Germany transportation system

First of all, it would help to know when your trip is (month and year); where you are flying into, and how many people (adults/children) there will be with you. Some tickets have discounts for kids and seniors and so on, so it helps to have that info.

There are different types of transportation in Germany but I am assuming you are talking about trains. The first place you can go to is the Man in Seat 61. This website - https://www.seat61.com/Germany.htm - will give you a good overview of the German trains system. Keep in mind that there are high-speed trains called ICE - these are faster but more expensive. And in order to get the best price, you need to book as far ahead as possible. There are also regional trains that go slower and make more stops, but are cheaper. Unless you really have a penchant for privacy, there is no need to book your tickets in 1st class - 2nd class is perfectly comfortable and usually much cheaper.

However, do not book your tickets there. Deutsche Bahn is the best place to go for booking trains in Germany. At this site, you can search for a destination and calculate your ticket price. If you are only staying in the area you mention above - Nuremberg, Bamberg, Salzburg and Munich - you should be able to just use a regional pass (different than just a ticket). For this area, there is the Bayern regional pass, which can be a real money saver. https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/regional/regional-day-ticket-for-bavaria

It offers the following:

• Unlimited number of trips within Bavaria in one day
• Travel with up to 5 persons for only EUR 9 per additional passenger
• Valid from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 3 am the next day
• On weekends and on public holidays the ticket is valid from midnight
• Children up to 5 years always travel free of charge

All of the places you mentioned would be included in this pass, so it's a pretty good deal.

Bavarian ticket for your trips. Salzburg included, but not for transportation in the town. How many are you ?

You can use trains to visit all these places. The National rail system Deutsche Bahn, is different and separate from the Munich metro systems (S-bahn, U-bahn) which operate as the transport within the city.

You can read more about them at the website "the man in seat 61", or try a Rick Steves guidebook for Germany. The Duetsche Bahn website (bahn.com in English) is probably the easiest of the major European rail companies to use.

It will b our first time to Germany and I find that their transportation system is so complicated.

German rail system is far from complicated and the website is the most comprehensive and easy to use of all rail websites. www.bahn.com

Thank you all for your responses. It will be just the 3 of us, my husband and I are in the 60 group and our daughter is 25, so no kid’s discount here ☹️. I will check Deutschland Bahn out. Thanks again.

Lan, even if she is an adult, using the Bayern ticket, you would pay for one adult, then get the 2nd two adults at €9 each. Very good deal.

When you first try to understand something, it seems confusing because there is a lot to learn. However, the more that you study and try to understand, the less confusing it becomes.

The main approach that you should take is not to "understand the German transportation system". What you should do is "understand how to get from Frankfurt to Heidelberg" or something equivalent. Confine your research to the specific questions that will be important for your trip. That way, your confusion will be far lower.

Paul gave you some good advice. Also, if you want to give us more specific information about your itinerary, we can give you more details about train travel.

Having just completed our first trip in Germany done all by train, I too was intimidated. Mostly actually booking the trains, not so much taking them. There were so many different kinds of trains! U-Bahn, S-Bahn, ICE…..it made by head spin. Also, the different passes, was also confusing. I decided not to worry about saving a few bucks. Some of the train stations are huge, so do some research in advance as to what exit from the station you want to take to get to your hotel. We had data, which helps. I also would email the hotel in advance and ask directions from the train station.
We ended up booking all the trains on RailEurope and just bought point to point tickets.
It all went great, but a couple of the trains were late!

our first time to Germany and I find that their transportation system is so complicated.

Complicated? I found Germany’s public transport to be one of the most user-friendly experiences. You’ve never even been to Germany yet and you’re negative about it?

Download the Deutsche Bahn app and plan to your heart’s content your visit to all of those German cities and that one Austrian city you would love to visit!

The ICE high-speed trains are absolutely comfortable whether you’re second class or first class seats. You can buy the least expensive ICE tickets 4-5 months before your day of travel and you will find that first class seats may be only €10 more than second class.

The Bayern regional ticket mentioned upthread is indeed a good deal. Just know it will NOT include ICE trains. German states have regional day passes that you can buy on the day you travel so you don’t have to plan in advance. It gives you great flexibility to take any train you want outside of the ICE trains at any time that day. I used that pass in October when I was in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Bavarian ticket for your trips.

I would use the new Deutschlandticket (€49 pp, starting 1th of May) iff all trips fall in one calendar month. Because if you add up 3 Bayerntickets for 3 people plus an MVV (multi)day pass, it's cheaper. It is also more flexible. It is not subject to the 9am rule and you don't have to watch out whether you happen to cross the border into the enemy states of Baden-Wuerttemberg or even Hesse;)

@Mardee, @Paul and @Continental, I don’t mean to be so negative about their transportation system but when I have a rush, it’s hard to absorb everything and I agree with @diveloonie as I may have to do what you did.
@Slav019, Am I too late to buy Deutschland cards for May ?

Or you could just use Trainline and buy point to point tickets. They will charge you a few extra Euros, but I find it very user-friendly.

https://www.thetrainline.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjw0ZiiBhBKEiwA4PT9zzQ2ue-D1SkMvnmZ0YVC9A0Ihse--DR0KPL--9lSR0hoRt-RzzsI7xoCSdAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Am I too late to buy Deutschland cards for May ?

I assume you mean 49 EUR Deutschland Tickets. No, but you are aware that they are subscriptions that renew automatically every month unless cancelled.

Lan, I was in Munich last November. After you land at MUC, on your way to the ground transportation, you will see a row of ticket machines for train transport. Around the corner to your left (which I blindly walked past) is a manned DB desk. They can help you if needed. Myself and another American had trouble with the machines (operator error). As has been recommended, download the DB Navigator, MVV-App, and Munchen Navigator apps. Play with them before you go. Once you get familiar with them, they are easy to use. Also, make sure you have data available to use on your phone. Google maps is helpful on navigating the rail stations and destinations. The weekend I was in Munich was a fare free weekend in zone 1. So keep your eyes and ears open to that possibility. After my first failed attempt at getting the train ticket upon landing, the only difficulty I had after that was to determine which way the front of the train was. I traveled from Munich to Stuttgart and wanted to sit facing the front. No amount of web searches or the people at DB help desk could tell me. Luckily, the seat across from me was empty so I ended up facing the right way.
The beauty of local train transportation is, if you get on the wrong train you can get off at the next stop and switch to the right train. Travel is an adventure, enjoy!

I've spent over 150 days in this century traveling in Europe, most of it in Germany, using exclusively German public transportation. I get all of my information from the Bahn website. I've also spent time using (just to compare and understand) both Trainline and RailEurope. I don't find either of those 3rd party websites to be any more user-friendly than the English language DB site, just different. And they both tend to offer fewer options at a higher price.

I am also one of those people who finds Rail transport in Germany extremely user friendly. and not difficult to understand . There is , however one major distinction that goes unexplained , and it's key to understanding how the system operates - DB ( German State Railways ) operates the " Train " systems . The local transportation authorities , or " Verkehrsverbund " operate Metro services ( UBahn ) Trams , and the like . ( but not SBahn service, those are State Railway operations ) For instance , in Munich , the local operating authority is MVV , in Berlin , VBB , etc . Knowing the difference makes it far easier to understand how to use the appropriate system .

@Lee The reason we booked on RailEurope was because it seemed as if the DB site did not let you buy multiple tickets at once. In other words, you couldn’t add to a cart and then pay after selecting all your tickets. At least, I could not figure out how to do it. Am I wrong?

you couldn’t add to a cart and then pay after selecting all your tickets.

I think you're right. On the Bahn website you can't book a block of ticket in your cart and order them all at once. You can't, nor do you need to. Unlike RailEurope, the Bahn doesn't add a "booking charge" to every individual order; in fact there is no booking charge on the Bahn, so it doesn't matter if you order tickets for each leg separately.

So, I would say that you were doing what you did in the right way. But I don't agree that what you were doing was the right way.

Just about the only reason I would buy a ticket from over here, before a trip, would be to take advantage of the advance purchase discount. Buying all of your tickets before you go over just limits your flexibility or increase your risk of losing the price of your tickets.

In five Germany trips since the advent of the advance purchase of long distance train tickets (originally called "seasonal special"), I have purchased tickets for changes of venue (i.e., changes in the place of overnight accommodations) 34 times. Most of those tickets (85%) were local tickets or regional passes (like Länder Tickets), which I only bought on the day of travel. Only four times did I buy tickets in advance to take advantage of the discount. Once I purchased a ticket from over here, because I knew that if conditions worked out right, I would just barely catch the train I wanted from the airport after landing, and I didn't want to have to stop and buy the ticket, so I bought a full fare ticket (no discount, but usable all day long) in advance to have it in my hand when I arrived on the plane. Of course, my flight was late, so I couldn't catch that train.

I find that as I work my way across Germany from venue to venue, most of the time I can make the trip with just regional trains. In fact, most of the places to which I go are only served by regional trains.
Tickets for regional trains are best purchased on the day of travel, particularly if one is using a Länder-Ticket. A Länder-Ticket is non-refundable (even if bought from RailEurope) and is only valid on the day for which it is purchased. Buying a Länder-Ticket weeks in advance is risky.

As for types of trains, which you find confusing.

Long Distance Trains
The parent organization, DB, runs the long distance trains. These are the Intercity Express (ICE), the Intercity (IC) and the Eurocity (EC) trains. The ICEs are the fastest, most luxurious trains and run basically beteen major, major cities. The ICs are slightly slower and between the largest cities, often including cities served by ICEs as well as lessor stops. ICs run mostly within Germany's borders. ECs are similar to ICs but continue on into other counties. ICs and ECs often alternate, and hour apart, on their runs, with the ICs stopping at the border while the ECs continue on.

The Long Distance Trains are the ones for which you can purchase discounted ticket in advance. If one train in a connection is a long distance train, the whole ticket is eligible for the discount. I once used that rule to my advantage.

It was going from Bad Schandau to Freising via Dresden and Hof. Had I used the S-Bahn to get to Dresden, the entire trip would have been by regional trains, and the fare was something like 80€. However, I found that I could go from Bad Schandau to Dresden on the EC that was going between Prague and Dresden. The entire trip took all day, but the Bad Schandau to Dresden leg by EC was only about 30 minures. However, that 30 minutes allowed me to book it as a SparPreis fare for about 30€.

Regional Trains
Regional trains are run by the individual Länder (German states). They are the S-Bahn, Regional Bahn, and Regional Express. They general stay within the border of a state or group of states. The Regional Express train are almost as fast as the long distance trains but take longer because they make more stop. The Regional Bahn trains stop at every station, thus taking a lot longer. The S-Bahn is a commuter train around larger cities.

Local transportation
Within a city (in the transportation district) you'll have buses. In larger cities you might also have U-Bahn and/or streetcars (Trams). The local transportation vehicles are run by a local transit company, but all of the local transportation, regional train and S-Bahn, U-Bahn, trams, and buses are coordinated and have one common ticketing system. Long distance trains operation in these district have their own system.

In Frankfurt, for instance, there are ICEs between the airport and the Hbf, but you cannot buy a ticket from the local transit district (RMV) for these trains.

Regional passes
Länder-Tickets and other regional passes are day passes for unlimited travel on regional trains and often other local transit in selected areas. Regional passes do not include long distance trains.

Although the Bahn website is very straightforward and easy for those of us who use it often, I guess it, as with any transit website, could be more difficult for a first time user. Feel free to ask questions here.

It's normal that it's confusing at first. I don't use the DB very often and that's why the DB App is always my friend :-)

And as far as public transport in the cities is concerned, that's definitely a lot of information at once. There are buses, trams, subways and suburban trains. In the meantime even rental bikes are part of it in Munich so as not to make it more complicated. But believe me, when I'm visiting Berlin or Hamburg I first have to find out how everything works and what the possibilities are.

Incidentally I still remember with horror how complicated I found it to understand the subway system in New York. I was not only once in an express train that just didn't stop where I wanted to get off actually :-)

One you get to u der stand how everything is integrated-bus-tram-subway it becomes a lot easy.

However the worse train station must be in Munich. It feels as if you are walking for days and the signs aren’t always easy to reach.

@Lee, thanks so much for the detailed information and have this post printed out for references. I will ask for more information later if I need more help. You have mentioned about Lander tickets and I assume it is the same as Bayern ticket but it called Bayern because it’s in the Bavaria.
@ Sam, John, Mignon and Heather. Thank you.
There is so much information to learn at once because we have just planned for this trips 10 days ago and this is just for one country. The struggles I had at first is that I know nothing about German and when I searched for places, it showed in German spellings and I stumped. I am doing better now though. I have the transportation maps in Munich printed out and I am lost just by looking at it but I am sure I will understand it better when we get there. @John, I have the app for DB loaded so I will play around with it to get familiar with their connection’s and schedules.

I have read about the new Deutschland ticket and I am trying to see if we can get them but it seems impossible for the Americans. Plus It may not saved us that much as we will b only in Germany for 9 days. Thanks so much for helping.

Hi Lan, I am from Germany and have no car. So the DB App is my friend.
If you want to travel fast use the ICE if possible. The IC/EC are often too late. Buy in advance by app with credit card. With a "Sparpreis" you have to take the train you booked.
With the state ticket you are allowed to use regional trains, subways, trams, busses etc but not ICE, IC, EC.
Take your passport with you, sometimes the identity will be checked.