Germany / Austria Train Travel Assistance Needed!

We just returned from Germany and other parts. I would not buy in advance. At each place, go to the DB Travel Office (DB Reiseburo) and ask for assistance. We traveled from Munchen to Zagreb. They looked at the options, and noted that a ticket at 4 PM was 50 % of the cost of a ticket 1 hour later. They helped us with the machine to purchase our ticket. You can often get deals. There is no reason to pre-plan on this kind of trip.

Thanks for the response, Paul!

That depends on whether you are willing to use (slow) local trains only or want to use faster long distance trains on some of your travel days (days 3-5- 9-11). On long distance trains you can save a lot if you book in advance for a specific train; just compare prices at www.db.com. For days 9 and 11 I'd look for saver fares at the austrian OeBB website (www.oebb.at); flexible tickets on the Salzburg - Innsbruck leg are expensive.

You can use the Bayern Ticket for days 5 and 6, i.e. for days you travel inside Bavaria (including Salzburg); you may use a "Quer durchs Land" ticket for day 3 (valid on local trains only) if you don't mind the longer (just over 1 hour) travel time.

BTW, the Trechtingshausen station is unmanned - no travel office.

FRA to Trechtingshausen is a local RMV (Frankfurt metro) ticket for 11,95€/adult.

With sufficient time, you can get an advance purchase ticket from Trechtingshausen to Rothenburg for about 50€ and use a long distance train part of the way for a 4½ trip, or you can use a Germany-wide pass for regional trains for 44€ or 52€, depending on the day of the week. Regional trains will take about an hour longer; if you use the advance purchase ticket you will be restricted to a specific long-distance train.

Days 5 & 6 can be done with Bayern-Tickets. If you purchase these at the Bahnhof just before travel, you just purchase a Bayern-Ticket for that day, usable on any regional train(s) in Bavaria all day long. If you purchase it online (unnecessary), you have to
specify a train and time, but in reality, the ticket is usable for any train that day. But you have to specify the day, and the ticket is only valid for that day.

For Salzburg to Innsbruck, you could use a purchase-at-the time Bayern-Ticket from Salzburg to Kufstein on regional trains (probably change in Rosenheim), then an Austrian Rail ticket from Kufstein to Innsbruck. Alternatively, you could use an Austrian long distance train (RailJet or RJ) directly from Salzburg to Innsbruck (goes non-stop through Germany via Rosenheim). Advance purchase would save you money.

For Innsbruck to Munich, you could advance purchase a discounted ticket for an EC from Innsbruck to Munich for about 50€ for two, or a buy-at-the-time Austrian Rail ticket to Kufstein and a Barern-Ticket from there to Munich.

Thank you! Very helpful!