I have four days of German travel in an upcoming 2 week trip to Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Frankfurt >>> Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden >>> Lauterbrunnen
(Lauterbrunnen >>> Salzburg)
Salzburg >>> Munich
Munich >>> Frankfurt
In this case, would you recommend purchasing a 4 day German rail pass or individual tickets? Then, would you recommend purchasing at the site or in advance (all for daytime, 2nd class)?
Thank you!
I don't think you need a rail pass of this travel.
First place, a German Rail pass will not cover the entire trip. Lauterbrunnen is in Switzerland.
You would need a pass covering Switzerland from Basel to Interlaken (not sure if any pass covers (Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen). Interlaken to Salzburg might be travel only in Switzerland and Austria, although you could go through Germany for part of that trip. It's beginning to look like a more expensive, 3 country Select pass.
Salzburg to Munich can be done less expensively with a Bayern-Ticket (€20 for one person). Munich to Frankfurt can be done for as low as €29 on an ICE with a online Dauer-Spezial-Ticket.
You can also purchase online a Europa-Spezial Schweiz ticket from Baden-Baden to Interlaken Ost for €39.
Frankfurt to Baden-Baden can be done fastest by ICE (probably advisable since you will have just arrived with jetlag) for €42. You can also take an S-Bahn (local RMV ticket, €3,70) to Mainz and use €19 Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket Single to Karlsruhe. From Karlsruhe you would need a local (KVV)ticket, for €5,20, to Baden-Baden.
$260 German Rail 4d, 2. Cl. pass
$ 46 Basel Bad Bhf to Interlaken Ost
$306 Total 4 days
€ 42 FRA to Baden-Baden via ICE (full fare)
€ 39 Baden-Baden to Interlaken Ost w/ Europa-Special
€ 20 Salzburg to Munich w/ Bayern-Ticket-Single
€ 29 Munich to FRA w/ Dauer-Spezial-Ticket
€130 Total
$180 @ $1.38/€
Depending on how long in advance you purchase the discount tickets, some might be sold out at the lowest fares, but you have $126 to "play" with.
Thank you so much, Lee! That was immensely helpful! I agree, I would rather spend a little bit more money to just ride the ICE from FRA to Baden-Baden.
Since a lot of your suggestions are special fares, would you recommend that I purchase them online before I get to Germany?
Thanks again!
Lee, how nice of you to do the homework for her. On my next trip, will you do that for me? :)
Amy, of course, I do that all the time.
Realistically, I know where to go for all this information. It is really much faster for me to do it than for some others to struggle, so I am, for the most part, happy to do it.
Well you're very sweet!
If you are ready and willing to commit to a certain train and date, the german site -- look up bahn.de -- has a lot of special fares. I just bought tickets for about 50% off from Interlaken to Frankfurt. The tickets were 59 euros each plus 2 euros for the seat reservation. Just as an example, Raileurope charges $22 for a seat reservation on that train. Their fare is $193. Even if I had paid the full standard fare on the german site, I still would have saved money. You can charge to your credit card, and they will mail them to your home. (I have a Capital One card that does not charge an internatinal fee.) You can set up an account with them to make things easier. The fares are available for July.
