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Eurorail pass or No?

Posted by on

Family of 4 (2 adults, a 14 year old and an 11 year old) will be taking the train likely about 2, possibly 3 days throughout Germany and then into Austria (additional 2 days). Is the Eurorail pass the best way to go? We will do a mix of car rental and train due to visiting family members who would not be able to fit us in their cars to go out to dinner or do activities that are not convenient to the train. If yes to Eurorail pass, is 1st class something we need to be sure to get seats?

Likely routes for Train, all on separate days:
-Train from Frankfurt to Hof after we deplane (then rent car in Hof)
-Train from Erlangen (staying there near family) to Nurnberg for a day trip (doesn't seem to be worth it to use eurorail pass for this as it's a 15 min ride and we could just buy inexpensive tix or no?)
-Train from Erlangen to Bamberg for another day trip (again, doesn't seem to be worth it to use eurorail pass for this as it's a 15 min ride and we could just buy inexpensive tix- or no?)
-Dropping car in Biberach and then take train from Biberach to Salzburg
-Train from Salzburg to Vienna

My cousin will drive us to the airport in Vienna from our hotel so no more train after that trip from Salzburg to Vienna.
Thank you, as always for your help!

Posted by
2656 posts

You’re right— the short train trips of less than 15 miles won’t really make a Eurail Pass pay off. And your longest train trips—Salzburg to Vienna and Biberach to Salzburg— have inexpensive “Sparschiene” fares of €20 and €35 when you buy them 2-3 months in advance. In Germany, kids under 15 generally can travel for free with a ticketed parent. So, your kids should be able to travel for free with two parents holding tickets. You can check train fares at www.bahn.com
and www.oebb.at

Posted by
22049 posts

Erlangen to Bamberg and back is done with a VGN Tagesticket Plus for 21.10 EUR for your whole group.
Erlangen to Nuremberg and back is done with a VGN Tagesticket Plus for 16.10 EUR for your whole group. Includes all public transport for the day in Nuremberg like the U-Bahn.
https://www.vgn.de/en/

Posted by
23 posts

This is so helpful! I have made these notes and it will be half the price to do as you both say and not get the euro rail passes. We will forgo the eurorail passes and stick with DB website!

Posted by
15373 posts

I always use a Eurail Pass as I am going to do this summer but given your itinerary I would not advise that. One reason is that your distances and train ride durations are too short.

Posted by
34837 posts

good decision. simply not enough travel to get close to paying off.

If you haven't driven in Bavaria (or in Germany as a whole) it is worth getting familiar with common signage and laws which are expected to be known but not written on signs, such as when you enter a town, village or city with a sign with a yellow background giving the name of the locality that acts as a 50 kph speed limit from that sign until you pass a similar sign with the name crossed by a red diagonal line where the national speed limit resumes unless signed differently. But if the town name has a green background there is no change of speed limit. (huh???)

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