Rail Travel in Germany

"Are reservations needed on any of these trips? " I'm not 100% certain about all of them, but I'm going to say, no.

"I intend to buy a second class railpass for the three of us for all 8 days unless someone here convinces me to do something else." The only way to answer this question is to go on the national rail website and compare the costs of point-to-point tickets to the cost of a rail pass:

http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml

I (and many others on this site) gave up on rail passes years ago. With the exception of some passes aimed at regular commuters, they're almost always more expensive than buying point to point tickets.

If you travel on an ICE from Frankfurt to Berlin, a reservation could be required. On several other legs, Berlin-Dresden or Munich-Frankfurt, depending on the time of day, a reservation might be recommended. For Nürnberg-Rothenburg, Füssen-Garmisch (Zugspitze), and Füssen-Munich, reservations will not even be possible.

Dresden is not that far from Nürnberg. Instead of doing Berlin to Dresden as a day trip and then Berlin to Nürnberg, I'd go to Dresden, spend the night there, then go on to Nürnberg. You can get an advance purchase Sparpreis ticket from Berlin to Dresden for as little as €29 for two people on a Eurocity (EC) train. Dresden to Nürnberg is often just as fast with a Regional Express (RE) or Interregio Express (IRE) as with an ICE/IC/EC. A Sachsen-Ticket and a Bayern-Ticket, for €28 each (€56 for both of you) will cover your trip from Dresden to Nürnberg for both of you by RE/IRE.

You can find all of this information on the German Rail schedule website.

Several of those days can be done far cheaper with point-point tickets and regional passes (Länder-Tickets) than by rail pass. Rothenburg ob der Tauber is inside the Verkehrsverbund Großraum Nürnberg (Nürnberg Metro district). A Tarifstufe 10+ Tagesticket Plus (day ticket), for €14,70, will cover both of you for the round trip from Nürnberg to Rothenburg and back in a day. If you use on of the high speed REs from Nürenberg to Munich and regional train to Füssen, the entire trip can be done with a Bayern-Ticket for €28 for both of you after 9 AM workdays. Füssen to Munich can only be done by regional train; a Bayern-Ticket will cover your travel as long as you wait until after 9.

As for Munich to Frankfurt, you can get a Sparpreis fare for as low as €49 for two.

The only stickler is Frankfurt to Berlin. If you plan on making that trip as soon as you arrive in Germany, you might have to pay full fare. The advance purchase Sparpreis ticket is train-specific and non-refundable, so if your flight is late arriving, you could lose the tickets. However, if you can stay in the area and go to Berlin the next day, you could get a discounted fare. You might also consider doing the trip in reverse order and using local tickets from the airport to Kahl am Main and a Bayern-Ticket to Rothenburg. That's an easy trip by regional rail and you wouldn't risk losing non-refundable tickets.

John,

Using the German rail website that was provided in Lee's post, you'll be able to research each of your rail journeys and find whether reservations are compulsory for any of them.

Note that when travelling with a Railpass, these DO NOT include the reservation fees if required for a specific train. You'll have to pay separately "out of pocket" for those.

Cheers!

REVISED at 10:50am ESDT (7:50 PSDT) (I should have researched more before I posted. Sorry! But now I'm ready)

Thanks for the information. I have checked the prices for our planned trips and it appears that the Twin Saver Pass will save us money:

For 2 of us:

7 days $536

versus

Frankfurt-Berlin $180
Berlin-Dresden RT $100
Berlin-Nürnberg $100
Nürnberg-Rothenburg am der Tauber RT $100
Nürnberg-Füssen $50
Füssen-München $60
München-Frankfurt $80
TOTAL: $670

And it seems to me that buying the pass is a time saver compared to buying tickets for 7 journeys.

Am I missing something?

Where are you getting those ticket prices from? I see Frankfurt-Berlin for 29 Euro pp....about $40 per person, or $80 for two....on the DB website listed by Lee earlier.

You still haven't said whether you are planning on going straight from FRA to Berlin, or spending a few days in Frankfurt before going to Berlin. That could make a big difference.

"Am I missing something?" YES, several things.

Rothenburg is in the VGN (Nürnberg metro district). It's a local ticket. You can go from anywhere in Nürnberg by public transportation to the Hbf, from there to Rothenburg by train, then back for only €14,70 for both of you with a Tarifstufe (fare level) 10+ Tagesticket Plus. That's less than $20, not $100.

There are only regional trains from Füssen to Munich. No reason for anything other than a €28 ($38) Bayern-Ticket. The Bayern-Ticket will also give you unlimited use of the transport in Munich when you get there.

Why do you insist on Berlin-Dresden RT, then Berlin-Nürnberg? That has you going from Dresden to Berlin to Nürnberg instead of just Dresden to Nürnberg. Spend the night in Dresden. You can get an advance purchase ticket from Berlin to Dresden for as low as €29 ($40) for both of you. Dresden to Nürnberg is less than $80 with two €28 Länder-Tickets that you can buy on the day of travel, or a €49 ($66, for both of you) advance purchase Sparpreis ticket.

Thanks. I really do appreciate your patience with me and I will check it out further.

I also found single day RT Sparpreis fares to/from Dresden for €58 (less than $80) and Berlin-Nürnberg fares for €49 ($66).

How long do you want to spend in Dresden on your day trip? It's also possible to build in an almost 9 hrs stopover in Dresden on a Sparpreis fare for €49 ($66). That trip would leave Berlin on an EC at 6:36, arr Dresden at 8:52. The trip to Nürnberg by RE would leave at 17:44 and arrive at 22:19.

I'm going to highjack this thread for a sec, and ask Lee: does the Bayern-Boehmen ticket also allow you to travel on transit in Munich?

See here. I know it's in German. But where it says, "Die Bayern-Böhmen-Tickets gelten auch", "the Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket is valid also", then it says "MVV (Münchner Verkehrsverbund - auch Bus Freising – München-Flughafen Terminal)". MVV is the Munich metro. I don't know why they then add "also Bus Freising-Munich airport terminal" because that is part of the MVV.

Norm,

On the day we need to go from Frankfurt to Berlin, such a fare does not seem to exist. That would be June 10.

Well, I still may be missing something and I do see a slight savings on the 3 days we need to travel in Bavaria with a Länder-Ticket but the savings isn't enough to justify the extra time and effort so I am still leaning strongly to a 7-day pass.

I think those of you who are saving money by not buying the pass have more flexibility in your scheduling than we do.

I have enjoyed the effort and I think I know more about German rail travel now. Thanks.

The fare is available for June 10, but the lowest priced tickets are already sold out. Frankfurt-Berlin is a very popular route and many people snatch up the tickets the minute they become available (92 days in advance). However, I did find fares for 2 from Frankfurt to Berlin available for €89 (12:22 dep).

When comparing point-point prices, if you want seat reservations, note also that reservations with a rail pass are €4,50 per seat. Reservations purchased online, with a ticket, are €2,50 per seat.

On second thought the Länder Ticket is worth the extra savings so I will buy a 4-day pass which gives us the flexibility we need and is now definitely cheaper because most of the special fares seem to be gone or soon will be.

I have made up my mind that this is the best deal for us. You did convince me to go for only 4 days instead of 7 because of the Länder Ticket.

Thanks again.