RE: Questions about BahnCard25, please help!

1. Yes 2. Yes 3. Not sure, maybe someone else can answer this 4. Yes, if you can book it at Bahn.com you can apply the discount. I would do the math on tickets to your destinations to see if the Bahn card would actually save you money or not. You have to take a certain number of trips obviously to get the savings. If you're going to be covering a lot of ground on ICE trains you might want to compare that cost to a German Rail Pass as well.

I'm not sure you want a Bahn Card. First, look at the cost and what you would save. Second, understand that it is an "Abonnement". That's a subscription that renews itself every year until you stop it. You will need a special form that you can download from the Bahn website (if you know where it is). If you buy the Bahn card over there, maybe they will have the forms. When you first log on to the German Rail (Bahn) website, there is a space at the bottom of the page to indicate whether or not you have a Bahn Card (it's in the pulldown in the field labeled "Travellers"). If you've been using the site and it no longer shows the query full page, click on "Change other data" in the top field. Then it will show the prices with a Bahn Card. 3. Yes. A City Card, including unlimited us of the conveyance in the city when you arrive is included automatically with the Bahn Card. The Bahn website also gives non-Bahn Card holder the opportunity to purchase. at extra cost, either a card for a "single journey" from the station to your destination, for €2,30, or a card for unlimited use on the day you arrive, for €6,30. You will see all of this when you go through the purchase process. www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/prices/germany/city-ticket.shtml

Hi, 1. yes, you don't need to be a citizen or have an address in Germany. I don't think you need to apply for BahnCard 25, unless your 5 week trip includes a great deal of zig zagging train travel all over Germany, from the Black forest to Berlin to Bavaria to Saxon-Anhalt to Middle Rhein area to Mecklenburg to the Ruhr to Schleswig-Holstein to Saxony to Ostfriesland, etc., etc. You can use a German Rail Pass for that type of trip, depending on your priorities.

I found the answer to cancelling your Bahn Card Abonnement on the German side of the DB website. There used to be a form to fill out and mail in, now "Die BahnCard muss schriftlich spätestens 6 Wochen vor Laufzeitende beim BahnCard Service gekündigt werden. Postanschrift: BahnCard Service 60643 Frankfurt E-Mail: [email protected] The BahnCard must be cancelled with BahnCard Services in writing 6 weeks before the end of the term at the latest. Address: BahnCard Service
60643 Frankfurt E-Mail: [email protected]

I bought two Bahncard 25s in 2010, mostly just for fun. We did save some money, which I planned out before I bought them, but it wasn't enough over 3 weeks to make a huge difference. Still, it was a fun part of my planning process - playing around on the Bahn.de website and trying different combinations of routes and fares. I got some very good advice on this board about the cancellation letter from a German citizen, including a sample cancellation letter in German which I can PM you if you want it. His best tip was to go ahead and send the cancellation letter immediately once you have the card - it will be cancelled at the end of its term with no further action from you, and you won't forget to do it. Don't worry, they will NOT cancel the card mid-cycle just because you send the letter early. The card you want is the "trial" Bahncard 25, which is valid for four months (you specify the start date) and costs €25 And I concur with previous posters - Yes to Q's 1, 2, and 4 (I used it to get a further discount on a special fare from Paris to Cochem) and yes, the City-Ticket covers all public transport in the arrival city on day of arrival if certain conditions are met (must be a long-distance train you arrived on - minimum 100 km trip; must be a valid city partner (119 cities in Germany are); must be a ticket purchased with a Bahncard discount but also valid for a traveling companion without a Bahncard) HTH - nothing wrong with a Bahncard, but it's really meant for residents or long-stay visitors who plan to do a lot of train travel. With 5 weeks, you might indeed save some money.

The Bahn website on City Tickets (or Bahn Cards) implies that you need a Bahn Card to get City Tickets, but that's just to get "free" city tickets. With the Bahn Card you get free City Tickets that are good you unlimited use for the rest of the day (if you meet the requirements). If you don't have the Bahn Card checked, it will give you the option, near the end of the purchase process, to buy either a single journey City Ticket or a rest-of-the-day City Ticket. BTW, I'm not certain if the City Ticket includes the starting town. The Bahn specifically says "destination" (Reiseziel), so that sounds like it's only valid for your arrival town.