Inter-city train tickets from €19...

Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) high-speed IC and ICE trains are easily the best way to travel between major town & cities all over Germany, in comfort at ground level.  DB's ICE trains travel at up to 186 mph from city centre to city centre, and if you pre-book direct with the operator you can find some really cheap fares.

COVID-19 update:  See COVID-19 travel information.

Train travel within Germany...

  How to buy tickets online

  How to buy tickets by phone

  Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket: discontinued

  Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket: Unlimited off-peak travel for €44

  Lander tickets: Unlimited train travel in one region

  Bayern Ticket:  Unlimited day's travel Munich, Neuschwanstein, Berchtesgaden, Salzburg

  Railpasses for Germany

  Maps of the German rail network

  What are German trains like?

  Travel tips: Luggage, food & drink, lounges...

  How to visit Neuschwanstein Castle

  How to visit the Harz steam railway & Brocken

  How to visit Obersalzberg & Eagle's Nest

  Escape to Colditz by train

  Useful country information: currency, dial code...

  Recommended guidebooks

  Hotels & accommodation in Germany

International trains to & from Germany...

  Trains from the UK to Germany

  Trains to Germany from other European cities

  Trains from Berlin to other European cities

  Trains from Hamburg to other European cities

  Trains from Cologne & Düsseldorf to other cities

  Trains from Frankfurt to other European cities

  Trains from Munich to other European cities

  Munich to Prague by train not bus

  Berlin to Prague by train

  Berlin-Warsaw Express trains

Station guides...

  Berlin Hbf station information

  Cologne Hbf station information

  Hamburg Hbf station information

  Munich Hbf station information

General train travel information...

  General European train travel information

  Train seat numbering plans

  Luggage on trains   

  Luggage lockers at stations

  Eurail passes &  Interrail passes

  Taking bikes   Taking dogs

Useful country information

How to check train times, fares & buy tickets...

• To check times & prices and to buy tickets in advance go to the German Railways website www.bahn.de (on a mobile device, use this link).

• Anyone from any country can use bahn.de, all international credit cards accepted, you print your own ticket or can simply show it on your laptop or smartphone.

• I recommend registering when prompted, so you can log in, check all your bookings and re-print your tickets at any time.

Do you need to buy tickets in advance?

• No, for regional trains - the ones marked R, RE, M, ALX & so on in the search results on www.bahn.de.  Regional trains have one fixed price with unlimited availability and no reservations necessary or possible.  Treat them as you would a city metro:  Turn up, buy a ticket and hop on the next train.  They cannot 'sell out'!  If you're making multiple journeys, there are some regional train passes explained here.

• No, for longer distance trains - the ones marked IC, ICE, EC and so on in the search results on www.bahn.de - if you are happy paying the relatively expensive Flexpreis = full-flex standard price.  These full-fare tickets have a fixed price, unlimited availability and cannot sell out.  they are valid on any train that day, a seat reservation isn't necessary but can be made as an 'optional extra' for a small fee, around €4.50.

• Yes, for longer distance trains if you want to save money with cheap advance-purchase fares - cheap Sparpreis (saver) advance-purchase fares are offered if you book in advance, this which varies from €19.90 upwards depending how far ahead you book and how popular that train, day or date is.   If you buy one of these cheap fares you can only travel on that specific train,  limited refunds and no changes to travel plans.

• For example, Frankfurt to Berlin costs €120 Flexpreis if you buy on the day of travel, but starts at just €29 upwards (meaning it could be €39, €49, €59, whatever) if you book in advance.  So book ahead!

When does booking open?

• Booking now opens up to 6 months ahead for German domestic tickets.  It was increased to 6 months from the previous 92 days in 2016.  However, the booking period is often less than this for dates immediately after the timetable changes at midnight on the 2nd Saturday in December.  Bookings for dates after the mid-December timetable change, including the Christmas period, have usually opened in mid-October.

Flexpreis or Sparpreis?

• If you use www.bahn.de to book a long-distance train you'll see two fares against each train, Flexpreis & Saver fare  (Sparpreis in German).

• The Flexpreis can be bought online or at the station on the day, at the same fixed price.  Flexpreis fares are flexible & refundable, good for any train, just hop on and find any empty unreserved seat, seat reservation on long distance IC, ICE & EC trains is optional for a small extra charge, around €4.50.

• In the Saver fare column you'll see whatever cheap Sparpreis or SuperSparpreis fare is available on that train, from €19.90, €29.90, €39.90 etc depending on the length of the journey and on how far ahead you book.  These fares are cheaper, but they only allow travel on the specific train you've booked (although if your journey involves a connecting regional train, you can use any regional train on that section of route).  The prices varies like air fares, rising as departure approaches and the cheaper tickets are sold.  They disappear a few days before departure, leaving only the standard Flexpreis fare.

  Sparpreis fares are refundable (although for a DB credit voucher, not cash) up to the day before departure with a small fee deducted, no changes or refunds allowed from the day of departure onwards.  SuperSparpreis means no refunds, no changes.

• Children go free!  On DB trains, children under 6 go free, no ticket needed.  Children over 6 but aged under 15 also go free if they travel accompanied by a fare-paying adult, a great offer.  Book your tickets at www.bahn.de and it will work all this out for you.

Credit card no longer necessary as ID for print-at-home tickets...

• If you wanted to use a German Railways print-at-home ticket (shown as online ticket on bahn.de) you used to have to show your credit or debit card as I.D. on board the train. I'm glad to say that this changed in October 2016, all you now need is a passport or other recognised ID to prove your name to support a print-at-home online ticket.  You may or may not be asked for it by the conductor. 

• Only one name is necessary to support a print-at-home ticket, even if the ticket covers more than one passenger.

• No ID is necessary if you select tickets by mail, as conventional train tickets have no names on them and need no ID.

Tips for using www.bahn.de...

• Stopovers.  If you'd like a stopover en route, but still want a cheap saver fare from end to end, no problem.  Go to www.bahn.de and enter your start and end point, simply click Add intermediate stops, enter the place where you want to stop off, enter the number of hours stopover and off you go.  Maximum 2 days validity with a Sparpreis fare.

• Alternatives to using bahn.de:  Bahn.de is one of the best train operator sites, but if for any reason you want an alternative site which can also book DB trains at DB prices, try these two:

  Raileurope.com has a direct connection to DB's ticketing system so it sells the same trains, same prices, same print-at-home tickets at Bahn.de, but with a small booking fee.  It accepts all international credit cards so can be used by anyone from any country.  Raileurope.com also connects to the French, Italian & Spanish ticketing systems so can easily book multi-operator journeys such as Munich to Naples (which involves DB and Trenitalia) or Frankfurt to Bordeaux (which involves DB and SNCF).  Raileurope.com is also capable of splitting the booking to book some cross-Germany journeys (for example, Brussels to Poland) for which you'd have to manually split the booking at some logical point within Germany if you wanted to use bahn.de.

  www.thetrainline.com also has a connection to DB's system, so can sell print-at-home tickets (but not those which need to be posted) for DB train at the same prices as DB, but with a small booking fee.

Competing private operator:  Flixtrain...

• Almost all long-distance trains in Germany are operated by Deutsche Bahn (DB), the State-owned German Federal Railways.  But there is now one other long-distance operator worth mentioning.

• Flixtrain, www.flixtrain.com, or use multi-operator booking site www.thetrainline.com.   Flixtrain has taken over the one daily train Berlin-Cologne-Heidelberg-Stuttgart previously run by Locomore and the Cologne-Osnabruck-Hamburg trains previously run by HKX.  Flixtrain offers cheap tickets, even if the competing DB trains are more frequent and faster.

Buy tickets by phone in the UK...

• If you live in the UK you can buy German train tickets direct from Deutsche Bahn on their English-speaking telesales line, 00 49 (0)30 311 68 29 04.  Lines open 08:30-20:00 Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturday & Sunday UK time, 1.5% fee for phone bookings.

• Alternatively, you can call International Rail on 0844 248 248 3, lines open 09:00-17:00 Monday-Friday.  They charge a £10 booking fee for bookings under £100, £20 for £100-£300, £30 above £300. In many cases tickets can be emailed to you as e-tickets, so there's no postage fee or delay.

Custom-made tours of Germany by train...

• Railbookers are a train travel specialist who can put together a tour of Germany for you as a package, including rail travel, hotels & transfers.  On their website you'll find a range of suggested tours & breaks which can be varied or customised to your own requirements.  And as you're booking a package, they'll take care of you if anything happens to one part of the itinerary such as a strike or delay.  They now have offices in the UK, USA & Australia.

  UK call 0207 864 4600, www.railbookers.co.uk. 

  US call free 1-888-829-4775, www.railbookers.com.

  Canada call free 1-855-882-2910, www.railbookers.com.

  Australia call toll-free 1300 971 526, www.railbookers.com.au. 

  New Zealand call toll-free 0800 000 554 or see website.

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Special regional tickets

These one-day unlimited travel passes are well worth knowing about, even though they're not valid on fast long-distance trains, only on slower regional trains.  If you want a railpass valid on all trains, including high-speed and long-distance ones, see the German Rail Pass section below.

Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket:  Unlimited regional travel at weekends

• The Schönes-Wochenende (Happy Weekend) ticket used to give a whole day's unlimited travel on regional and regional-express trains throughout the whole of Germany on either a Saturday or a Sunday but DB discontinued this ticket in June 2019.

Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket: Unlimited regional off-peak train travel, €44...

• The Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket gives a day's unlimited travel from 09:00 weekdays or from 00:00 Saturdays & Sundays, until 03:00 the following morning on all regional & regional-express trains (RE, RB, IRE, S-Bahn) throughout the whole of Germany.

• The first traveller pays €44, each additional passenger pays just €8 to be added to the same ticket, up to a maximum total of 5 passengers.

• You can't use fast IC, ICE or EC trains, only slower regional trains, so a long-distance journey which could be made on a fast direct IC or ICE train could be very slow and involve several changes if made using purely regional trains.  But it can be a very cheap way to go, especially if you haven't been able to book a cheap advance-purchase ticket for an ICE or IC train.

• For more information (but only in German, so use Google Chrome browser's automatic translation feature), see www.bahn.de/..../startseite-topangebote-QDL_LZ01. 

• To buy a ticket online and print it out yourself, click the 'Book now' link on www.bahn.de/.../startseite-topangebote.  I strongly recommend registering when prompted, so you can log in, check your bookings and re-print at any stage.  Alternatively, these tickets can also be bought on the day of travel from the self-service ticket machines at German stations, although it costs €2 more if you buy from a staffed counter. 

Lander tickets:  A day's unlimited regional train travel in one region, e.g. Bavaria...

• A bargain worth knowing about!  Each region of Germany offers a Lander Ticket giving unlimited travel on regional trains in that region, meaning RE, RB, IRE & S-Bahn, but not long-distance IC, EC or ICE trains.  There's more information at www.bahn.de/en/view/offers/regional/regional-day-tickets.shtml. 

• You can buy a Lander ticket online at www.bahn.de/en/view/offers/regional/regional-day-tickets.shtml and print it out or simply show it on your smartphone or laptop, or you can buy at the station on the day, but it costs €2 more if bought at a staffed travel centre rather than online or the self-service ticket machines.  If you buy online, I recommend registering when prompted, so you can log in, check your bookings and re-print at any stage.

Bayern ticket:  Munich, Füssen (Neuschwanstein castle), Berchtesgaden (Eagle's Nest), Salzburg...

• The Bayern Ticket (Bavaria Ticket) is the Lander ticket to buy for day trips from Munich to Salzburg, Munich to Füssen (for Neuschwanstein castle) or Munich to Berchtesgaden for the Eagles Nest.

• It costs €25 for a solo traveller or €33 for 2 people travelling together or €41 for 3 people or €49 for 4 people or €57 for 5 people.

• It gives unlimited travel on regional & inter-regional throughout Bavaria for a whole day, on weekdays from 09:00 until 03:00 the following morning, and on Saturdays & Sundays from 00:00 until 03:00 the following morning.

• It also covers most Bavarian buses, including the bus between Füssen station and Hohenschwangau for Neuschwanstein castle.

• Buy online at www.bahn.com//en/offers/regional/regional-day-ticket-for-bavaria.

• How to reach Neuschwanstein castle from Füssen station & how to reach Eagle's Nest & the Berghof from Berchtesgaden.

City Mobil:  Urban city transport added to your inter-city rail ticket.

• When booking online to many major German cities, you are often offered a City Mobil add-on for a few euros, with choice between a single ticket or a day ticket.  If City Mobil is available in that city, it will appear after you select your train and proceed past the seat reservation stage.  The single ticket option gives one trip on urban bus, tram or U-bahn transport to a destination within that city within 2 or 3 hours of your arrival.  A day ticket gives unlimited travel on the urban bus, tram & U-bahn network in that city.

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Railpasses for Germany

Interrail Germany pass (for European residents):  Click to check prices & buy online...

• If you are a European resident (but live outside Germany) you can buy an Interrail pass for Germany giving a choice of 3, 4, 6 or 8 days unlimited travel on all Deutsche Bahn trains within an overall 1 month period.  You can choose 1st class or 2nd class.

• To explain that a bit more, when you buy the pass you choose the date on which the overall 1 month validity starts, and you choose how many days you want to buy, either 3, 4, 6 or 8.  You then 'spend' each of these unlimited travel days on any date you like within that 1 month validity period simply by writing the date in one of the boxes printed on the pass.  You can make as many journeys as you can cram in on each day, there is no limit (that's what unlimited means).

• The pass is valid on all DB trains, including the high-speed ICE trains and fast IC and EC trains.  It's also valid on a few small private regional operators, but not private operators HKX or InterConnex.

• In Germany, there are few if any reservation fees to pay, and (unlike France) no quotas for passholders.  In 99% of cases you just write the date in your pass, then hop on any trains you like spontaneously with no reservation or extra fee payable.  Germany is therefore one of the countries where passes retain their flexibility and convenience, unlike (say) France, Italy or Spain.

• Is a pass better value than point-to-point tickets?  Well, an adult 6-day 2nd class pass costs £268, that works out at £45 (€51) per day.  You could go online at www.bahn.de 2-3 months ahead and buy a long-distance train ticket in advance from just €29, limited refunds or changes to travel plans.  But imagine you wanted to make two such journeys a day, not one.  Or didn't book 3 months in advance, so are now seeing higher prices, perhaps €69 or €89 fares online at www.bahn.de? Or simply want flexibility, and don't want to commit to specific trains with a no-changes no-refunds ticket in advance?  Then a pass can be great value.

• Click here to check Interrail prices & buy online

German Rail pass (for overseas visitors)...

• If you live outside Europe, you can buy an German Rail Pass giving a choice of 3 to 10 days unlimited travel on all Deutsche Bahn trains within an overall 1 month period.  You can choose 1st class or 2nd class.

• To explain that a bit more, when you buy the pass you choose the date on which the overall 1 month validity starts, and you choose how many days you want to buy, any number between 3 and 10.  You then 'spend' each of these unlimited travel days on any date you like within that 1 month validity period simply by writing the date in one of the boxes printed on the pass.  You can make as many journeys as you can cram in on each day, there is no limit (that's what unlimited means).

• The pass is valid on all DB trains, including the high-speed ICE trains and fast IC and EC trains.  It's also valid on a few small private regional operators, but not private operators HKX or InterConnex.

• In Germany, there are few if any reservation fees to pay, and (unlike France) no quotas for passholders.  In 99% of cases you just write the date in your pass, then hop on any trains you like spontaneously with no reservation or extra fee payable.  Germany is therefore one of the countries where passes retain their flexibility and convenience, unlike (say) France, Italy or Spain.

• Is a pass better value than point-to-point tickets?  Well, an adult 6-day 2nd class pass costs $343, roughly €200, that works out at €33 per day.  You could go online at www.bahn.de 2-3 months ahead and buy a long-distance train ticket in advance from just €29, limited refunds or changes to travel plans.  But imagine you wanted to make two such journeys a day, not one.  Or didn't book 3 months in advance, so are now seeing higher prices, perhaps €69 or €89 fares online at www.bahn.de? Or simply want flexibility, and don't want to commit to specific trains with a no-changes no-refunds ticket in advance?  Then a pass is great value.

• You cannot buy a German railpass if you are resident in Europe.

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Maps of the German rail network...

• Click for DB's own map of the German rail network

• Interactive map of the German railway network (please let me know if the link stops working)

• Click for an alternative map of the German rail network

• Advice on finding other European rail network maps

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What are German trains like?

InterCity Express (ICE):  More info...

InterCity Express high-speed trains, usually known as ICE, are German Railways' front-rank trains, travelling at up to 175mph (ICE1 & ICE2) or 186mph (ICE3).  You'll find information about ICEs on the ICE page.

ICE1 or 2, 2nd class		ICE1 or 2, 1st class		An ICE2 at Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

InterCity (IC):  More info...

InterCity trains travel at up to 125mph, usually using a locomotive and conventional carriages.  Some InterCity trains cross borders into neighbouring countries and these will be classified EuroCity (EC) rather than InterCity.

InterCity trains are now being refurbished with similar seating to ICEs.  Virtual tour of InterCity train...		2nd class.  You'll also find a few compartment coaches on InterCity trains and a bistro or restaurant car...		1st class, often available in both open-plan saloons like this and in compartments.

Regional trains...

Regional trains are sometimes operated by Deutsche Bahn (DB, German Railways) or sometimes outsourced to a private operator such as Abellio, Metronom, Erixx, but still run as part of the national network, with tickets sold by DB at www.bahn.de.  They come in many different shapes and sizes, some single-deck, some double-deck.

Seats on a double-deck regional train...		DB Regio double-deck regional train at Hamburg...

DB Regio regional train on a rural route...		2nd class seats on a rural DB Regio train...

Seat numbering plans: Click here...

There are several types of ICE, for plans of the seating layout on IC, ICE and various other types of train in Germany see the Train seat numbering page. 

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Travel tips...

	Train formation poster or Wagenstandsanzeiger, on a German station platform, showing where along the platform each car of a train will stop, so you can be waiting in the right place when your train comes in!

• Maps of the European rail network:  See the section on the Train travel in Europe page about rail maps.

• Language problems:   First-time visitors often think this will be a problem, but it hardly ever is.  At stations, signs are usually in English as well as German, or they use easy-to-understand pictograms.  On-train announcements on long-distance trains are often made in English as well as German.

• Food & drink on German trains:   Most long-distance trains have at least a bistro car serving tea, coffee, wine, beer & snacks from a counter, with some tables nearby if you'd want to eat and drink in the bistro car rather than take it back to your seat.  See sample ICE bistro menu.  Many German long-distance trains have a proper sit-down waiter-service restaurant car.  In first class on ICE you'll often be asked if you want to order food or drink, and it will be brought and served at your seat.  Alternatively, feel free to bring your own food and drink (even a bottle of wine, if you like) onto the train, there's no rules against that on the rails!

• Luggage on trains:  There are no baggage fees or weight limits, and you don't check your bags in, you simply take them with you onto the train, placing them on the racks at the end of each car or amongst the seats, or above your head.  It's usually possible to keep all your bags in sight.  More information about luggage on trains.

• Should you reserve a seat or not?  Reserving a seat is optional on most German trains.  You can add a reserved seat to your booking for €4.50, when buying a first class ticket it may be free.  If you don't reserve, you simply sit in any empty unreserved seat.  Small LED displays above each seat show which seats are reserved between which stations, and which seats are free.  Travelling alone, middle of the day, mid-week in February, you'll have plenty of seats to choose from.  But a family group, travelling on a Friday afternoon in July would be well advised to reserve seats.  And for any long journey it's best to be on the safe side and reserve.  You can make a seat reservation separately (i.e. after buying your ticket) simply by going to www.bahn.de and clicking the Seat only (no ticket) link right at the bottom.

• On the train's LED seat reservation displays above each seat:

  ggf. reserviert - this means the train's on-board reservation system hasn't been updated with the latest information from the main DB reservation system.  Usually all of the seats show this message if this happens.  Seat reservations are still valid, but cannot be shown on the LED displays, so you can sit in these seats but you could be asked to move if someone shows up with a reservation.

  ggf. freigeben - this is a last-minute reservation seat.  You can sit in it if you like, but will have to move if someone shows up with a reservation.

  bahn.comfort - travellers holding a frequent traveller BahnCard have priority for these seats. You can sit in these seats but someone with a BahnCard may show up and claim it.  Though how they'd know you didn't have a BahnCard and so ask you to move is another question!

  Schwerbehinderte means that seat is reserved for people with disabilities.

• First class lounges at stations:  There are lounges for first class passengers at Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt Main Airport, Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne, Leipzig, Mannheim, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart. Just follow the signs to the 'DB Lounge'.  Most are open roughly 07:00-21:00 daily, search www.bahn.de for details.  The lounges offer complimentary tea, coffee, soft drinks, beer & snacks.  Unfortunately, since December 2019 only expensive 1st class full-flex Flexpreis tickets give you lounge access, not cheaper 1st class Sparpreis fares or 1st class railpasses.

• Left luggage at stations:  All German stations other than the very smallest have left-luggage lockers in various sizes, up to suitcase-sized.  More information on left luggage lockers & prices.

• Bicycles:  Bikes can be carried on all German trains if semi-dismantled & placed in a bike bag, they then travel as ordinary luggage.  Undismantled bikes are carried free of charge on suburban & regional trains.  They are carried for a fee on most InterCity trains, ICE-T & ICE4 trains, prior reservation is required.  Undismantled bicycles are not carried on high-speed ICE trains apart from ICE-T & ICE4 versions which have been fitted with bike racks.

  To find a train that will take both you and you bike, simply use the online timetable at www.bahn.de, ticking the carriage of bicycles required box.  Within Germany, you can book a bike space and buy your ticket online this way, too.  For more information, see the bicycles by train page.

• Dogs & pets:  Dogs can be taken on all German trains, sometimes free, sometimes for a small fee.  For more information, see the dogs & pets page.

Places not served by the main rail network...

• Neuschwanstein, Germany's fairytale castle:  See details here.

• Eagles's Nest:  See details here.

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Recommended guidebooks

Take a good guidebook.  For independent travel, the best guidebook is either the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide.  Both guidebooks provide an excellent level of practical information and historical and cultural background.  You won't regret buying one!

Buy online from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Or buy the Lonely Planets from the Lonely Planet website, with shipping worldwide.    Alternatively, you can download just the chapters or areas you need in .PDF format from the Lonely Planet Website, from around £2.99 or US$4.95 a chapter.

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Tours of Germany by train

If you want to tour Germany by train, with all your train reservations and hotels sorted for you to your own specification, contact rail travel specialists Railbookers and they'll create the best rail holiday for you, hassle-free.  Unlike some overseas travel agents, they really do know all about train travel in Italy and right across Europe, and they know some excellent hotels, too.  They take good care of their clients and it's not surprising they get a lot of repeat business, so I have no hesitation in recommending them.

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Find hotels anywhere in Germany...

Backpacker hostels: www.hostelworld.com...

www.hostelworld.com:  If you're on a tight budget, don't forget about backpacker hostels.  Hostelworld offers online booking of cheap private rooms or dorm beds in backpacker hostels in Paris and most other European cities at rock-bottom prices.

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