons, I have found cheaper fares for certain passes via DB directly. The IC/ICE trains are great. Comfortable and fast. Go with the 10-day twin pass, in my opinion. If you travel other days, pick a route that's cheap. And depending where you are, there's also FlixBus/FlixRail. But I've found that DB gets us everywhere and works beautifully for us. Oh, and if a train is crowded (use the app to see what's available seat-wise), you can make a reservation via the app, or a DB kiosk. We're flying in on the 11th and departing on the 20th. The Twin pass saves you at least 15% individually. Ex: 2nd Class twin pass is, let's say, $650 - that's a cost of $325/person. And with the USD/EUR rate at about $1.06 to 1 Euro - the exchange rate is diminimus (good for US!) Safe travels!
Kim