Trying to make plans for a trip to Germany this year, and never having been there we have a lot of questions about how to get places. We'll be making this trip in October. Our general itinerary is: * Arrive in Frankfurt * Travel to the Loreley valley area of the Rhine valley. * Spend about 4 days in this area seeing the local sites. On one day, we'll make a visit to Trier and Konz. Also want to take a boat tour on the Rhine of some sort. * Travel to Essen for the Spiel Essen. Have about a day and a half to explore there, including possibly taking a trip to Koln. Then spend 4 days at Spiel Essen. * Take a long train ride south to Bavaria, where we will have another 5 days to sight-see. We particularly want to visit Berchtesgadener Land and Neuschwanstein castle.
* Travel to Munchen for the flight home. We'd really appreciate advice on how to handle this travel. For the amount of train riding we'll be doing, will it be better to get a Eurail pass, or just by tickets on a trip by trip basis? Any ideas on how its best to get to any of these locations? Is the train best or are there better bus trips? We'd prefer scenic methods of transportation. Any thoughts on whether it would be better to stay in a central place in Bavaria, or stay near each location? (We'd also love to go to Bayerischerwald, but it seems like its too far away). And one other train question - there's a big jump in prices for the Eurail pass for more than 10 days of use. Is there any reason you can't buy two passes for lower amounts of time? This would actually be cheaper than one long pass. Thanks for your help! (Cross posting to the Germany forum)
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19240 posts
I don't have time to do detailed calculations right now, but my educated guess is your best bet is a mix of Länder tickets, which are all day passes for regional trains for individual German states, 2-5 persons for around €29, and purchase ahead Sparpreis tickets at €29 pP (and up, depending on how far in advance you purchase them). All of your travel appears to be in Germany. Look at the 2nd class German Rail pass, not Eurail. On what day of week is the travel to Essen?
Posted by
OP
Thornton, CO, USA
4 posts
Ooops. I may have meant the 2nd class German rail pass. I've been looking at so much it all gets confusing :) We are traveling to Essen from the Loreley valley area on the 18th, which is a Tuesday. Thanks!
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19240 posts
Two more questions: There are two of you? When is the travel? late June? July? Sept? The advance purchase Sparpreis tickets go on sale 92 days in advance and start at €29 for the first person, €20 each for four additional persons. Tickets at that price are limited, and when all the tickets at that price sell out, the price goes up. As I see it, Essen to Munich (?) is the key ticket. You should get it (if the price is right) as soon as possible.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19240 posts
On the day you arrive in FRA, a P2P ticket to Bacharach or St. Goar, if that's where you are going, from FRA Regionalbf will probably be your best option. While you are in that area, going to Trier will be best with a Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket, an all day regional pass for €24 for two will probably be your best bet. As long as your are staying between Remagen and Oberwesel and Bullay, a VRM day ticket for €20 is a little better. To go to Essen, a Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket will cover travel by regional train. Essen to Munich will require a Sparpreis-Ticket, which might be key to all of this. While in Bavaria, you need a Bayern-Ticket, another Länder-Ticket, €29 all day on regional trains for up to five people.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
"Is the train best or are there better bus trips?" Buses, for the most part, are only for local transportation in Germany.
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
I think you can get around great in Germany by train. I don't see anything on your itinerary I'd be worried about. As Lee says, the Laender (regional) passes work great. Roughly 30 euro for a day pass for 2-5 people with unlimited on and off using the regional, or local, trains. These trains stop at every station so they are a little slower than the inter-city trains - but you're likely to need them to get off at the smaller cities and towns anyway. For the longer legs between cities, you can reserve discount tickets in advance. These are a great deal but remember they are for one train only (like an airline ticket). If you miss that train, you will have to buy new ticket(s). A rail pass, as far as I can tell, is never your best option. They only pencil out vs. full price point to point tickets on very long legs. I can't think of a time when they are competitive with prepurchased discount tickets or Laender passes.