Rheinland-Pfalz and Bayern Regional Tickets - questions!

Hi, ArielK.

It would be a mistake to pre-purchase any of these tickets. They are not refundable if you have a change of plans, and you get no discount. Just buy them there, and just buy them as you go - they never sell out. Really.

There are CHEAPER day passes than these two regional passes - and in some cases simple tickets might be better - for some of your trips/travel days. I could advise you on those but it's impossible to do unless you group the individual trips according to the actual travel day.

For example... are all of these to be done on ONE day? or Two? Three?

Oberwesel to Sankt Goar Sankt Goar to Kamp-bornhofen Kamp-Bornhofen to
Braubach Braubach to Stolzenfels Stolzenfels to Ehrenbreistein
Ehrenbreistein to Rhens

Bayern Ticket map of Bavaria: http://www.bayerwald-ticket.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Streckennetz_Bayern_2012.pdf
R-P Ticket map of Rheinland-Pfalz http://www.vrminfo.de/fileadmin/data/pdf/2012/RLP-Ticket_streckennetz.pdf

Since Laender tickets are sold on the per-day basis out of ticket automats (vending machines), you don't generally buy in multi-day segments. Just each day you need one.

The VRM site you reference is not to the Rheinland-Pfalz Land (German district roughly equivalent to a US state or Canadian Province), but a subregion of Rheinland Pfalz. the VRM, Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Mosel, or the Rhine Mosel Regional Transit District. So Mainz is not in the VRM, but it is in Rheinland-Pfalz. Everything else is in the VRM, so you can use VRM tickets for those The VRM does have 3-day Tageskarten for individuals. and single day Minigruppen Tickets for 2-5 people.

What is your plan for going from Oberammergau to Reutte (and back). A Regio-Ticket Werdenfels (20€ person one and 6€ for 2-5) will cover you RT from Oberammergau to Garmisch-Partenkirchen on the RVO 9606 bus as well as RT from Garmisch to Reutte on the train (Ausserfernbahn). The Werdenfels ticket also covers Oberammergau to Murnau to Garmisch-Partenkirchen by train, but that's kind of the long way around.

If you go from Oberammergau to Füssen to Reutte, none of the German Rail regional tickets will cover the bus leg from the German border to Reutte, because that travel is in Austria.

The Werdenfels ticket will also cover you from Munich Hbf (any S-Bahn station, actually) to Oberammergau.

When you get to Ehrenbreitstein in Koblenz, you will see a great view of Deutsches Eck where the Rhine and Moselle come together. Ehrenbreitstein is the Prussian fortress built as part of the "Die Wacht am Rhein" (watch on the Rhine) against a resurgent France. It serves as the HI hostel.

It's scary when it says it covers most buses and regional trains

Relax. The Bayern Ticket and other Laender tickets are in fact valid on all trains 1) and the overwhelming maiority of buses 2), even if that is not always indicated on the DB web site, which can display not more information than provided by local carriers. Just ask when boarding a bus. If you want to be absolute sure you have to look up the web site of the respective Verkehrsverbund (name indicated in the train info at the DB website) or local carrier and search for "Bayern Ticket" etc.

1) including those of non-DB carriers, with the exception of touristic offers like the Bayerische Zugspitzbahn, the Wendelsteinbahn and casual historical trains.

2) as noted by others the BT is not valid for the Füssen Reutte leg since most of it is in Tyrol and not inside Bavaria

However, Garmisch to Reutte (or more accurately Ehrwald to Reutte is covered by the Bayern Ticket (and the Werdenfels Ticket). Although most of the travel is in Austria, this rail line, called the Ausserfernbahn, is part of the German Rail system, for which German Rail tickets apply.

Russ, thank you! That's great to know I don't have to worry about pre-purchasing these. I am very interested in the day passes you speak of. Here's the itinerary by day for R-P:

06 Jul
Mainz to Boppard,
Oberwesel to Sankt Goar,
Sankt Goar to Kamp-bornhofen

07 Jul
Kamp-Bornhofen to Braubach,
Braubach to Stolzenfels,
Stolzenfels to Ehrenbreistein,
Ehrenbreistein to Rhens

23 Jul
Oberammergau to Reutte in Tirol (and back)

25 Jul
Oberammergau to Munich,
Munich to Nuremberg,
Nuremberg to Reichenschwand (and back)

26 Jul
Reichenschwand to Nuremberg (and back)

Sam, thank you for the info about the VRM site!

Lee, I just checked the route on Bahn and it looks like it goes Ober to Murnau to Reutte. We are headed to the Ehrenberg Ruins and Highline 179. Would Reutte in Tirol not be the best train station to get off at for that? If it's quicker to go through Garmisch then I'd rather do that; it may be I'm looking for the route the wrong way on Bahn.
I just looked on rome2rio and it shows a bus from Ober to Garmisch and then the train to Reutte. Either way though the Werdenfels ticket would be half as exenspive because on Bahn each way costs 26 for 2 people. Thank you for the tip!!
Here's a question: would I be able to take a faster bus/train on the Ober-Reutte with the Bayern ticket vs the Werdenfels? Or is it the same bus/train I'd be taking either way?

sla019, okay, sounds good, I'll relax. ;) Thanks!

"I am very interested in the day passes you speak of." OK.

(I assume these multiple trips are in chrononlogical order on the dates you've given. Also assuming two persons traveling.)

06 Jul
Mainz to Boppard,
Oberwesel to Sankt Goar,
Sankt Goar to Kamp-bornhofen

Rheinland-Pfalz ticket, valid from 9 am, buy at Mainz station from a ticket machine. The first two are simple train trips. For the last, ferry from St. Goar (runs every 20 min. or so) to St. Goarshausen, walk north to station, train from there. The R-P ticket covers this ferry.

07 Jul
Kamp-Bornhofen to Braubach,
Braubach to Stolzenfels, (Schloß Stolzenfels, Koblenz; normally a trip by train to Koblenz + bus, 10 min. walk up)
Stolzenfels to Ehrenbreistein (You're returning to Koblenz for this journey.)
Ehrenbreistein to Rhens

VRM mini-group ticket, €22.10, valid from 9 am, buy at K-B station ticket machine. Covers all trains and buses.

23 Jul
Oberammergau to Reutte in Tirol (and back)

Regio-ticket Werdenfels covers two at any hour of the day for €26. Train line map for entire network covered:
https://www.bahn.de/p/view/mdb/bahnintern/angebotsberatung/regio/regionale_tickets/mdb_200857_karte_regio_ticket_werdenfels_sept_2015.pdf
Scroll down for map that includes rail and RVO buses for the local area your journey covers:
https://bahnland-bayern.de/de/tickets/regionale-tickets/regio-ticket-werdenfels

25 Jul
Oberammergau to Munich,
Munich to Nuremberg,
Nuremberg to Reichenschwand (and back)

Bayern Ticket, €31/2, valid after 9 am

26 Jul
Reichenschwand to Nuremberg (and back)

(Huh? You returned to Nuremberg on the 25th, didn't you?) One way is €11.60 for two for normal VGN tickets (local transit authority.) For round trip, a VGN Tagesticket Plus day pass covers this route for €15.80/2. Buy these from a ticket machine at the station.

I just checked the route on Bahn and it looks like it goes Ober to
Murnau to Reutte.

Murnau is on the Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen line. So if you take the train from Oberammergau to Murnau, you'll have to change trains in Garmisch to the Außerfernbahn to Reutte. There is no direct train from Murnau to Reutte. You can also go by bus from Oberammergau to Oberau, then Oberau to Garmisch to Reutte.

Virtually every town you list has a Bahnhof, so you can get there by train. All of the buses of the RVO (Regionalverkehrer Oberbayern = regional transport upper Bavaria) except those that run outside Bavaria are included with a Bayern-Ticket. Here is a map of the RVO system.

Some of the routes you list on the Rhein cross the river, for which you need ferries. I think they are all included with the Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket and VRM Tageskarten. Koblenz to Ehrenbreitstein is via a cable car (Seilbahn).

Russ, Thank you so much for the detailed response! SO helpful. And yes, I didn't mean to say back to Nuremberg on the 25th. We are staying in Reichenschwand.
Lee, thanks for the follow-up, that makes sense about Murnau.

ON the 26th: The Reichenschwand-Nuremberg trip one way is a "price-level 5" trip, only €5.80 each. Because you said "and back", I previously gave you the day pass price for price level 5, which would be valid for a roundtrip ticket for two (at €15.80 total.)