Train Travel: How I Planned a Four-Day Train Trip Through Germany’s Bavarian Towns for Just a €9 Fare

Prepare vacation as a result of Germany this summer is obtaining a huge improve: Officers have launched a new  9-Euro-Ticket hop-on-hop off plan. Part of a government system to assist buyers with mounting strength charges, the new fare is legitimate for journey for a single month on all regional and regional trains, as perfectly as buses, all over the total of Germany. However the unrestricted ticket excludes preferred Intercity Categorical trains, you can continue to journey far and huge throughout the place for a mere €9 until finally the end of August, when the present ends for the year.

Before in July, I resolved to e-book a ticket to check out the charming medieval towns and foothills of the Bavarian Alps found along Germany’s Passionate Street. Here’s how I pulled off the 4-working day excursion for just €9 in prepare fare.

A watch of the pink roofs of  Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Matt Perkins

Working day 1: Munich to Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Just ahead of 8 a.m. on a Tuesday, I set off from Munich in a near-vacant carriage. I’ve packed light—my backpack matches easily overhead—following the wry guidance on the train’s information and facts screens to not “bring your double-bass” on-board during the 9-Euro-Ticket season. In a extra crowded carriage immediately after altering at Treuchtlingen, I listen to a few grievances about Ausflüglers, the German word for working day-trippers. But everyone on board is well-behaved. Distant church buildings with cupolas like onion bulbs and a freight educate whole of Audis whip by my window. 

By late morning, I’m walking the cobblestone streets of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, 124 miles northwest of Munich. Following a neighborhood pastry—a Schneeball, a nougat-flavored dough ball—I climb the city corridor tower and search down at the crimson roofs of fifty percent-timbered residences enclosed by 14^th-century partitions. I duck into the great of St. James’ Church to gaze on Tilman Riemenschneider’s 500-12 months-aged wood carvings. After a turn all over the partitions, I go for a pub evening meal of Käsespätzle, a contemporary Bavarian pasta with cheese and crispy onions.

How to get there: From München Hbf (Munich Principal Station), acquire the RB16 heading to Nürnberg and get off at Treuchtlingen (1hr 57 minutes) adjust to the RB80 heading to Würzburg Hbf and get off at Steinach (1hr 6 minutes) then improve to the RB82 to Rothenburg ob der Tauber (15 minutes).

German countryside exterior of Dinkelsbühl

Matt Perkins

Day 2: Rothenburg ob der Tauber to Dinkelsbühl to Nördlingen

The upcoming early morning, I’m on a bus to Dinkelsbühl, a couple of hours’ drive to the south, trundling past tumble-down barns and above-curated entrance lawns. The prime ground of Dinkelsbühl’s background museum is devoted to the Munich College painters who “rediscovered” the town 200 many years after its near ruin in the 30 Years’ War. When now an recognized quit on the Romantic Road, a area bookseller tells me that it’ll just take extra than the 9-Euro-Ticket to make up for the extended decommissioned coach line the moment right connecting Dinkelsbühl to Rothenburg and Nördlingen. The bus support they replaced it with is a little patchy (I experienced to just take two buses to get listed here), but I find them speedy and reputable, if not as at ease as the trains. 

I get an additional bus to Nördlingen, an hour to the south-east. The moment I get there, I make a twilight pilgrimage to Hexenfelsen, a dolomite block unearthed immediately after the asteroid affect that, 14 million years in the past, formed the crater in which Nördlingen sits right now, and where a panel commemorates those burnt at the stake here during the 16^th-century “witch fad.” I head back into town for a hearty plate of Maultaschen, which are ravioli-like parcels these specific types are stuffed with fried veggies.