best way from Munich to Salzburg

Lee and Frank, I love your posts, are you competing to see who has the most number of posts? You two are so spot on with your responses but have to tell you that know that am retired, will be working hard to catch up with you. I only have about 6000 more to go, right??

Julia, You won't be able to find better information than what Lee provided, regardless of where you ask the question. The trip from Munich Airport to the HBf is very easy, as is the trip to Salzburg. Happy travels!

Not in the less bit, Gail. You will notice that there will be days and sometimes weeks between my postings. Just like to needle Lee a little from time to time - between our monthly meetings in Denver. There is absolutely no one who knows more details about German rail than Lee.

You asked it on this forum, and you got the answer. Why do you need to ask again? A Bayern-Ticket will cover you on the S-Bahn from the airport to the Munich Hauptbahnhof and on any regional train to Salzburg. The only restriction is that is can't be used before 9 AM on workdays. As for the advance ticket question, which IS new, there is no need for advance purchase. The Bayern-Ticket is always available from ticket automats in the stations at the same price, €21 Single, €29 up to 5 P. The quantity is unlimited at that price; they don't sell out. You could purchase it online, in advance, from the Bahn website, just to have it in hand, but, as long as you print it at home, it wouldn't change the price. There are other reduced price tickets. With a €30 pP Freizeit-Ticket, you could travel round trip in a day from Munich to Salzburg, but it would be more expensive, particularly since it would not cover the airport to the Hbf. You could also advance purchase Sparpreis tickets on the Bahn website. They must be purchased at least 3 days in advance, but much earlier, up to 92 days is recommended because the lowest priced tickets sell out and the price goes up. Tickets are date and train specific and non-refundable. Prices start at €19 for one person (vs €21 for a Bayern-Ticket-Single) or €29 for two (vs €29 for the B-T). The Sparpreis tickets are valid on express trains, which take ½ hr less and there is no 9 AM restriction. Sparpreis tickets are not recommended for someone newly arriving at the Munich airport, because they are date and train specific and non-refundable. If the plane is late, you could lose everthing.

I am guessing she didn't like the answer the first time. Too much detail and too precise.

I think her problem with the first posting was I was the only one to answer. Maybe she was hoping someone else would tell her something different. But that was the answer - the least expensive way is using a Bayern-Ticket. I tried to keep my answer to the first posting succinct and to the point. There are other options (as you can see above), but why discuss them if they they aren't less expensive. And, BTW, I discuss getting from the airport to the Hauptbahnhof on my website, here.

I agree. Lee is the expert on German travel!!! Do whatever he tells you! ;)

The guys are right, the Bayern Pass is the only way to. Have fun.

Lee and Frank, (and others) many thanks for your info. I asked again because I wondered if there were other options. I did not know that Lee was such an expert! Also, I thought different people might be reading various forums. I'm new at this. Anyway, I'm all set with your info. BTW, I'm 69 so maybe age makes me more anxious! Thanks again. Julia

Hey Gail, get busy ;-) If Lee is still around (and if not I'll bug him later!), if one purchases a Bayern-Ticket online, is that date specific? If not, does one need to fold it up and stuff it into a validation machine, or some such thing?!? I just noticed the advance-purchase option this week on bahn.com; when I went as far as possible with a fake order, I still wasn't sure - since I had already entered a specific date in my original search... And for Julia, I can't vouch for the rest of Lee's world (heh-heh!), but he does know German train travel. (Oh, and he's cheap and likes to do things the easy way - and I mean that in the best possible way - so whatever he tells you will be the cheapest and simplest way to do it. THAT, I'll vouch for. His penchant for wearing dirndls...can't help you there. He IS so darned cute in them, though ;-) Julia, around here most of us read several, if not all, Helpline forums, but we know what you're referring to - and that was a good assumption on your part. And this is why I usually chime in, in (dis/)agreement, after someone else has given advice/info about something - so that the OP doesn't wonder if the first poster has a clue what they're talking about LOL! So now I'll continue doing it...

"if one purchases a Bayern-Ticket online, is that date specific?" I know if you buy a Bayern-Ticket from the Bahn shop (only in German) you are asked for a date. So it must be printed on the ticket. If you use the Bahn query page to find a connection for which the Bayern-Ticket is shown on "Savings fares" as the lowest fare, you will be offered a Bayern-Ticket as the lowest priced ticket and the purchase page will indicate that the ticket is valid for anywhere, not just the two points chosen. Since you put in a date, I'm sure it will be printed on the ticket. However, I have bought Bayern-Tickets for which the date was not indicated. They were, of course, small enough to be cancelled. You can tell for sure. Tickets that must be cancelled have the words, "HIER entwerten" printed on the end with arrow to show how the ticket is to be put into the machine. Bayern-Tickets must have the name of the "owner" of the ticket, printed (in Blockschrift) on the ticket and that person must be with the ticket any time it is being used.

Gail, it's more like 7000, but don't be discouraged. I've been doing this for 10 years - that's 700 a year, just over 2 a day. And I usually only look at three forums, General Europe, Transportation, and To the West. And I mostly only answer questions there on German travel and German Rail. So that leaves you with plenty of opportunity.

"he's cheap" I prefer to use the German word 'Preiswertig" or economical (worth the price). If I have two choices, everything else equal, and one costs less, I'll pick the lower priced choice. I feel like Commander Data. Is that so illogical.

You mean my answer on 5:46 PM yesterday was not satisfactory? Since I have never purchased a Bayern-Ticket in advance online, I don't actually know what you get - I can only surmise. But, given how easy it is to buy the BT at an automat just before travel, and that there is no price advantage to advance purchase, why bother, particularly if an advance purchase ticket has a specified validity date. Those tickets are non-refundable, so you are just committing yourself to a date when you could just as easily have the flexibility of buying it just before travel. There is only one case I can think of where advance purchase of a Bayern-Ticket might be desirable. If you are coming from Prague on one of those direct trains to Furth im Wald and then on to anywhere in Bavaria, you can buy a Czech ticket for ~€10 to Furth in Prague, but you might want the BT in hand to continue on from Furth. I don't think you can buy the Bayern-Ticket on the train or in Prague. You could always get off the train in Furth, but that might mean having to continue on a later train. One other option, perhaps a little less expensive, is to purchase Czech tickets in Prague to Pilsen for about €6 (in Kc), then using a Bayern-Boehmen ticket to anywhere in Bavaria. But purchase of a Bayern-Boehmen ticket from the Bahn shop is only in German, so some people might not be able to do it.

Gosh, I cried in the theater when Data sacrificed himself (sniffle); he was nearly 500 years old, though...though I personally find Spock to be more logical. So, Herr Preiswertig...any answer for my Bayern-Ticket question?

Entschuldigung, Lee! I know it's not like you to ignore a request...BUT this is (apparently) not the only thread today that looks like there are missing posts...but now your previously missing post is back; thanks! I've been in a situation where I was buying tickets from a German kiosk (thanks bunches for the photo-logue, Lee!) and it was a piece of cake to do - I just needed some peace and quiet to read through all of the choices, type in the correct city code, etc., and I was getting lots of, ummm, 'help' from my fellow travelers. I did my best to politely tell them that although this was new and foreign (literally) to them, that I was familiar with the machine and process and it was all under control. What I wanted to say was 'Shut Up and Go Away!' so I can buy Your tickets LOL!!! After that incident (when I knew enough about the kiosks to actually buy tickets for a German couple watching me), I would consider buying them ahead of time...;-) Which reminds me - I had planned on buying our Bayern-Ticket upon arrival at Salzburg Hbf since we'll be in a rush at departure from Salzburg to Munich 2 days later (every minute counts), but perhaps that's not a strategy I should count on...(I thought they were all undated at purchase time)...Upon arrival at Salzburg I'll just do a fake transaction on the kiosk so I can do it in a hurry at departure time. Maybe now I'll go reread some of those threads that looked like they had missing posts...

According to the map of the Salzburg Hbf during the reconstruction work, there are two Bahn automats in the Hbf near the tracks. You should be able to buy a Bayern-Ticket there. Also, I don't know if this is typical, but in 2007 I was in Neumarkt-Kallham, in Austria, and the Austrian Rail automat there sold the Bayern-Ticket.