We will be traveling in Germany in October and I am trying to figure out whether we should just buy regular 2nd class rail tickets or if there is any multi use pass that would be less expensive - We will be using the train from the Munich airport to the Hauptbahnhof. Two days later train to Nuernburg, Day trips to on either/both Bamberg and/or Rothenberg Ob Der Tauber. Four days later bus to Prague which I believe can't be combined with the trains. Are regular tickets best or what.? Thanks for any advise
Posted by
Augsburg, Bavaria
2351 posts
For the transport from the airport to the center buy a MVV Airport City day
ticket. For the Munich - Nuremberg trip either go to www.bahn.com and pre-book saver fare tickets for high speed trains (travel time 1:04 to 1:10; bound to a specific train, should be available for €19 each) or travel on a Bayern Ticket (€25/1, €31/2). The BT is valid on regional trains only. Most of the regional trains are slow, but every other hour there is a RE (regional express) that covers the distance in 1:45. Do your trips to Bamberg and / or Rothenburg *) with a day ticket called VGN Tagesticket Plus for €19.10, valid in the entire VGN (Nuremberg transport authority) network all day or saturday & sunday, resp. Buy the BT and the VGN ticket from any (DB or VGN) vending machine in the main station. Pre-book the Prague bus at www.bahn.com.
*) Please note the spelling; otherwise you might end up elsewhere.
Posted by
not here anymore
631 posts
For Munich - Nürnberg the BayernTicket is only valid on regional trains (normally all red) and not the high speed (normally white with red stripe). It is also valid on all other local public transport in Bavaria ( trams, buses and U-bahn) for the rest of the day so can be used from hotel to hotel - it can be bought from the ticket machines at the tram stops etc. But not valid before 9AM Monday-Friday (unless a holiday). Valid all day weekends/ holidays.
there is also the "Regio-Ticket München-Nürnberg" which is slightly cheaper but does not cover other forms of transport or trains off the main Munich-Ingolstadt-Nürnberg corridor.
Both these tickets have multi person versions which save huge amounts of money, and in both cases passenger names have to be written in the boxes on the ticket.
But there is a useful oddity in the system which came from the political wrangling to get part of the high speed line between Nürnberg and Ingolstadt built - some regional trains use it for part of their journey! Train numbers in the series RE4xxx and the give away is that they call at a station called Kinding(Altmühltal). These take around 1 hour 45 minutes for the whole journey.
Monday-Fridays they departs Munich main station (Hbf) at about 4-5 minutes past odd hours, except for some reason at 09:01 when you have to change trains at Ingolstadt. Note that although the BayernTicket is valid at 09:01 you couldn't use it to reach the station on a tram etc. because it would be before the ticket start time.
Weekends/holidays they run hourly and without the above exception, on these days it's a direct train at 09:05 (and there is no restriction on start time so you can use the tram etc. to reach it)
For two or more people these tickets will be the best and cheapest way, with no need to book in advance and only slightly slower than the high speed trains.