Hi, everyone. I am planning a trip (Nuremberg, Munich, Salzberg, Fussen, Zurich, Baden-Baden, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt) for the first two weeks of December. There will be four of us through Salzberg, then just two of us.
We are trying to decide if we should purchase a Railpass and, if so, which one and for how many days. Does anyone have any recommendations on which one we should purchase?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.
You need to compare the price of passes with that of point-to-point tickets.
Looking at individual tickets, know that there is a discount for advance purchase of non-exchangeable, non-refundable tickets (although the discounts may be gone for your dates). Furthermore, the advance tickets have additional discounts for 2 or for 4 traveling together; full price tickets are per person. For instance, when two of us went from Berlin to Dresden, the full one-way fare was €38 per person, advance purchase for one was €19, and advance purchase for two was €29. So, on this round trip, we saved €94! Of course, if the discounts aren't available or if advance tickets won't work with your plans, then passes become a better deal.
Looking at passes, since you are traveling in pairs, you can get one or two Twin passes, which will be cheaper than two or four individual passes. Since almost all of your travel is in Germany, you would want to get Germany passes, then just pay separately for the portion from the German border to Zurich. Note that while Salzburg is in Austria, it is a border station and is part of "Germany" for pass purposes.
To get P-t-P prices, use the Bahn website, following Rick's directions here.
Here is German Rail Pass information.
"Nuremberg, Munich, Salzberg, Fussen"
4 adults can travel N'berg-Munich and Munich-Salzburg for 34€ total per day on the Bayern Ticket:
2 adults can travel Salzburg-Füssen for 26€ total (Bayern Ticket)
What's that so far? 94€?
Baden-Baden-Stuttgart (or vice-versa) for two: Use the Baden-Württemberg ticket for 2 (26€.)
Look into the advance-sale tickets outlined in the first response for the other 3 legs. I would consider a change of order - Füssen-Stuttgart-BadenBaden-Zürich-Frankfurt for the easiest connections and the best pricing; Füssen-Zürich is a pain and can take 5-6 hours. Check schedules here:
German Railways itinerary page
Whether the advance-sale tickets are available at a good price can only be determined by entering your travel information at the above page.
Mon,
I'd have to give some thought to your transportation questions, but one thing that stands out is your plan to visit eight locations in a 14 day time frame (an average of 1.75 days per location). You don't have your home location listed in your Profile, but if you're travelling from North America you'll have even less time once your two flight days are deducted.
If you're planning a "blitz trip" this may be possible, but I very much doubt whether it will be a pleasant trip as you'll be changing hotels every night.
Could you provide a bit of clarification on how you're planning to do this?
When looking for train schedules, tickets, etc, it would help if you spell the town in Austria as Salzburg. There are towns in Germany called Salzberg (salt mountain). You want Salzburg (salt castle).
For travel around Nürnberg, Munich, Salzburg, and Füssen, Bayern-Tickets at 34€/day for all four of you (26€ for 2) are cheaper than rail passes. You can only use them for regional trains, which are a little slower, but you're not talking about long distances here. For Füssen to Zürich and Zürich to Baden-Baden, advance purchase Savings Fare tickets from the Bahn website would be less than passes. Baden-Baden to Stuttgart can be done with the Baden-Württemberg equivalent of the Bayern-Ticket. There are two regional passes for Stuttgart to Frankfurt (Schönes-Wochenende or Quer-durchs-Land), depending on whether you are going on a weekend or not.
I agree with Ken, it's an awfully crowded schedule. Spend a week in Munich and do day trips to Nürnberg, Salzburg, and Füssen, then go to Zürich, Baden-Baden, and Stuttgart (actually, Zürich is a bit out-of-the-way. I might save it for another trip).
