My friend and I are planning a month long trip to Europe in May. We are getting Eurorail passes for the month as well. Ideally, we would like to visit Fussen, Rothenberg and the Rhine Valley and will be coming by train from Venice. Does anyone know how we can travel between these cities and if so, in which order and method we should do it? We have never visited this region before and any advice is quite appreciated. Thank you.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19099 posts
The logical order would be Füssen, Rothenburg, the Rhein.
Venice to Füssen: This route goes through Austria (Innsbruck). If you don't have Austria on your pass, you will have to buy point-point tickets to get through Austria. With a pass, you could take a train all the way into Munich, then come out on other trains to Füssen. Alternatively, you could go from Innsbruck to Garmisch-Partenkirchen to either Reutte or Pfronten and take a bus from there. Since rail passes do not cover regional buses in Germany, you would have to pay extra for them, but they're not that expensive.
You can find schedules on the German Rail website. You can also order tickets from here.
Füssen-Rothenburg: Assuming you don't want to try to navigate the Romantic Road, a slow, winding ribbon of asphalt with truck, bus, and farm equipment, by car, just take a train, close to 5 hours via Augsburg.
Rothenburg to "the Rhein": take regional trains from Rothenburg to Würzburg. From there you can get one, or a series of express trains (ICE/IC/EC) to Mainz or Bingen, and a regional train stopping in Bacharach, St Goar, wherever on the Rhein you want to go.
Depending on how many days of a pass you are thinking of getting, how far you are traveling, etc, you should think hard about whether or not to get a rail pass or for how many days. You can take a night train from Venice to Munich and then to Füssen for as low as €43 pP for a reclining seat, more for a compartment. You can also get a Europa-Spezial Italien fare on a day train (EC) from Verona to Füssen for as low as €39 pP. Both of these fares are for advance purchase on the Bahn website and are non-refundable. They would be through Munich; the day train would require a local ticket to Verona.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19099 posts
Füssen to Rothenburg is best done by regional train (the most direct route). A Bayern-Ticket will cover this trip, from Füssen to Rothenburg, for two people, after 9 AM workdays, anytime weekends, for €28 (for both of you, not each).
Now, Rothenburg to the Rhein. This is a little more complicated. For two people, on a weekend, the least expensive way, €37 for two of you, is with a Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket, purchasable the day of travel from the automat in the Rothenburg Bahnhof from an automat. This would allow you to travel by regional trains all the way from Rothenburg to the Rhein. Alternatively, by advance purchase on the German Rail website, you could get an advance purchase, train-specific, non-refundable Sparpreis ticket for two for €49. This ticket would allow you (require, actually) to travel from Würzburg to either Mainz or Bingen by express train. For a weekday, a combination of a Bayern, a Hessen, and a Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket (€86) would allow you to go all the way by regional train. Those tickets can be purchased for that price on the day of travel.