Bus travel around Germany

To some extent it is possible, but buses mostly augment the rail lines, going to towns not served by the Bahn. Usually, you will find the bus connections shown on the Bahn website when there is no rail connection.

Most small towns have bus access, but as Lee noted, the buses augment other forms of transport. For example, the town where I live has no train station, but it is served by two bus lines, neither of which travels particularly extensively. Both lines end at either a rail or Straßenbahn station. So usually, it's not that you can go from town to town by bus (unless they lie on the same line), but you can take a bus from a transit hub to reach a smaller town.

There are several International schools in the Frankfurt area. So basing here makes sense. Most of them can be easily reached by S-bahn or regional trains. There may be some where you will need to take a bus. The best idea is to tell us where the schools are and we can give you accurate information about how to travel there.

One more question! Are you able to sleep on the second class trains? We thought we would get the "2nd Class Twin". Thanks, again,
Lisa in Alaska

Lisa: Before you leap onto a railpass, you should share your travel plans and get some specific advice. What small towns do you plan to travel between? Railpasses are generally advantageous for crisscrossing the country several times but for travel to small places and for shorter distances, there are many cheaper ways to get around like regional daypasses, multi-day passes, and in the case of the Black Forest villages, FREE train and bus travel. Give us some details, and we can help.

" Are you able to sleep on the second class trains?" Second class trains? Most trains have both first and second class coaches. I think that on express trains, like ICEs, seats in either class would be OK for sleeping. However, they would not be as good as reclining seats and compartments on night trains.

Thank you, I never imagined so much great advice so quickly!
Our plan is to go visit a few International Schools, possibly three, to consider applying for a position later on. Most schools seem to be in larger towns, and we were hoping to enjoy the countryside when we aren't visiting these. We have two weeks, and we fly into Frankfurt.

"Schools" isn't very clear. What cities are you going to from Frankfurt? What small towns from there? If you don't know, tips on trains or buses just aren't possible.

It looks like I have quite a bit of planning to do before I ask more questions! Thank you!!

I don't think there are a lot of international schools out in the hills of Bavaria. Most of them are located in or near large cities to take care of all the international families that have to move every few years. The kids need to have a consistant schooö program, no matter what country they are living in. Thus, near Berlin with all the embassys, or near Frankfurt with the international banking as well as over 80 consulates, you find the most international schools. Unless, the OP was looking for the military schools, then she would have to go near the bases.

I think one of the most extensive bus networks in Germany is the network of Regionalverkehr Oberbayern Here. (It's a very large pdf file and takes a while to load.) RVO serves Upper Bavaria, the area mostly south of Munich, from Füssen to Berchtesgaden. There are lots of picturesque towns there. Due to the terrain there are not a lot of rail lines (for Germany), particularly running east-west, but the towns are well connected by bus. There is good rail service to this area, from Munich to Holzkirchen. From Holzkirchen, three rail lines branch out to Bad Tölz, Tegernsee, and Bayrischzell. I went by bus from Bad Tölz to Mittenwald last year, a very scenic route going by two Alpine lakes, Kochelsee and Walchensee.

" I don't think there are a lot of international schools out in the hills of Bavaria" Of course not, but there seem to be some international schools in and around Munich (Germany's 3rd largest city, almost twice the size of Frankfurt). That's why I mentioned that Oberbayern is easily reached by regional train or the S-Bahn from Munich. She can check out international schools in Munich, then visit some of the small towns.