I am going to Germany in December and plan to take the train from Frankfurt to Munich. I will return to Frankfurt for my flight home.

Is it necessary to purchase the train tickets in advance? Would I be running a risk of no available seats if I wait until I get to Frankfurt to purchase the train ticket?

Lot of trains between Frankfurt and Munich, two of the most important cities, so you shoudn't have problems to get places.

Look at the timetable at http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

As an alternative, there is a flight every hour between FRA and MUC .

Trains are very cheap in Germany especially if you're travelling on the weekend. You can buy a weekend ticket for US$10 or $20 to anywhere in Germany. Getting seats is not a problem since FRA and Munich are important gateways to Germany. BTW, why couldn't you get a flight in/out of Munich for the same price as FRA? Many airlines treat it as the same zone.

I question Spider's 10$/20$ tickets. I am just back from Germany - they changed some cheap specials. I met somebody who came from Berlin to Frankfurt for less than 100 DM; something like 7 to 7 ticket with <= 5 hours travel time.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SallyL:
Is it necessary to purchase the train tickets in advance? Would I be running a risk of no available seats if I wait until I get to Frankfurt to purchase the train ticket?</font>

Hey, Sally,

you can buy the tickets minutes before departure and even get reservations. They have touch screen ticket machines at the stations including FRA airport which take all credit cards. Make sure to go to the Long distance train station (Fernbahnhof) at the airport, not the one underground.

Gute Reise

Thank you for all the replies. I will quit worrying about buying my ticket in advance.

One more question: Are there senior citizen discounts for rail travel in Germany? If so, is a US passport acceptable proof of age?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by USAFAN:
I question Spider's 10$/20$ tickets. I am just back from Germany - they changed some cheap specials. </font>

No need to question me. I have no need to draw unnecessary attention to myself with posting false or misleading information.

To get these tickets you need to know some german or have a german friend who can do the ticket buying on your behalf. I am aware that they changed the weekend ticket rules but from the best of my knowledge you can still use that cheap ticket for a whole day i.e. either Saturday or Sunday.

And if worse comes to worse then I can check with my german friends who use these tickets quite often to show their friends from abroad around the country.

Spider:

I did not want to hard your feelings. It just seemed a little "cheap" to me; Frankfurt-Munich is about 430 kilometers.

I found the special on the Internet - sorry, it's in German:

http://www.bahn.de/pv/angebote/sparen/pv2_001_guten_abend_ticket.shtml

Guten Abend Ticket:
Cheapest ticket for ICE (fast train) DM 69.00 (about $ 30). You have to travel between 7:00PM and 3:00AM. Monday to Thursday. Friday, Sat., Sunday plus DM 15.00.

Fastest ICE: 3 hour, 43 min, Standard DM 147.00

SallyL:

If and when there are senior (&gt;=60) specials, a US passport would be O.K.

There is a (Bundesbahn) train station at FRA Airport. For most ICEs you have to change the train at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, however, I found a train (ICE) going direct from FRA Airport to Munich!

Yes, it's easy to buy a ticket - I still would plan the trip beforehand. With some ICE trains you have up to 2 changes, some are with NO CHANGES!
https://surfandrail.bahn.de/bin/surfer.exe

I checked out the Bahn website and figured out how to get the information in English. The cheapest fare that the web site offered was for a Super Saver which was 249 DM return. It requires the outbound travel to be on a Saturday. The website showed one train each way from the Frankfurt airport with zero changes at times that will be very convenient.

The web site also said lower fares may be available in Germany.

I have all the information I need now. Thanks again for the help.

Well, I finally managed to find the info about the cheap tickets that I was talking about earlier. And DM40 is about $15, so even though it might have been too cheap to believe in the first place it still turned out to be true.

Happy Weekend Ticket
For up to 5 persons travelling together and for parents travelling with their children aged under 18 on Saturday or Sunday 00.00 a.m. until 2.00 a.m. of the following day for only DM 40 in total! Valid on all local trains, 2nd class only. Can be purchased in Germany and from Deutsche Bahn UK in Great Britain and Deutsche Bahn France in Paris.

Spider:

Read the ad - this "Happy Weekend Ticket" is only for local trains, not for a ride Frankfurt to Munich. This slow local trains stop at every station; it would not be a "Happy Weekend" for SallyL.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by USAFAN:
Spider:

Read the ad - this "Happy Weekend Ticket" is only for local trains, not for a ride Frankfurt to Munich. This slow local trains stop at every station; it would not be a "Happy Weekend" for SallyL.</font>

Spider,

You are absolutely right. I wouldn't be able to stay awake to use the "Happy Weekend" ticket. Hopefully I will get some kind of senior citizen deal that beats the 249DM Super Saver, and I can ride on the ICE train with zero changes and few stops.

SallyL

What's wrong with enjoying the nice scenery of German countryside at a slow pace? http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

BTW, have you looked at the option of using European Air Pass coupons instead? They start from $60 and move slowly upwards depending on the distance flown.

You might also consider a Eurail pass. We've had great luck with buying/using Eurail passes. A site with good information is Rick Steve's (http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/howtoorder.htm). These need to be purchased before you leave the US, but the travel dates don't have to be set.

If you are just going to/from Munich alone then it's probably not as cost effective. If you have those two days and then one or two additional days of travel then it starts making more sense since you get four days of essentially unlimited travel for $130 (if two people travel, $174 if only one). Here's specific information on the Germany Pass (http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/germany.htm).

On our last trip to Germany we ended up with an extra day to kill and an extra day on our pass so we spent it hoping on and off trains all day and touring the country. It was great fun.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SallyL:
Spider,

You are absolutely right. I wouldn't be able to stay awake to use the "Happy Weekend" ticket. Hopefully I will get some kind of senior citizen deal that beats the 249DM Super Saver, and I can ride on the ICE train with zero changes and few stops.

SallyL

</font>


You can consruct connection from Frankfurt to München using the "Schönes Wochenende Ticket !"

I found several schedules, taking between 6 and 7 hours and making 1 to 3 connections.
(The ICE needs 3:30 hours).

The cheaspest othet possibility is rail and surf under http://www.rail-and-surf.de

Thanks Peter42 for supporting my version of events/facts. I was getting a distinct feeling that my selfless view of the facts was being questioned/dismissed.

Certainly, for an all expenses paid business traveller ICE wouldn't be a problem but for a budget conscious person a fare which is 6 times cheaper and only takes twice the time of an ICE, is more than welcome.