Travel in Germany

[AndrewP]

I am going to be doing some travel in Germany with my two sons but was wondering where the best place to book was.

I am currently looking at either the DB or Trainline to book with but have a couple of questions

• Is the Bahncard for teenagers a good thing - at 12 euros per person it seems a steal
• Does anyone know anything about the VRS 24StundenTicket 5Personen for the Cologne / Wuppertal region as it seems really good value as it can cover travel to an airport hotel, the Wuppertal hanging train and other bits and bobs in the area

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance

 

[gordonthemoron]

I always buy train tickets from DB, that way you find out quickly if they’ve changed the timetable. BahnCards can be good value. Group tickets are very good value, but aren’t discounted with bahncards

 

[30907]

I'd always book with DB too.

As a general rule, local all-day tickets are good value all across Germany, priced at 2-3 times a single ticket for the zones concerned, and group tickets even better. Check, though, that it isn't offered with your hotel booking already.

VRS also covers the Wuppertal to Solingen bimode trolleybus BTW.

 

[StephenHunter]

I'd always book with DB too.

As a general rule, local all-day tickets are good value all across Germany, priced at 2-3 times a single ticket for the zones concerned, and group tickets even better. Check, though, that it isn't offered with your hotel booking already.

However, the all-day tickets aren't generally valid on IC/ICE services.

 

[Feuillesmortes]

No-one has mentioned the obvious things:

49 euro monthly ticket and/or
Interrail

 

[AndrewP]

There is some great advice here - thanks so much

Might be giving Wuppertal a miss now and heading straight to Frankfurt - one thing that we are going to do is visit the transport museum at Sinsheim which looks amazing

 

[gordonthemoron]

If you're travelling on ICEs, and possibly some EC/IC services, the restaurant cars do quite nice and reasonably priced meals, available to all passengers

 

[YorkshireBear]

If not interrail then definitely DB website and the app is also fantastic.

 

[Alfonso]

If you will be travelling with your kids then they may be entitled to free travel anyway, perhaps the reason for the bahn card being so cheap?

 

[50043]

There is some great advice here - thanks so much

Might be giving Wuppertal a miss now and heading straight to Frankfurt - one thing that we are going to do is visit the transport museum at Sinsheim which looks amazing

Sinsheim is brilliant. Probably the museum Ive enjoyed the most.

 

[riceuten]

No-one has mentioned the obvious things:

49 euro monthly ticket

Which is a sub that runs from the 1st of the month and requires you to give notice to cancel. On a web email form that requires a human to physically cancel it. BahnCards operate on the same principle.

 

[dutchflyer]

Wuppertail has its ´Schwebebahn´ a hanging kind of train, pretty unique and its western end even connects into a trolleybusline (bus under the wires, in case you dk), toward Solingen. W as such is a pretty uninteresting town
This 24 hr/dayticket goes by zones, which from the many posts in this forum always seems extremely hard to grasp for British-some older PTEś and a bit of LT=TfL also has them in some kind of form. The more zones you buy, the larger the area you are entitled to unlimited travel. About 90% of Germany is covered by some form of local dayticket (or 24 hrs -or even whole weekend).
Also DO note that this 49€ ticket and also all these local tickets are never valid in what they call'Fernverkehr´=long-distance )IC and ICE by DB).
Oh-in case you want a brekkie like home: it also has a PREMIer hotel, this chain has now around 30 hotels in Germany and the around 10 I´ve been in except 1 were quite good.

 

[Watershed]

Which is a sub that runs from the 1st of the month and requires you to give notice to cancel. On a web email form that requires a human to physically cancel it. BahnCards operate on the same principle.

The €49 ticket can be bought from many different retailers. Not all are that inflexible; some (e.g. Mo.pla, a regional bus operator) allow you to use any payment card and cancel/pause your subscription through your online account until the day before you're charged (which happens on the last day of the month, for the following month's ticket).

The calendar month validity isn't particularly helpful, but it's nevertheless great value.

 

[Richard Scott]

There is some great advice here - thanks so much

Might be giving Wuppertal a miss now and heading straight to Frankfurt - one thing that we are going to do is visit the transport museum at Sinsheim which looks amazing

Also the sister museum at Speyer, in my opinion the better of the two.

 

[AndrewP]

Thanks again everyone - booking in the next day or two

 

[zero]

Which is a sub that runs from the 1st of the month and requires you to give notice to cancel. On a web email form that requires a human to physically cancel it. BahnCards operate on the same principle.

The OP mentioned the €12 Youth Bahncard, which doesn't; it appears to be a one-off purchase which lasts for 5 years, or if shorter, until the day before you turn 19.

 

[AndrewP]

Well I booked it - all through the DB site and with 2 youth BahnCards.

Really easy and straightforward so thanks everyone for your help.

So looking forward to going down the Rhine by train