German Train question.

As long as it is a full fare, flexible ticket, you can, but if it is a discounted advance purchase, "Savings Fare" ticket, it is only valid on the train(s) specified. However, when booking a Savings Fare ticket, you can build in a stopover of a specified time. Then the ticket will show the two trains you must take, to and from Bamberg.

Even on a full fare ticket, any reservations are only valid on the train specified on the reservation.

Thank You!

Further to Lee's excellent advice -- we did that stopover last year and I can confirm there was bag storage at Bamberg Hbf. Easy to book the trip, including stopover, online via bahn.de.

When I went to Bamberg in 2007, all of the lockers at the Bamberg Bhf were filled. There is a bus from the Bahnhof to the ZOB (central bus station downtown) and there were more lockers there.

The Vor- und Nachlauf provision of the Bahn says that only the long distance trains (ICE/IC/EC) on a Savings Fare ticket are restricted to the specified trains. However, you can use any regional trains, not just the ones specified, on the same route to get to/from the long distance train. In other words, if you used a Savings Fare ticket and the ICE from Berlin to Bamberg, but if you specify Bamberg to Munich by regional trains, you could stay in Bamberg as long as you wanted that day and continue on to Munich by any regional trains.

When booking the ticket, use "change other data" to specifiy Bamberg as an intermediate stop (specify 1:00 stopover) and then go to "more means of transport" to uncheck ICE, IC/EC, and D for Bamberg to Munich. This will leave you with a connection by ICE to Bamberg, but by regional trains (NV), probably through Nürnberg, to Munich.

That will probably give you the lowest fare, but you could also try a Savings Fare ticket to Bamberg and a Bayern-Ticket (25€ for one) from Bamberg to Munich. That would also give you the option of any route to Munich, not just the one specified on a Savings Fare ticket.

Thank You so Much! Very helpful. I think i'll go with the regional train to Munich.

Lee, when i did as you described it showed our stop in Bamberg being only 45 minutes then getting on a regional train. Even though i clearly stated a 5 hour stopover then using a regional train.

Should i ignore that?

Specify the stopover as 5:00. Does that help? It worked for me. Actually I specified a stopover of 5:00 and it gave me 5:23 h.

There is no need to use a regional train after a stopover, you can take another ICE with the same sparpreis ticket. Just select "prefer fast connections" and specify a intermediate stop of several ours (4 will probably be a bit short - you will need approx 30min from the station to the historcal town and vv). Selecting e.g., ICE 703 dep. Berlin 9:32 and specifying an intermediate stop of 6 hours will bring up this connection:

Berlin dep. 9:32 (ICE 703)
Bamberg arr. 12:15
-- intermediate stop of 6:02h --
Bamberg dep. 18:18 (ICE 709)
Munich arr. 20:03

Thanks everybody! We decided to do a 3 hour stopover in Bamberg with a RE from there.

SLA: If he uses a regional train from Bamberg to Munich, there is no restriction on how much (or little time) he can spend in Bamberg. If he takes an ICE to Munich, unless he wants to spend big bucks on a full fare, flexible ticket, he is committed to a specific ICE to Munich and to a specific amount of time in Bamberg. Of course, for a little more (probably), he can go to Bamberg on a Savings Fare ticket and use a Bayern-Ticket to Munich (but then that's regional trains too.