Railpass - is it worth it?

My wife and I are flying into Munich on 23 Oct and are staying about 10
days. Some friends will be in Venice and want to meet up with us around the
23rd and spend the next week or so traveling in Germany with us. We will
also be going to Prague and Vienna. We are tentatively thinking they can
take a train from Venice to Garmisch. We can then do a clockwise loop
(Garmisch, Munich, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg) after which they can return to
Venice. But I have no idea if a Railpass is worth it. For that matter, for
some of the trips, we may have a rental car. I haven't been able to find any
good rail query sites. I want to find a site where I can enter starting
point and destination and have it tell me which train I need to take (with
conenctions). I found one site that only queries direct connections and it
says I need to know the intermediate conenction points in between!

Any help is appreciated.

-brian

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 19:51:20 -0400, "Brian Huether"
wrote:

My wife and I are flying into Munich on 23 Oct and are staying about 10
days. Some friends will be in Venice and want to meet up with us around the
23rd and spend the next week or so traveling in Germany with us. We will
also be going to Prague and Vienna. We are tentatively thinking they can
take a train from Venice to Garmisch. We can then do a clockwise loop
(Garmisch, Munich, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg) after which they can return to
Venice. But I have no idea if a Railpass is worth it.

Which pass?

In general, rail passes aren't worth the money if you are
interested in cost. The railways have so many cheap ways to
travel that a rail pass can't even come close. Passes are
convenient, though. If you are travelling in even a small group
you will want to get seat reservations for several euros, though,
to assure being able to sit together.

For that matter, for
some of the trips, we may have a rental car.

There is a Eurailpass ride/drive pass; see
http://www.railpass.com.

I haven't been able to find any
good rail query sites. I want to find a site where I can enter starting
point and destination and have it tell me which train I need to take (with
conenctions). I found one site that only queries direct connections and it
says I need to know the intermediate conenction points in between!

One of those pass selling agencies with their point-to-point
fares? Beware the inflated fares they show, apparently designed
to make you think a pass is a good deal.

See http://bahn.hafas.de for comprehensive Europeaan rail
schedules.


************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Brian Huether schrieb:

My wife and I are flying into Munich on 23 Oct and are staying about 10
days. Some friends will be in Venice and want to meet up with us around the
23rd and spend the next week or so traveling in Germany with us. We will
also be going to Prague and Vienna. We are tentatively thinking they can
take a train from Venice to Garmisch.

With a change in Innsbruck and maybe before in Verona.

We can then do a clockwise loop
(Garmisch, Munich, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg) after which they can return to
Venice. But I have no idea if a Railpass is worth it.

You might use Bavaria regional daypasses or cheaper Wedenfels daypasses.

For that matter, for
some of the trips, we may have a rental car. I haven't been able to find any
good rail query sites. I want to find a site where I can enter starting
point and destination and have it tell me which train I need to take (with
conenctions). I found one site that only queries direct connections and it
says I need to know the intermediate conenction points in between!

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/que...ewrequest=yes&

Regards, ULF

Brian Huether schrieb:

also be going to Prague and Vienna. We are tentatively thinking they can
take a train from Venice to Garmisch. We can then do a clockwise loop
(Garmisch, Munich, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg) after which they can return to
Venice. But I have no idea if a Railpass is worth it. For that matter, for
some of the trips, we may have a rental car.

How many friends, by the way?

See
http://www.bahn.de/-S:PtVOZ9:d-oSztNNcgJgzNNNNShM/p/view/international/englisch/travelservice/laender_tickets.shtml

Regards, ULF

Ulf's recommendation of the day pass in Bavaria (good for a handful of
people) will save you tons of cash. These regional day passes for groups of
up to 5 are an incredible value, and are very simple to buy and use (you
can't use the fastest trains, but for your trips they will work great on D,
R, and IR trains, and you will easily be able to avoid the long-distance IC
or ICE trains that are not permitted with the regional day pass). They
that turn more general Eurail-type passes into highway robbery (though in
the case of very long distances the Germanrail pass can be worthwhile).

You will then have to buy individual tickets to Vienna, as well as to
Prague, but this is still FAR cheaper than buying a pass that covers
multiple countries.

On Tue, 13 Sep 2005 20:07:36 -0500, "Douglas W. Hoyt"
wrote:

Ulf's recommendation of the day pass in Bavaria (good for a handful of
people) will save you tons of cash. These regional day passes for groups of
up to 5 are an incredible value, and are very simple to buy and use (you
can't use the fastest trains, but for your trips they will work great on D,
R, and IR trains, and you will easily be able to avoid the long-distance IC
or ICE trains that are not permitted with the regional day pass). They
that turn more general Eurail-type passes into highway robbery (though in
the case of very long distances the Germanrail pass can be worthwhile).

I'll mention the Deutschebahn BahnCard50. It costs EUR 200 (EUR
100 for seniors) and gives a 50% discount on all DB fares for the
holder and his family travveling with him/her. Obviously not for
everyone as a senior id did pay for itself for me and my wife and
child on our first use buying tickets Koeln-Muenchen. It's good
for a year, too.


************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

I'll mention the Deutschebahn BahnCard50.

And in summer, I could have kicked myself for getting a Germanrail pass this
past summer. The Deutsche Bahn essentially reduced ALL one-way fares within
Germany to 29 or 39 Euro--no matter how long the trip--with 3 day advance
purchase. Even international fares were knocked down to 39 or 49 Euro.
These kind of fares would probably not be typically available outside of the
summer holiday season, though.

It's not that easy.
the EUR 29,- seats are usually not availbale at preferred times of
day/weekends anymore if you want to book.

/To


"Douglas W. Hoyt" wrote in message
...
I'll mention the Deutschebahn BahnCard50.

And in summer, I could have kicked myself for getting a Germanrail pass
this
past summer. The Deutsche Bahn essentially reduced ALL one-way fares
within
Germany to 29 or 39 Euro--no matter how long the trip--with 3 day advance
purchase. Even international fares were knocked down to 39 or 49 Euro.
These kind of fares would probably not be typically available outside of
the
summer holiday season, though.

It's not that easy--the EUR 29,- seats are usually not availbale at
preferred times of day/weekends anymore if you want to book.

It's true--for those trips we wanted to book last summer the EUR 29 seats
were sold out and we had to pay the EUR 39.

Douglas W. Hoyt wrote:
And in summer, I could have kicked myself for getting a Germanrail pass this
past summer. The Deutsche Bahn essentially reduced ALL one-way fares within
Germany to 29 or 39 Euro--no matter how long the trip--with 3 day advance
purchase. Even international fares were knocked down to 39 or 49 Euro.
These kind of fares would probably not be typically available outside of the
summer holiday season, though.

But the Germanrail pass for 4 days (the most expensive per day) costs $180 US.
Which breaks down to $45 per day. or 36.73 Euro at the current exchange rate.
less than the 39 Euro fare, more than the 29 euro fare, if you can get it.

Julie


--
Julie
**********
Check out the blog of my 9 week Germany adventure at www.blurty.com/users/jholm
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm