I have bought an e-ticket Bayern ticket for a Sunday ride from Munich to Salzburg. It departs Munich at 7:55am but I would like to leave on an earlier train.
The e-ticket has the time printed on it, but I read somewhere that the Bayern ticket can be used on any train on the weekend. Is this true? Will I be able to leave Munich on an earlier train even though the e-ticket says I reserved the 7:55am departure?
If your ticket actually calls itself a "Bayern Ticket", then it's good for any local/regional train, like the "M" train at 7:55 or 6:55 or 5:44. It will not be valid on the RJ train, a high-speed train, at 7:31.
There is generally NO reason to buy an e-ticket or a hard-copy Bayern ticket in advance. The ticket you bought does not guarantee you a seat - seat reservations on local/regional trains are not available for these trains under any circumstances. And the Bayern ticket never "sells out." The Bayern ticket is the same price whether you buy it one month in advance or 1 minute before you board. And advance purchase means that if you change your mind at the last minute, you are stuck with a worthless ticket that can't be refunded.
I agree with Russ, generally.
A case where I would want to advance purchase a Bayern-Ticket would be if I were coming into Bayern from another country and wanted to buy a ticket for that country to the first town in Bavaria, then use the Bayern-Ticket for the rest of my trip, and there would not be time to get of at the first German station, buy the Bayern-Ticket, then get back on the same train.
Specifically, coming from Prague to somewhere in Bavaria, not necessarily Munich, on a train that crosses the border at Furth im Wald. You buy the Bayern-Ticket online from the Bahn website and the Czech ticket in Prague for Prague to Furth for about 10€. You don't have to get off in Furth, just change to the Bayern-Tickets. I don't think you can purchase the Bayern-Ticket in Prague, although I did see it for sale in an Austrian station that was not right on the border.
