German rail

p.pete

Going to be booking some train travelling time in Germany soon. Looking for if there's any cheap options / methods of doing it that I should be looking out for?

3 journeys on ICE trains between Hamburg, Hanover and Frankfurt I estimate are going to cost €200 each, and there'll be either 2 or 3 of us travelling - so obviously any savings would be excellent!

Unfortunately the times of travel are fairly unflexible (I seem to remember cheap evening rates on the fast trains?), it'll be all morning and afternoon travel. 2 of the 3 journeys will be at the weekend though.

Frank OJ

if you arent flexible on midweek trains you are not going to save, simple as that. if you book ahead for weekend trains over the internet you should get tickets for about 32euros each, regardless of where and time of day you go.alternatively just go to the train office 3 days before you depart and it should be 32euros again. thats what it used be anyway. alternatively you could get a night train. they used be cheap enough aswell, but that sleeping in uncomfortable chairs on slow trains, unless of course you buy a cabin. if you aint going to flexible though it can be a major problem. all in all i wouldnt say you are doing too badly at 200euro each overall though.

Manny7

If you register with Deutsche Bahn at www.bahn.de you can book ICE tickets in advance for much cheaper, I've gotten them for around 30% of the original price this way. Also make sure you book you seats, it only costs around EUR3 each but is saves a load of hassle.

p.pete

Manny7 wrote:

If you register with Deutsche Bahn at www.bahn.de you can book ICE tickets in advance for much cheaper, I've gotten them for around 30% of the original price this way. Also make sure you book you seats, it only costs around EUR3 each but is saves a load of hassle.

Cheers for the replies - I was going to book through bahn.de so I'll definitely look into registering with them and see if that helps!

I'm with you on the seat booking - saved our tired legs on the way to the love parade one year, train was masively over crowded and we were able to claim our seats

Ruu_Old

German rail is very comfortable and almost always on time Have fun

p.pete

Ruu wrote:

German rail is very comfortable and almost always on time Have fun

Yup:) I remember once a few of us sat ourselves down in first class (least I think it was) of an ICE train with our Shoenes wokenende (sp?) ticket - pure luxury. We knew it was wrong but pretended we hadn't a clue

breadmonkey

The ICE trains are the megafast ones. You can get a series of slow ****ty trains for cheaper.

€200 each!!! You could probably save by getting an interrail ticket (though you will have to pay €20 or so for the likes of the ICE trains) And seriously, it's about twice that if you get snared on the train, so pay it in advance!

EDIT: And since you will be in Germany, you WILL get snared on the train!

Ruu_Old

p.pete wrote:

Yup:) I remember once a few of us sat ourselves down in first class (least I think it was) of an ICE train with our Shoenes wokenende (sp?) ticket - pure luxury. We knew it was wrong but pretended we hadn't a clue

We were on Euro Domino tickets and didnt know it until about 30 minutes into one of our journeys..our seats are a hell of a lot nicer and more room than the others in the train. mmm first class, but it was nearly empty anyway.

John R

Ruu wrote:

We were on Euro Domino tickets and didnt know it until about 30 minutes into one of our journeys..our seats are a hell of a lot nicer and more room than the others in the train. mmm first class, but it was nearly empty anyway.

Nearly empty is one of the reasons first class is so good, that and no screaming kids or rowdy scummers.

carrotcake

John R wrote:

no screaming kids or rowdy scummers.

i've found that germany doesn't have these anyway

Ruu_Old

carrotcake wrote:

i've found that germany doesn't have these anyway

Unfortunately I did notice that a great deal of the homeless people on streets begging were awfully young, but thats off topic.

Have fun OP anyway

parsi

carrotcake wrote:

i've found that germany doesn't have these anyway

They have plenty screaming kids - in fact there is a particular variety of whiny kids whose accent goes straight through your head.

I was in Dachau a few years ago and it was playing hsot to a busload of screaming kids who didn't really seem to care too much.