Railpass vs German Twin pass vs Bayern Ticket??

The Bayern-Ticket can be purchased at a counter for €29 (€2 extra for personal service) or from an automat for €27. To see how to use an automat, go to Reise_Deutschland and follow the links to "Ticket Automats" under FAQs. The Bayern-Ticket is valid for regional trains all over Bavaria. Salzburg and Kufstein are considered border stations and the ticket is valid to them. It is not valid all the way to Innsbruck nor anywhere in Switzerland. A Bayern-Ticket would be valid to Lindau, which is just around the lake (Bodensee) from Switzerland.

OK, so if I'm getting the right info...

Days 1-3 should be good with a Bayern Ticket, since it will be all Munich and Berchtesgaden. Day 4 (Salzburg) is covered until we leave on the nite train to Bern. Our travel agent (worthless really) is saying that nite train will be $255 EACH for a couchette. Eeek! With my bad math skills, that would mean $500 for the single trip, plus the $439 for the German Twin pass 2nd class. Am I figuring this right? If so, then the Eurail passes for $800 might be better?? Our travels in Switzerland will be by a friend's car, so no worries once we hit there. ALTHOUGH.... we will need a rail back out of SW to Nuremburg....

With any railpass, the pass covers only the use of the rails. You will have to pay a supplement (reservation) for the use of the accommodations. $255 sounds a little high for that. If you book well in advance from the Austrian Rail website, you might get a discount fare for the whole package (rail and accommodations). You need to check out the prices and compare both ways.

That night train, by the way, leaves Salzburg at 44 min after midnight and ends in Zürich at 6:20, so you are not really getting much time for your money. You might do better with a day train.

As for Berchtesgaden to Salzburg, there is a bus, the Watzmann Express, that leaves hourly from the Berchtesgaden Hbf for the Salzburg Hbf. I'm not sure what one-way costs, but a day pass for the local buses costs €8,50 per person. That might be the best way.

To get a Bayern Ticket, you ask for one or select one from machines in Germany ( in Bavaria). Each Lander (like our states) has a ticket like the Bayern but what makes it so good is that Bayern Tix can be used for travel to Salzburg,Innsbruck and parts of Switzerland, as well. You do NOT need a Eurailpass . While we dont know the details of a Twin Pass, we doubt that you would save a great deal over buying point-to-point tix in Germany. It is likely that you would pay MORE for a pass

Again, if you book in advance, online, from German Rail, you can get Europa-Spezial fares as low as €39 from Bern back to Nürnberg.

You can also find Dauer-Spezial fares as low as €29 (I easily found €49) pP from Nürnberg to Aachen.

Please excuse our faulty memories but we seem to have travelled to Innsbruck on a BT- oh well, the vagaries...

You didn't do it legally.

A Bayern Ticket is valid all the way to Salzburg. You do not have to get off the train from Munich to Salzburg at some point of the journey. You can travel all the way on the Bayern Ticket. Just clarifying...