Walk-up Tickets for Trains (Belgium and Germany)

all yes

and if you are a senior, for train travel in Belgium, come back for an absolutely wonderful fare available

Are you traveling by yourself or with others?

The Belgian train app is easy to use and allows you to apply a senior discount. Even though the app implies a specific time or train, you can take any train on that route that day (exception being Eurostar)

Not sure how much you will be doing in Germany, but the regional train ticket from Munich to Salzburg pushes 50 euro on short notice, a Deutschland ticket is 58 euro and would cover that route, plus all regional trains and city/state buses, trams and U Bahns, for a month.

A single person Bayern Ticket will get you to Salzburg on the hourly regional train from Munich Ost for 32 EUR, and the S-8 from the airport will get you to Munich Ost is included. For added passengers, it is another 10 EUR each, with up tom 5 traveling together. Travel after 9 am weekdays, which should not be a problem landing at Munich airport.

Thank you Nigel, Paul and Sam.

I’m traveling with my husband—both of us over 65.

I’ll look into the Belgian train app since we will be buying 2 tickets there. Is it easy to find online?

In Germany we are just traveling from the airport to Salzburg where we will start our My Way Alpine tour a few days later. I will revisit The Man in Seat 61 site to review the Bayern and other types of tickets.

I bought our Eurostar tickets from Brussels to Paris months ago. That was the only continental train I had traveled on previously—though that was 20 years ago!

the regional train ticket from Munich to Salzburg pushes 50 euro on short notice

No, Sparpreis, or Savings Fare, ticket prices, for long distance trains, do go up as train time approaches, but only because the lower fare tickets are "tiered" and, as those discounted tickets sell out, the price of the remaining tickets is higher. There is only the full fare price after discounted tickets sell out.

The price of a regional ticket or a regional pass, is always the same. The price of a single person, one way ticket between MUC and Salzburg is 47€/person, each way, whether purchased the day of travel or months before travel. An all day pass, a Bayern-Ticket, is 32€ for the first person, 10€ for each additional person up to five total, anytime. And, with a Bayern-Ticket, travel on any regional train, all day long, after 9am weekdays if covered. It even covers round trip if completed the same day.

And then, there is the Deutschland-Ticket, which is probably a better deal if you have any other travel in Germany that month. It's always the same price, but covers a calendar month, not 30 days.

Added: So, in your case, a 2-person Bayern-Ticket, for 42€, will cover the trip for both of you to Salzburg, as long as you leave the airport after 9am. And you can buy it at the airport when you get there for the same price.

For about every train in Europe you can just walk up to the station, buy a ticket and travel.

Buying in advance is something that will give you a discount in some cases, but that is mostly only on long distance services. Most trains in Europe are mass transit. In countries like Belgium and the Netherlands the trains are basically a nationwide metro commuter rail system. In Germany there is a regional system and a long distance system.

Regional and commuter rail is used by people to go about their daily business. People just go to a station, get a ticket, and travel. That is the norm. The trains to the airport are actually used as lot by people working there, they are not just for the passengers.

Thanks for the additional information. Just checking to make sure that when “regional” is used in relation to trains, it includes adjacent countries like Austria. I’m thinking it’s like our regional commuter train tickets on the weekend which cover our county plus one station north and south beyond the county line.

When you use the train apps (like DB Navigator for German trains), when you click on “Offers”, the best price options will appear.

The Bayern ticket is the most affordable option, but it only applies to certain trains. Use the app to see all the options.

There are both regional trains and long distance trains running between Munich and Salzburg. Most of the long distance trains are going on to Vienna and Budapest, and often operated by the Austrian companies OeBB and Westbahn. The regional trains run once per hour at about the same time, at 55 past the hour from the Hbf and stopping at Munich Ost at 4 past the hour and the train board will show RE 5. RE means regional express, a regional train.