My and husband and I are arriving Frankfurt on a friday morning, take a train (ICE) to Dresden, we will be there until Sunday and then make our way through Bamburg, Nürnberg, Garmisch-Partenkirchen then onto Salzburg (day trips around there) and finally Vienna (Departing City). What's the least expensive way to do this or something close to it?
Posted by
OP
Dallas, Texas, USA
4 posts
Great, thanks for the help, I will look into these. Would we need to advance purchase all the tickets? The only travel time I know is for sure, is the first one from Frankfurt-Dresden. How far in advance exactly?
thanks again!
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19240 posts
I think you can do better with a combination of point-point tickets and Länder passes than with a rail pass, but you need to do the math yourself.
A great way to save money in Germany is with the advance purchase Sparpreis tickets, but they are train specific, non-refundable tickets. Due to uncertainty about arrival time, I don't recommend them for the day you arrive by air.
However, there are also deals called Länder ticket, which give you unlimited travel on regional train within a German state (Land, pl. Länder). These are on/off passes valid in a single Germany state for up to 5 people on regional trains. They are unlimited in quantity; advance purchase is not necessary; just buy one at a ticket machine the day of travel. If you purchase p-p tickets at the Frankfurt Flughafen to Kahl am Rhein for €7,15 pP, and a Bayern(Länder)-ticket and a Sachsen-Ticket, each for €28, you can go all the way to Dresden on regional trains.
Bamberg, Nürnberg, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen are all in Bavaria, and you can use Bayern-Tickets and regional trains to get between them. Although Salzburg is outside of Bavaria, it's right over the river from Germany. The German Rail runs the trains into Salzburg, and the Bayern-Ticket is valid to there.
From Salzburg (Freilassing actually), you can get advance purchase online tickets to Vienna for as little as €29 pP. There are possibly similar tickets from Salzburg to Vienna from Austria Rail.
Anyway, as you can see, there is probably not a day in your journey were you cannot find a fare less than the cost of a rail pass day.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23566 posts
You can rely on Lee's advice. No one on this board knows German rail better than Lee. As the saying goes, he has actually "been there, done that" a dozen times.
Posted by
OP
Dallas, Texas, USA
4 posts
OKay, well, this is really helpful. THANK YOU! i will check into all if this.