DB Bus from Nuremburg to Prague

Go to the Bahn website, http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en, and put in Nuernberg Hbf and Praha hl.n. and then click the '>' symbol on a line that says "bus" to expand the connection and read the details. It says, "Subject to compulsory reservation, Regional train tickets are not valid, Seat reservation included in price when purchased together with ticket". So if you were thinking that you would just hop whatever bus when you were ready to go to Prague, no. The Europa-Spezial ticket is "train specific" (or in this case, "bus specific"). That means that the special fare is only valid on the bus you specify when you buy the ticket. I'm not certain if you can buy the bus ticket at a counter or only online, but they probably charge €5 more at a counter for "personal service". . . . . . . . ¶ As for exploring Nürnberg, as long as you stay in the city itself, along with the suburbs of Fürth and Stein, a Preisstufe 2 Tages Ticket Solo is valid for one person on all of the U-Bahn, Trams, and buses for the day, for €4,-.

Full fare on that bus is €48. You can get a Europa-Spezial fare as low as €19, but that requires advance purchase of at least 3 days (more advised). And, if you advance purchase, you can also include the ICE from Munich to Nürnberg for as low as €29 (Munich to Praque).

I was thinking of using a Bayern ticket to be able to explore some of nuremburg also.. Do I also need a reservation if I buy the 20 euro tickets ahead of time? and what does that involve?

Alternatively, there is something called the Bayern-Böhmen Ticket (€23 single, €33 up to five people). It's like the Bayern-Ticket, is valid for all regional transport in Bavaria, in Munich (MVV) and Nürnberg (VGN), but is also valid in the Czech Republic up to Pilsen. So, if you bought a Bayern-Böhmen ticket in Munich in the morning, you could go by regional train (RE) to Nürnberg, have unlimited travel in the VGN all day, then go to Pilsen. There is a regional connection from Nürnberg at 14:05, getting to Prague at 18:58. There is also a connection, with one train change in Schwandorf, from 17:53 to 22:58. These trains take a little longer, but cost less. The Bayern-Bohmen ticket takes you to Pilsen. From there you need a Czech Rail ticket to Prague. It costs about €6 in Czech Koruna, and I'm told you can buy it from the conductor before you get to Pilsen.

Thanks for the advice, i like that last option, now for 33 euros that gets me and my buddy around bavaria and that part of c.rep? so i go from munich hauptbenhauf to nuremburg, walk around a few hours after seen the next train to pilsen, then i go from pilsen to prague either bought on the same train or at the station in between runs to prague, it looks like there are 2 per hour to prague. do you know how often nuremburg to pilsen trains run?

I do like the idea of buying tickets there before hand and not always having to buy tickets ahead of time.

"it looks like there are 2 per hour to prague." More like one every two hours (6 per day, actually, I think). I think there are four trains per day, about every four hours. Every other train is direct (no change) to Pilsen; the alternate train has a short change in Schwandorf to the train from Munich to Pilsen - no big deal, probably cross platform.

Here is the German Rail webpage on the Bayern-Böhmen ticket (unfortunately, it's only in German) www.bahn.de/regio_ostbayern/view/guenstig_nach_tschechien.shtml. Google translate, anyone?

There is a similar ticket for Sachsen and Böhmen, valid for all of Sachsen and the same part of the Czech Republic. They have a brochure at www.bahn.de/regional/view/mdb/pv/dbregio/ausfluege/sachsen/MDB57919-sachsen_boehmen_ticket_2009_web.pdf with a map showing all the valid lines in the Czech Republic (for both the Sachsen-Böhmen and Bayern-Böhmen tickets).

Can you use the Saxony-Bohemia tix to get to Berlin via Dresden/Prague sort of easily the same way?

There is one Länder-Ticket that covers regional trains in Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, and Thüringen, but as far as I can tell, the Sachsen-Böhmen-Ticket covers just Sachsen and that band of the Czech-Republic nearest Sachsen and Bayern. The Sachsen-Böhmen-Ticket could get you from Pilsen to the border with Brandenburg, and you could use a Berlin-Brandenburg-Ticket from there, but regional trains for that long a distance are not practical. You could use the Sachsen-Böhmen-Ticket to Dresden and then get a Sparpreis-Ticket, online, in advance, for Dresden to Berlin.

I had this exact plan. I became so engrossed in Nurnberg we spent an unplanned day and a half there. If you have interest in 20th century history it is worth the investment of a day. I wasn't prepared for how well preserved and eerie the Nazi ruins would be. The museum near the parade grounds is pretty intense.