Please sign in to post.

June trip to Bavaria/Salzburg - train recommendations

Posted by (Las Vegas, Nevada, USA) on

Hello all!

My wife and I are spending middle of June between Salzburg and Nuremburg via Frankfurt for 11 days. I am looking for some regional travel options, more than likely via rail. I am thinking of relying on just a Deustchland ticket (or "D" ticket) for the both of us to get between all of our destinations. Our itinerary is below:

Day 1: Arrival at FRA and spending the night near airport.

Day 2: Begin our trip by travelling to Salzburg via rail. We will be staying near the airport and was wondering if the airport rail station was the correct station that could get us there, or if we had to travel to the main train station in Frankfurt to catch the D train there? What should our strategy be? Approx. how long is the journey? Will it be a pretty trip?

Day 3-5: Salzburg & region

Day 6: Leave Salzburg for Nuremberg. Catch the D train for the trip, this is still possible?

Day 7-10: Nuremberg & region. Planning a day trip to Rothenberg or Bamberg, either doable with the D ticket? Maybe a day trip to Munich. Could use a suggestion about which day trip of the three would be the best...

Day 11: Nuremberg to Frankfurt for the flight back home with the plane leaving around 5pm, using the D ticket for travel to the airport station.

So I have the following questions:

Is all of this doable with the D Ticket? Any pitfalls with the above plan? Those transit days are reserved just to get to our destinations, and if we have time at our destination on those days it would be secondary - we wouldn't be opposed to beginning our journeys earlier if it means a chance to do more things on those days. Would I be able to reserve seats for any of these trips (especially the trip to Salzburg)? Any other suggestions (other than juggling the destination order- we have hotels booked already)?

I like the idea of the D Ticket because it's about 50 euro for each of us and it looks like it takes care of all of our regional travel. I just don't know about possible drawbacks to relying just on that style of ticket so I hope that some of you can guide me on what I am attempting for our trip. I've learned so much already from reading this forum, what a fantastic resource and community!

Thank you all so much!

Posted by
20103 posts

Can you fly into Munich instead? Frankfurt airport is an 8 1/2 hour slog to Salzburg using regional trains. Its over 5 hours using fast trains.
Yes, you can depart from Frankfurt airport either way. With regional trains, you will have to take the local train to Frankfurt Hbf, and the Regional train station at the airport is different from the Long Distance station. But yes, it is doable.

PS, I am guessing you are planning on the Condor nonstop to FRA. Connecting to Munich would add $180 pp to the cost. So its a matter of your time vs money. If you are OK with spending 8 1/2 hours on the train, you're good. It is 3 3/4 hours from Nuremberg to FRA on regional trains, so not bad.

Since there are no services on Regional trains, think about stopping in Wuerzburg or Donauwoerth for 1 or 2 hours for lunch and a leg stretch on the way to Salzburg.

Posted by
2 posts

Thanks for your input, Sam!

We decided to travel to Frankfurt because that was the only direct flight we found from Las Vegas for a good price. We wanted to keep the travel to/from the States as easy as possible without having to worry about long or tight lay-overs.

I will consider the faster train to Salzburg, would that be an ICE train to Munich, or all the way to Salzburg? Would I still have to travel to the main station in Frankfurt either way?

Ross

Posted by
20103 posts

You could take an ICE from Frankfurt airport Fernbahnhof (long distance station). Still have to change at Munich. Looks like you could buy the FRA-Munich ICE leg now for 39.80 EUR for 2 people nonrefundable Super Sparpreis ticket, then continue to Salzburg on the D Ticket. 7:34 am departure to Munich arriving 11:07 am.

Posted by
2408 posts

I would certainly grab the ICE fare thatbSam mentions. Eberything else can be done with thenD ticket exvept for any trips in Austria. To/from Salzburg are covered

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.