Eurail or Point to Point for weekends in Germany

Looks like there are at least 2 S-Bahn from Nürnberg to Ansbach per hour plus a train. In my experience, for most shorter trips in Germany, it's more economical to use Länder tickets than a railpass. Also, if you can plan ahead, you can get Sparpreis tickets to anywhere in Germany, on express trains, for less than a day of a railpass.

Eurail sells marked up tickets and passes to a North American audience, they don't operate the trains. Don't even bother using them if you want to save money. Use the Deutsche Bahn website for all ticket information. You may want to consider purchasing a Bahn Card. Depending on what level you buy, it will reduce the ticket price by 25, 50, or 100%. You have to pre-order the card, and be aware that unless you cancel it, it will automatically renew itself on a yearly basis. You may also qualify for a youth rate on the card, but I don't know the specifics of Deutsche Bahn's youth programs.

"I will be able to travel only on weekends" You should spend at least two weekends seeing your immediate area. You can travel to well-known destinations like Bamberg, Nuremberg, Bayreuth, and Rothenburg, and to lesser-known Bad Windsheim (open air museum, breweries) Weissenburg (old walled town), Pappenheim, and to dozens of other destinations within the Nuremberg travel network (where Ansbach is found) from Saturday morning through Sunday night for less than 5€ total. Get a "TagesTicket Solo" from a ticket machine and head out. This is one of the finest areas in Germany to visit. http://www.vgn.de/tickets/?Edition=en&p=1 You can get an add-on ticket on one of those days to see Regensburg too, considered one of Germany's finest cities - about 15€ round trip from Parsberg (which is covered on the daypass named above.) Or do an add-on to see Würzburg - the stretch from Kitzingen isn't covered by the TagesTicket Solo, but a "Tageskarte" solo for the Würzburg area from Kitzingen on and back will cost you just 11.05€ more.

Or, as a single traveler, you can go to anywhere in Bavaria on regional trains with a Bayern-Ticket Single for €21. On a weekend day, it valid for unlimited on/off travel within Bavaria. For travel to anywhere in Germany, the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket, on a weekend day, for €40, gives you the same travel options as the Bayern-Ticket, but for all of Germany. With either pass you can go to Salzburg, as well. In 2000 I used a German Rail Pass. When I got home, I looked up the trains I used and found I could have done the same travel on the same trains with full fare tickets (purchased at the station just before travel) for about the same price. I could also have used some regional trains for only little more time and saved money. At the time I did not know about (or they did not have) the regional passes and advance purchase online tickets. They would have saved me a lot vs the rail pass.

Caitlin, If you take a night, (say from Munich-Hamburg, Munich-Berlin, ) train in Germany, the CNL, the cheapest way is to sit upright in a compartment. Good that traveling that way is no problem...you'll have more flexibility in taking night trains, That's also the way I go. The next cheapest is if that particular route offers a Ruhesessel, the armchair option. If you have a Pass, then you just pay for the seat reservation. How many long distances trips do you intend to make on week-ends? Or, do you plan on staying mostly locally in Bavaria? That would not be my advice? It's great that you have presumably 7-8 weeks in Germany, both for local and long distance travel. From Nürnberg you'll have access to the ICE trains for Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig, Bremen, Stuttgart...direct or with transfering.

Thanks for all of your advice so far!! I'm thinking about seeing some of the close, small towns that one of you mentioned during my first weekend when I won't be allowed to travel overnight. After that, I hope to explore some of the closer cities to make the most out of the short weekend (Nuremberg, Munich, Salzburg)... At the end my mom will come over and we will spend maybe a week seeing sights along the Rhine (Cologne) and then hopefully Berlin. My program is very strict and I can only travel with one of my coworkers who I haven't met yet, so what I can do on the weekends will depend on what he or she wants to see and do. I just like to know my options for tickets and things in case it would save me money to buy a pass before I go. Since I can't plan an itinerary ahead of time, I can't do a direct price comparison to see if a Eurail would be the best option. From what you guys have said it sounds like it would be best if I go without and buy tickets on local transport (or maybe a Germany twin pass with my co-worker if there are any farther, more expensive trips we both want to take). Thanks also for posting the Bavarian bus website...I googled but couldn't find it! If there's any other travel advice for Bavaria or Germany in general, I'd love to hear it!

Hi, Are you saying that you must be accompanied by a co-worker whom you have yet to meet, ie., you're not allowed to travel solo on the week-ends?

Yup. It is the one thing that i dont like about the program i am going with. I lived in spain for 6 months last year and south america before that and traveled solo all the time, but this particular program is a study abroad/internship program that is partnered with the military and has very strict rules. I understand that the program serves many 18 year olds that have never left home before and that they need a way to make sure everyone is safe, but this particular rule is a bit crazy...but theyre paying me to go to germany for the summer so i'll be playing by their rules. I also have the option of meeting up with friends i know in germany as long as they can meet me reasonably close to Ansbach so that I dont have to travel alone very far...I have a friend in Vienna that may meet up with me in Munich, but yes, for the other weekends I will have to travel with coworkers that I wont meet until I get there...

Caitlin, sound like you are going to be where James is. Maybe you'll meet him. There is some kind of military base in Ansbach. In 1988 I stayed at Zur Windmühle in Ansbach, and there were soldiers and the wives either staying there or eating at the restaurant.

Hi, In your desire to "see as much of Germany as (you) can" I hope your co-workers share the same level of enthusiasm as you have to do this traveling all over, see Berlin and Potsdam, Frankfurt, (both of them), Munich, Cuxhaven, Dresden, Hamburg, Bremen, Koblenz, Köln, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Bonn, Erfurt, Marburg, Schwerin, the rivers Rhine, Elbe, and the Oder...also Rostock, and Stalsund. The Youth Pass will be useful in making these trips, planned or impromptu.

If you're under 26 and want to go further afield on fast trains, the German Rail Pass might be a good bet for you. It's not a good deal generally for us old folks but the prices for 26-and-under are reasonable, and you don't have to make train seat reservations within Germany (expect for the specific ICE-Sprinter train between Berlin and Frankfurt). If you want to go to Berlin or other cities quickly (keep in mind that while the Laender tickets are good deals, they're on slower, more uncomfortable trains) it might be worth it to buy a pass for a few days and supplement the rest of your travels with point-to-point and/or laender tickets. The German Rail passes offer a lot of flexibility which is the real selling point. It may be cheaper to buy point-to-point in advance for trips to places like Berlin, but if you aren't sure exactly in advance when you'll be able to go, a German Rail Pass will still give you discounted flexibility for long trips on high-speed trains. Something to consider.