Hello! My daughter and I (1 senior an1 adult) are visiting Munich and Rothenburg ob Der Tauber early December this year mostly for the Christmas markets but for museums as well. Should I purchase round trip tickets from Munich as soon as they are available? Do they sell out for the market time of year?
I am overwhelmed by the options I see from my research. Also, the time allotted for a train transfer is SO SHORT!
Discounted advance purchase (Spar Preis) tickets are only available for a trip that includes at least one leg by a long distance train (ICE/IC/EC). For these tickets, the specified long distance train must be used, but you are free to use any regional train on the same route before or after the one shown on the ticket. Regional tickets are sold by the route, not for a specific train.
Long distance trains have reservable seats for a small extra charge. If you don't reserve a seat, seats not already reserved are available on a first come, first served basis. Other than significantly lower price and the possibility of reserving a seat, there is no other advantage to advance purchase, other than possibly saving time in the morning. Regional trains have open seating (no reserved seats). You might have to stand if all the seats are taken. If a regional train is originating at a station, getting there early when all seats are available is recommended.
It looks like there are regional trains (RE80/RB89) leaving Munich Hbf at 7:35 and every two hours after that, going directly (no changes) to Steinach bei Rothenburg. I would take one of those trains. During the week those trains originates in Munich Hbf at 35 minutes past the odd hour from track 18. The previous departure from that track is an ICE for Hamburg at 13 minutes past, so sometime in the next 22 minutes your train would be available for boarding.
At Steinach you have 4 minutes to change to the little shuttle train that runs up to Rothenburg. That sounds quick, but Steinach is a very small station (5 tracks, 3 platforms, see map); lots of people make that change everyday. You are going from platform 2/3 to platform 4/5.
Changing trains is not like changing planes. You don't have to remain in your seat until the vehicle come to a complete stop. The station before Steinach is Burgbernheim-Wildbad. The train leaves that station 3 minutes before it gets to Steinach.
When you are leaving Burgbernheim, get up, gather you possessions, and proceed to the door of the train. When the train stops at platform 2 in Steinach, get out and locate the stairs to the connecting tunnel. The stairs won't be hard to find; everyone will be headed there. Go down the stairs to the tunnel. Once in the tunnel, there will be signs for the stairs to platform 5. It will be less that 50 feet away. Go up the stairs to the platform and get on the train.
Note: The train doesn't stay long at the station (approx. 1 minute). If you are still in your seat when the train stops, it will probably leave the station before you get to the door!
Main thing is "stay with the herd". The conductor for the 2nd train will be standing on the platform watching. He/she is not going to release the train while people are still boarding.
For the trip back, the change at Steinach is 3 minutes, but it is a cross-platform change. Just walk to the other side of the platform. Edit: it looks like sometime the connection is Gl. 5 tp Gl. 4, a one platform change in 4 minutes.
The Bahn schedule shows two regional trains between Steinach and Munich with a "change" at Donauwörth. The "change" of trains is 4 minutes and uses the same platform. I don't think it is a real change of trains; there's not time. Four minutes is hardly enough time for everyone to get off, let alone for the 1st train to leave and another one to take it's place and people to board. It's the same physical train; it just changes it's designation number (e.g., 57145 to 57045). I think the change of train number is because it adds cars from Aalen.
Use the Bahn website, https://int.bahn.de/en, to find times. If you are using regional trains, there is no need to purchase tickets in advance. As I said, tickets for regional trains are for the route, not specific trains. Trains might be full, but tickets never sell out. Buy them in Munich the day of or the day before travel.
The trains to Rothenburg ob der Tauber are regional trains. Mass transit in other words. Best is to just buy a Bavaria ticket when you are here. The price is the same a year or a second before departure, and it never sells out. It is of course alsways possible that more people board a train then there are seats however, just like with subways or commuter rail in the US...
