Travel Between Prague/Nurnberg/Salzburg

Cannot help with travel times, etc. But, having visited both, I would recommend Prague. A magical city. If music is an attraction for Salzburg, Prahue has that too with connections to Mozart and many concerts. Architecture in Prague is fantastic. It is the only central European capital to have missed devastation in the 20th Century wars.

Q-D-L-T (Quer-Durchs-Land-Ticket) is a new (Aug 1) offering of the Bahn to complement the Schoenes-Wochenende-Ticket for workdays. It is valid on all regional trains and the S-Bahn across Germany from 9 AM until 3 AM the following morning. It cost €34 for the first person and €5 for each additional traveler up to 4 (5 people, total) - from automats, more from a counter.

Although it does not specifically say so on the Bahn schedule website, the Bayern-Boehmen-Ticket should be valid to Plzen on those 5 hr connections to Prague.

We already found that the Bayern-Ticket is valid on the German leg of those trips (to Furth im Wald). The German language page about the Bayern-Boehmen ticket says, "The offer is valid inside Bavaria like a Bayern-Ticket." It then says,"The Bayern-Boehmen-Ticket is valid under the same conditions in the entire border district of the Czech Republic with Germany in regional trains of Czech rail in the train categories R, Sp, OS."

Going by regional train will take about 7 hours all the way to the main station in Prague. To Salzburg by regional train will take about 5 hours via Munich.

The trip to Salzburg could be made least expensively for €28 total for two people (up to five, actually) with a Bayern-Ticket. That would be for an all day pass (after 9 workdays, from midnight weekends, holidays), so if you did it as an overnight trip it would cost €56, round trip.

The trip to Nuernberg could be made least expensively with a Bayern-Boehmen-Ticket for €33 for up to five people to Plzen plus about €5 per person from Plzen to Prague. An overnight trip would cost about €86.

There is also an express (non-stop) bus from Nuernberg to Praque in 3:45. If you book ahead, at least three days, farther ahead if tickets are selling out, the lowest fare would be €38, one way, €76 round trip, for two. If you can't get the discount fare, the one way fare for two is €96.

Finally, express trains make the trip to Salzburg in only three hours but cost more. Full fare would be €134 for two one way, but if you book far enough ahead you can get a Dauer-Spezial-Familie fare for €49 each way for 2 people.

I went from Nurnberg to Prague in May and I changed trains in Steinach (?). It was around 6 hours...

Kate, first, I think you mean you changed in Schwandorf.

I'm not quite sure what is going on with the Bahn website. If you put in "all modes of transport" it includes the 5 hour trips from Nuernberg and shows them as regional trains (RE, R). If you put in "only local transport", usually needed to use the Bayern-Boehmen-Ticket, it doesn't show the 5 hour trips, only 7 hour trips.

I think the Bayern-Boehmen-Ticket is still valid on the trains of that five hour trip, but I can't be sure.

I'm going to have to do some more investigating. If I put in Nuernberg to Fürth i. Wald (the border crossing into the C.R.) for two people, which should be eligible for a €28 Bayern-Ticket, the Bahn only shows a €39 Q-D-L-T (Quer-Durchs-Land-Ticket, "Straight through the Land Ticket"), which I have never before seen. Part of that route is on ALX, which up to now, anyway, has been a regional train, but now that route looks like it is not classified as regional (express?).

Actually, if you put in Nuernberg to Furth im Wald for 2 people and select "all modes of transport", it shows a connection leaving Nuernberg at 10:44 and arriving at Furth at 14:56, and the best fare is the Q-D-L-T fare at €39. If you select "only local transport", it shows the same connection (10:44-14:56) but shows that the €28 Bayern-Ticket is valid.

Go figure. Is this a new "glitch" or have I just never noticed this before?

Thanks so much, Iain, Lee, and Kate. I really, really appreciate your help. Nancy

ooops...yes Schwandorf! THanks Lee! How soon I forget...