Train from Frankfurt to Rothenburg; Rothenburg to Munich

There is an all-day pass issued by the state of Bavaria called the Bayern-Ticket. It's good for unlimited travel for a day (until 3 AM the next morning, from 9 AM on workdays) on regional trains in Baveria. It costs €28 for 1 to 5 people. Kahl am Main, Bavaria, is only a few km from Frankfurt. You can buy local tickets from Frankfurt to Kahl for €6,95 pP, then use a Bayern-Ticket (purchased from an automat in the Frankfurt station) from Kahl to anywhere in Bavaria, say Rothenburg. The next travel day you can use another Bayern-Ticket to go from Rothenburg to Munich. The Bayern-Ticket is valid not only for the train to Munich, but for any modes of transport (S-/U-Bahn, streetcars, buses) in Munich when you get there.

So, Frankfurt to Munich, with travel on two separate day, would cost €34,95 per person.

Regional trains in Germany, with few exceptions, don't have reservable seats.

I though those passes were per region only? If so, Frankfurt to Rothenburg would be 3 separate passes. And you do not need reservations. The bus would be inconvenient due to specific times you would need to depart. I would plan on taking the train. J

Frankfurt is in Hessen (Hesse) and Hessen shares a border with Bayern (Bavaria). Travel from Frankfurt to Rothenburg ob der Tauber will involve two Laender (states), not three. As Lee said, it's only a short distance (35 km) from Frankfurt to Kahl am Main which is in Bavaria. That's why he recommends cheap regular tickets for the short ride from Frankfurt to Kahl and a Bayern-Ticket from there to Rothenburg.

Region? The passes are by state. A German state, Hessen, Bayern, etc, is called a Land (pl. Länder). The Länder-Tickets are for a given Land. Bayern is a Land, and Kahl, Rothenburg, and Munich are all in the Land of Bayern.

RMV (Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund) is a metropolitan transit district (Verkehrsverbund), and they issue point-point tickets independent of Land boundaries. You can buy an RMV ticket from Frankfurt Hbf to Kahl for €6,95 pP. Once you are in Kahl, the Bayern-Ticket is valid for anywhere you want to go in Bavaria (also to Salzburg, AT, which is considered a border station).

The point is that the RR bus goes from town to town on the Romantic Road, a slow (50 mph), winding, country road with truck, bus, and farm traffic. With a few exceptions, it doesn't stop long enough to see the towns along the way. It is a slow, boring way to get from Frankfurt to Munich. I don't know if it is more expensive than using Bayern-Tickets, but I suspect it is.

And yes, going from Frankfurt to Munich by way of, say, Heidelberg, would reguire traveling through 3 Länder, but that is not what you asked, you asked what is the most economical way.

Thank you all...you have really helped us. JoAnne

Just wanted to add - you don't need reservations if you take only the local trains. However if you take the fastest train connections to Rothenberg, you will go Frankfurt - Würzburg - Steinach - Rothenberg, and if you take an ICE from Frankfurt to Würzburg, a reservation is a good idea. We took that train going the other way, and since we had railpasses and reservations weren't required we didn't get them - we were incredibly lucky to find seats. The train was packed. However you will NOT have this problem if you take just the regional trains, although they are slower. Hopefully this helps with the reservation question.

Also, on the way to Munich, you go Rothenberg - Steinach - Treuchtlingen - Munich, all local trains, all covered by the aforementioned Bayern pass, so for that part reservations are also not an issue.

Hi All! Does all this mean that getting a Eurail pass for 4 days is not really worth it ? 2 of us travelling is Sept. It costs $390 for 4 days for the 2 of us. Plus of course, we will buy local train tickets for our major stops.

Still timing plane fares, but I'm thinking of:

Option 1: Land in Frankfurt, go direct to Rothenburg (1 night), proceed to Munich (3 nights w/ day trips to Ludwig's castle, and Dachau), then to Salsburg (2 nights), back to Frankfurt (3 nts w/ day trips to Rhine river, and Heidelberg), fly out from Frankfurt.

Option 2: Land in Berlin (2 nts), fly to Munich (3 nts w/ the day trips), train to Salsburg (2 nts), train to Rothenburg (through Munich) (1 nt), on to Frankfurt (3 nts w/ day trips to Rhine river, and Heidelberg), fly out from Frankfurt.

(Berlin is sooo out of the way !!!)

So, would you say a Eurorail pass isn't such a deal? I'd appreciate links to local Laender train websites. Thanks!

Lee knows what he is talking about. This past week I took 3 other people to Würzburg from Frankfurt. I bought a group RMV ticket for 23€, then a Bayern Länder ticket for 28€. We got on a non-stop train in Frankfurt and rode to Würzburg, used public transportation twice and took a non-stop train back to Frankfurt. All for 51€. When I think we could have gone all the way to Munich or Salzburg for this 51€, gotten off where ever we wanted and gotten back on again, it is amazing. This is truly the best deal in town. Scenery was lovely on the train, passing over the Main river numerous times or traveling along it, lots of mountains.

I am doubtful that any of you in this posting trail will see this THANK YOU, but I'm going to put it here anyway. I spent a great deal of time today trying to figure out if there is a Landes ticket that will get my group of 4 from Frankfurt to Rothenburg. Wish I had found this site earlier! Perfectly on topic. Thanks to all who shared their bahn expertise!

Christine, you're very welcome. "group of four". A "Preisstufe" 5 individual ticket is €7,15 for an adult, €4,30 for a child (6-14 yrs). So if you are a family fitting that description, it's €22,90. If there are more than 2 adults, an RMV Gruppentageskarte for €23,60 will save a little bit.

You can get the individual tickets at an RMV automat or for the same price at a counter. For the Bayern-Ticket, since you are not in Bavaria, the RMV automat will probably not sell it. You will have to use one of the modern touch-screen automat of the Bahn. If you buy it at a counter, they charge €2 more for "Personenbedienten" sale

Do we have these ticket prices still the (June 2010).
How long does it take to reach Baveria from Frankfurt using this method of commute. We (wife + 2 kids) have a stop over of 1.5 days in frankfurt. is visiting Baveria a viable thing and plan to spend half a day seeing Frankfurt. If anyone has good ideas, please post.

Thanks
-Suresh