Train Travel

Hallo! I am traveling to Germany in December of this year & have questions about cost and availability of train travel. I am landing in Frankfurt & will be immediately leaving for Hamburg. 2 days later I will leave for Nurnberg. 2 days later, Amtzell, followed by Munich & finally Berchtesgaten before taking a train back to Frankfurt to leave for the States. How much are tickets typically & can I arrive at the station anytime to purchase tickets? I am just trying to figure out the budget. I've already booked my rooms & am furiously working on language. So much to learn and do before this trip! Thank you for any help! Erika

Erika, go to www.db.de for the Deutsche Bahn website. Click the english option and then reserve your ticket, which you can print off if you pay by credit card. Tickets from Hamburg to Bayern will be around 50 to 60 euros I think. You can choose to search by class of train as well. ICEs are the most comfortable and fastest. Good luck!

I just returned from a one week business trip that included arrival in Frankfurt, a group bus to Hanover for the trade fair, another group bus to Stuttgart, a factory tour in Koening (sp) then a train from Stuttgart back to Frankfurt. The seating on the train is very confusing and I wound up standing for the whole trip as each time I sat in a seat that was unreserved someone would come up and claim the seat while waving a reservation. After the second time the conductor evicted me I decided I would just stand and probably never use the trains again. Make sure you understand how the l.e.d. seating indicators work and make sure you have some German as they are a very inhospitable people, especially around Munich and in the southwest around Stuttgart. My German friend told me an outsider in only accepted into Stuttgart society after about the fourth generation has been born and raised there.

^ For real? My experiences have been the complete opposite in every sense. Even applies to Austria.

Thank you for the info! When it comes to the people I have to say I have found most Germans to be very to the point but not intentionally rude. I'm a southern girl where we are all "sweet" so I am pretty hyper sensitive to rude people but never had a problem with the people. I'm optimistic!

I haven't noticed anything rude, some people talk more than others...they all speak pretty good english too, so much easier than for a german coming to america! Good luck!

Yeah, its quite simple navigating the trains. Normally you can buy tickets through machines that have english. Regardless, Im sure that you will have an easy time figuring everything out. People normally know enough english to get what you need. Europeans in general are very direct most of the time, so dont be too offended or surprised when asked or told something you wouldnt expect to hear!

Deutsche Bahn often offers special deals during the holiday season. Keep and eye out if you want to safe yourself some money. You can also book a seat when you purchase your ticket online. It costs about 2 Euro I think. The ticket will show the carriage number and seat number. Frankfurt to Hamburg is a long trip and it might be a bit exhausting standing the whole time. I hope you have a great time traveling in Germany and everyone is friendly.

I have changed my itinerary to fly into Hamburg so my biggest travel will be from Hamburg to Nuremburg and Berchtesgaten to Hamburg. I am down for the challenge!! Thanks for all the input!

Hi Erika, I'm a southern boy too... So you'll probably do well with the Bavarians. Seems to be a similar kind of kinship, I've found. Deutchland uber Alles? No, that's not our song. Kind of like we might rather hear Dixie :) Anyhow. I have made about all the mistakes you can make on the German train.... Including being there for a train workers strike.. Can you say cluster? The trains were so jam packed full with people and with my luggage I was taking up enough room for about 3 people. Everyone at the train station (bahn hof) was all in the same boat, so they were very helpful and understanding. The trains are always on time, unless there's a strike... (The autobahn isn't very helpful to get to the airport either as most folks were avoiding the train of course, so there was a traffic jam there also) Right next to my motel was a travel agent/bureau , who happily set up all the arrangements for all the tickets I needed. When we missed the train from Munich to Innsbruck, we were just able to get on the next train to Innsbruck. No problem at all, no questions asked either (except by us of course) If you ask for help, I've found the folks very helpful. If you try your bad german, sometimes they are even more helpful. Anyone under 35 speaks English anyway.... Don't worry about it.... With your southern charm I'm sure you'll do fine (at least in Berchtesgaaden)... Plan to take a taxi from the train station into town from that station. By the way use the word "Servus" for Hello down in Bayern, that's the word for hello & goodbye... It'll impress them. Translated it means something like I am your servant..(polite, yes)... But they all mean hello with it down there. That's the way they answer the phone also. Servus =Greg