What type of train ticket should I buy - multi-day Munich & surrounding

Forgot to mention that while in Strasbourg we'll be hopping back over to Germany to see Diersheim (husbands family from here) and Freiburg.

For Munich, almost everything people generally go to see, except Dachau, is in the inner zone. Dachau, however, is in the Munich Metro District, MVV, so an MVV ticket is what you need.

A day pass for your group for the inner zone is 12,80€. An inner zone group pass for three consecutive days is 28,00€. If you want unllimited travel in the inner two zones, you'll want a Munich XXL group day ticket for 15,40€/day. If you want to go out to, say, Freissing, to Weihenstephan, the world's oldest brewery, to the Spa in Erding, or to the airport, you will nead a pass for the entire network, at 23,20€/day. These day passes are valid for all modes of transport (S-/U-Bahn, trams, and buses) of the Munich transit district.

Here is the map of the system with zones shown. Here is the table of prices for group day tickets.

For either Neuschwanstein or Regensburg, both of which are in the state of Bayern (Bavaria), a Bayern-Ticket for four people in 2nd class at 38€ is what you need (1st class is available for a higher price). You can only use regional trains with a Bayern-Ticket, but that's about all there are to Füssen (Neuschwanstein), and regional trains (RE and ALX) are the fastest way to get to Regensburg. You can only use the Bayern-Ticket after 9 AM on workdays. The Bayern-Ticket is also valid for all modes of transport in the MVV and the Regensburg metro area that day.

If you book far enough in advance (92 days, max), you (all 4) can get from Munich to Strasbourg for as low as 156€. I saw that fare for one day on the ICE leaving Munich at 8 AM; 196€ or 236€ are more common for that route. That is using a SparPreis ticket that is train specific (limited for use on only a single train per leg on that date). It can only be refunded or exchanged with penalties.

If you don't mind taking regional trains, slower (7 hours vs 3¾ hr for the ICE above) and more changes, you can use a Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket for 68€ for the four of you or, only on weekends, a Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket for 52€ for both of you. Those tickets can be used on any regional train and don't require advance purchase. They will get you as far as Kehl, across the Rhein from Strasbourg. A local ticket for the rest of the way would cost 16,40€ for all four of you.

About the fastest way to Diersheim is to take the train back to Kehl (you already know that fare) then take the #430 bus, about 20 min, to Diersheim. The bus from Kehl to Diersheim costs 3,20€ per person, each way. There is about one trip per hour.

According to the Bahn, taking all regional trains from Strasbourg to Freiburg is only about 20 min slower that taking an ICE from Offenburg to Freiburg. You can use a Baden-Württemburg-Ticket (38€ for the four of you) to get from Kehl to Freiburg.

Wow, Lee - you're like a Wikipedia page or something :) Thank you for this awesome information!

A day pass for your group for the inner zone is 12,80€. An inner zone
group pass for three consecutive days is 28,00€. If you want
unllimited travel in the inner two zones, you'll want a Munich XXL
group day ticket for 15,40€/day. If you want to go out to, say,
Freissing, to Weihenstephan, the world's oldest brewery, to the Spa in
Erding, or to the airport, you will nead a pass for the entire
network, at 23,20€/day. These day passes are valid for all modes of
transport (S-/U-Bahn, trams, and buses) of the Munich transit
district.

For the day passes: Do you recommend I just buy the day passes the morning of the day I need them? Can I purchase them from the Kiosks - if so, will it be obvious to those who don't speak much German what I'll be looking for?

I think our schedule will have us in Munich (1/2 day Thursday) > Regensburg > Munich (Dachau) > Munich (Saturday) > Neuschwanstein - so I don't think I can do 3 consecutive day passes.

For either Neuschwanstein or Regensburg, both of which are in the
state of Bayern (Bavaria), a Bayern-Ticket for four people in 2nd
class at 38€ is what you need (1st class is available for a higher
price). You can only use regional trains with a Bayern-Ticket, but
that's about all there are to Füssen (Neuschwanstein), and regional
trains (RE and ALX) are the fastest way to get to Regensburg. You can
only use the Bayern-Ticket after 9 AM on workdays. The Bayern-Ticket
is also valid for all modes of transport in the MVV and the Regensburg
metro area that day.

Is the Bayern-Ticket at all time or train specific (other than after 9am on weekdays) or can we just jump on the train at any time headed to Regensburg or Fussen? With Fussen, it sounds like our time table will be pretty locked down due to pre-purchase of tickets for Neuschwanstein etc..

By the way - I Love Colorado! I lived there for 6 years and we go there every chance we get! Recently we've been to Brekenridge, Steamboat, Denver, Ft Collins, Boulder.... I'm a mountain girl at heart - it's where I'm happiest :) Maybe I'll get to live in the mountains again someday.

I've spent 21 nights, total, in Munich on 8 visits and studied the MVV website a lot while advising people like you in the past 15 year. So I'm pretty familiar with it.

The MVV ticket I think you can buy at a counter in the Bahnhof for no extra charge. I'm not sure if the MVV ticket automats will display in English, but the DB ones will. I think even in German they are pretty self-explanatory, but someone else will have to tell you that as I speak German enough to do it in that language. In fact, I don't use the English option when there is one because I want the practice in German. The important words, Tageskarte is a day ticket, Innenraum is the inner zone in Munich, XXL is for the two innermost zones, Gesamtnetz is the entire MVV. For four of you, you want a Gruppen Tageskarte, not a Single Tageskarte.

The Bayern-Ticket will cost 2€ more if you purchase it from a person at the counter vs at an automat. The tickets come with a validity date (usually that day) printed on them, so make sure you select the right date when buying them. There is also a line on the Bayern-Ticket for someone who will always be with the group to sign.

The Bayern-Ticket gives you unlimited use of regional train for that entire day after 9 if a weekday. If you request a tour of Neuschwanstein for 1 PM (13.00), you should pick up you ticket an hour earlier, by 12:00. But the first train/bus after 9 AM gets to Hohenschwangau at 12:18. However, you can't start using the Bayern-Ticket until 9, but that doesn't mean you can't start traveling before 9. The 8:53 train goes to Munich Pasing, where is leaves at 9. Pasing is in the inner zone, so with 4 single trip tickets for one zone, for 2,70€/person (10,80€ total), you can go on the 8:53 train to Pasing where you start using the Bayern-Ticket at 9.

The easiest way to buy MVV tickets, in my experience, was to install the MVV app on my iPhone (I just have a little 4S) switch the app to English and buy the tickets there. I usually did it while waiting at the bus stop. No queues, environmentally sound because no tickets. Just switch the app on and show the QR code on the special moving-colour page. Only had to show the app twice, the rest of the time my phone stayed in my pocket or was used for something else.

The easiest way to buy MVV tickets, in my experience, was to install
the MVV app on my iPhone (I just have a little 4S) switch the app to
English and buy the tickets there. I usually did it while waiting at
the bus stop. No queues, environmentally sound because no tickets.
Just switch the app on and show the QR code on the special
moving-colour page. Only had to show the app twice, the rest of the
time my phone stayed in my pocket or was used for something else.

Mobile would be my ideal way to do things but I'm scared my phone won't have service just when I need it... I guess maybe once we get there it will become more clear whether this will work. Thanks!

Oh yeah, if we go with the app, any idea if all passengers need the app if we're all together, or is it one group ticket on one phone?

when I did it I was with my wife and both tickets were inside app at the same time. I used 3G, not wifi.

I know you're asking about rail info, but while you're in Strasbourg (I assume you are referring to France, not Straβburg, Germany), drive over to Obernai! A very quaint village very near Strasbourg. You'll adore it!

jonnakc Boerne, TX

I know you're asking about rail info, but while you're in Strasbourg
(I assume you are referring to France, not Straβburg, Germany), drive
over to Obernai! A very quaint village very near Strasbourg. You'll
adore it!

Thanks Jonnakc, we will definitely look into that. I'm not sure if we'll have a car or not....

I have several family members in Boerne, Tx. Such a small world :)

Lee or anyone with the answers :)

Deutsche bahn vs Rail Europe vs MVV etc...

Wow, there are so many places to search for train times/connections!! I'm sure this is much like all of the sites you can use to search for airline tickets.

The DB app is pretty awesome and assuming I have data while there I would like to be able to use something like that. We feel less stress about making connections etc with more info...

Where is the best place to look for train schedules, tickets, info and buy them? Is it a different answer for Munich and surrounding vs places like Rothenburg (we're now considering going there) or Fussen with the Bayern-Ticket?

Do the all show the same trains? I seem to be getting different results/options on one site/app vs the other.

DB do not show verkehrsverbund trains unless you specifically request them.

If you want the local trains I find the verkehrsverbund apps easier.

They won't show the long distance trains which have the first stop outside the area, unless you request the immediate departure screen. DB does a handy departure screen.

Back in the day it was simple. DB did everything in all of Germany, including running the S-Bahns, the only local trains.

It is all different now, with all the fragmentation. Boo Hiss...

Regarding the Bayern-Ticket

I know it's only available after 9am and this is what the site says about availability:
Validity area: Valid on all regional and local trains of all rail companies and all transport association services (S-Bahn, subway, trams and buses) and nearly all scheduled bus services in Bavaria. Exceptions include school lines and certain private bus lines – in particular on toll roads and cross-border transports.

If I find a train time & location I like on DB app, how do i know if its covered to by the Bayren-Ticket.

Sorry, i feel helpless when it comes to this. Transportation seems to be stressful for my family when they dont know exactly where to go and when. Information is king. If we know what we're doing, things will go a lot more smoothly...

Thanks!!

Amy,

after the split things did become more complicated.

There was a thread a week or two ago about just that question - how to know if your German train is covered by a regional day pass which is what the Bayern Ticket is.

Have a look at the - somewhat technical - discussion between a couple of our regulars at https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/german-train-intermediate-station-limitations.

To simplify, don't worry too much about which trains are included - worry more about which trains are not. If the train type has an "R" in the code, it is. If it is an ICE, or IC, ir CNL, or EC, or D it isn't, what the two gents agree at the end are long distance trains.

You and the kids will have a great time. Can one of them be in charge of which trains to ride, after research?

Nigel, that would be awesome to put the kids in charge. We'll see what my husband thinks....

I will read that post and see if I can learn anything :)

On another note, I found a DB app specific to Munich!! It works with MVV tickets and you can exclude any trains that DONT work with the MVV ticket. Pretty awesome. I'm excited about that find.

You would think the main DB app would allow you to exclude trains that aren't covered on any of their regional tickets. It's probably just a simple SQL query table - shouldn't be hard to add. :)

I found a DB app specific to Munich

MVV is the Münchner Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund, and they run all of the transport in Munich, not outside. In Munich, that's the S-/U-Bahn, trams, and buses, and regional trains. Stick with the S-Bahn and you won't have a problem, as they are included with MVV tickets. No need for an App. Most high speed trains in Munich stop only at the Hauptbahnhof, Ostbahnhof, and Pasing

If you are going outside of Munich, pick a train that says RE, RB, Meridian, and ALX. Most high speed trains stop only at the Hauptbahnhof, Ostbahnhof, and Pasing, and they are ICE, IC, EC, RailJet (RJ), and TGV.