# Rail travel in Germany



## Arb (May 15, 2012)

I'm worrying about our trip to Germany this summer. I'm looking at German rail passes and I don't understand anything! What's the difference between 1st and 2nd class? What's an ICE train? Does Rastatt have a train station? If we go to Munich, which station should we select? If we go to Berlin, which station should we select? Help!


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## sgtdesi (May 15, 2012)

1st class is a little nicer than 2nd class, mainly a little bit nicer seats and less people. It depends on your budget if you want to pay more to be there. ICE trains are super fast trains that are also more expensive. I find them too fast to really enjoy the scenery. The best bet for train stations is the Hauptbahnhof. That is the main train station in every major city. From there you can get on S or U bahn's which are local trains.

I recommend getting Rick Steves' book on Germany. He really goes over the trains and usually has maps for the major cities so you know which stop you need.


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## Ken555 (May 15, 2012)

Arb said:


> I'm worrying about our trip to Germany this summer. I'm looking at German rail passes and I don't understand anything! What's the difference between 1st and 2nd class? What's an ICE train? Does Rastatt have a train station? If we go to Munich, which station should we select? If we go to Berlin, which station should we select? Help!



The best web site for German rail in English is: 

http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml

Practically every German city has public transit which is connected to rail. However, sometimes it's easier to take a taxi a short distance rather than bus, s-bahn, etc. Rastatt seems to be quite close to Karlsruhe, and the connection to Berlin is from that main station. As has been posted, the Haubtbahnhof is 'central rail station' for the city, which is listed on the rail websites as 'Hbf'. So the main Berlin station is Berlin Hbf. However, this all depends where you are staying in a city, as the large cities often have more than one station, so ask the hotel which is closest.

If your budget can handle it, go first class. Depending on the train configuration, you'll have a compartment with fewer, nicer, seats than second class or an open car with generally nicer amenities. It's not essential.

ICE is InterCity Express and is the fastest German train option. You may also find IC or EC options, which are not quite as fast. Don't get a reservation on a RE. I find the faster trains to be best not only because of speed but of less stops and connections (changing trains with baggage, especially lots of baggage, is not fun when you only have ~10 min to do so).


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## x3 skier (May 15, 2012)

Rail passes are generally the most expensive way to travel. Most find buying a regular ticket the cheapest option.

The bahn.de site is pretty self explanatory and you can explore all sorts of options. Another site to use for European train travel is www.seat61.com written by The Man in Seat 61. It is mainly for the UK to Europe but has tons of good information including photos of compartments and trains.

I find the 1st class option not worth the extra cost but it is a little nicer.

Cheers


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## Carolinian (May 16, 2012)

I concur on the rail passes.  It is usually better value to buy point to point tickets.  In some countries, you can get a better price ahead of time buying them online from the official website of the railroad.  Avoid Rail Europe or other US based outlets, as they often add a very substantial markup.

In western Europe, there is little real difference in comfort between second and first class, so I usually go with second.  Open seating, like US trains is becoming more common, but in western Europe even the traditional compartments offer little difference.  In compartments, both 1st and 2nd class have 6 seat per compartment, and the compartments are the same size.  Eastern Europe is a different story as they often jam 8 seats in 2nd class in the same size compartment, and in some countrie likes Romania, 1st class is usually airconditioned and 2nd class usually is not.  In Germany, they will both be airconditioned.  For sleepers, 1st class is 2 berths, 2nd class is 4 berths, and couchette is 6 berths per compartment.

ICE (InterCityExpress) is much faster but more expensive.  They travel on special lines and thus only between certain cities.


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## Ken555 (May 16, 2012)

Carolinian said:


> In compartments, both 1st and 2nd class have 6 seat per compartment, and the compartments are the same size.



Many trains, including those in Italy, offer only four seats per compartment in first class. This provides much more space per seat.


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## Talent312 (May 16, 2012)

If you are going to travel by train on 50% or more of your vacation days, a flex pass which gives you 'x' days out of 'y' days may be worthwhile. Compare its cost to the cost of point-to-point tickets.

2nd class will save you some $$ and you arrive at the same time as 1st class, but you're spending a bundle to cross the pond, so why nickel and dime your train travel?

Check out... http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml


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## Arb (May 16, 2012)

*Many thanks*

Thanks to you all for the good advice. 
A friend recommended railpass.com   
Do you know anything about that site?
Also, it's a bit hard to tell whether we can book a twin senior German pass!
I appreciate all the good information I get here! Thank you again!
Carole


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## Talent312 (May 16, 2012)

Arb said:


> Thanks to you all for the good advice.
> A friend recommended railpass.com Do you know anything about that site?
> Also, it's a bit hard to tell whether we can book a twin senior German pass!
> I appreciate all the good information I get here! Thank you again!



Compare... www.raileurope.com and www.eurail.com/home


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## klpca (May 17, 2012)

We also used the Rick Steves website for guidance on the tickets. We bought a pass for use in Switzerland because it seemed like the price differential between the pass and just using regular tickets was small, but the pass gave us flexibility to hop on and off as the mood struck us. One thing that we found helpful was to go into the office at each train station and tell them where we wanted to go and they would print out an itinerary that showed us which trains we needed to take to get to our destination complete with track numbers and times. It saved us time when making our connections.


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## klpca (May 17, 2012)

Btw, second class was fine. And just in case you are dense like me, the car will have a large number 2 painted near the door (as opposed to a number 1 which means first class, not the first car. Haha. Learned that one the hard way ).


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## dundey (May 17, 2012)

I've traveled to Germany for business 2 or 3 times a year for the last 20 years.
You've gotten good info here but if you have any questions that have not been answered here just PM me.

The response about the main train stations is right on, but in many large cities there is more than one station that the ICE or RE regional express trains go into.
So it may depend on where you need to go in that city.  The German trains are very nice and easy to navigate.  If its a trip over 2 hours I would suggest 1st class if its in your budget.


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## Arb (May 19, 2012)

*thanks again*

I bought Rick Steve's Germany 2012, and I've taken all you've said to heart!
Thank you!


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## Carolinian (May 20, 2012)

Ken555 said:


> Many trains, including those in Italy, offer only four seats per compartment in first class. This provides much more space per seat.



Many of the newer cars on Italian trains are open seating, like US rail passenger cars, and I think that is what I have had when travelling first class in Italy.  Open seating tends to be the trend throughout Europe, east and west, as opposed to compartments.  The last time I travelled first class in France, it was open seating as well.  In the open seating cars, first class has two seats on one side of the aisle and one seat on the other, while 2nd class has two seats on each side.  That is nice if you are travelling solo.


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## Carolinian (May 20, 2012)

Talent312 said:


> If you are going to travel by train on 50% or more of your vacation days, a flex pass which gives you 'x' days out of 'y' days may be worthwhile. Compare its cost to the cost of point-to-point tickets.
> 
> 2nd class will save you some $$ and you arrive at the same time as 1st class, but you're spending a bundle to cross the pond, so why nickel and dime your train travel?
> 
> Check out... http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml



It is also not wise to use Rail Europe to compare prices, as they often charge more than national railroad outlets.  I sometimes wonder if they do that to make the passes they sell look like a better value.  I think the worst case I saw with Rail Europe was when I used them to check schedules, and the price they quoted me for tickets in the Baltics was 5 to 6 times what I actually paid at the train station there.


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## AKE (May 20, 2012)

Arb said:


> Thanks to you all for the good advice.
> A friend recommended railpass.com
> Do you know anything about that site?
> Also, it's a bit hard to tell whether we can book a twin senior German pass!
> ...



Read the usage conditions on the rail pass.  If you are going to be going long distances in a short time period the pass may be worthwhile but if you are going on only a few trips over an extended period of time then the pass may not be cost effective. As well, make sure who is the seller of the pass.  There are a number of EuroRail (and other) pass resellers which mimic the real one and these resellers charge considerably more. We have been to Germany many times and used the German trains (as well as trains elsewhere throughout Europe).  I have yet to find a rail pass that has been cheaper than booking the individual segments with our itinerary.  The railpass used to be good value - now I find it to be overpriced. 
If you are going on day trips then don't waste your money on first class unless you travel first class in the US or Canada as well. Be aware of the German train compartments.  They generally seat 4 - 6 people BUT THE SEATS MAY NOT RECLINE AT ALL!!!  The ICE trains are faster and also go to the main station; the slower trains sometimes stop at a satellite station and from there you have to transfer to another train (but the satellite stations are usually only one or two train stops away from the main station).


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