Taking the train to a city further away can be quite expensive. But there are several ways to reduce the cost of a train ticket. Information on how to do this can be found—in English and other languages—on the Deutsche Bahn website under the heading “Best Price Search”:
https://www.bahn.de/service/buchung/bestpreissuche
Basically, if you buy a ticket several weeks before you travel, you have a better chance of getting a cheap ticket than someone who buys a ticket right before the train departs. Outside of peak travel times, prices usually drop. This is true for individual days of the week as well as rush hour times. In addition, there are group tickets that also make travel cheaper. Slower trains such as Regionalexpress or Intercity usually cost less than ICE connections. Very cheap tickets are usually super saver options that cannot be exchanged. If you want to travel by train more often, you can also buy a BahnCard: This reduces the price by 25 or 50 percent: a BahnCard costs between 56.90 and 234 euros. Trial BahnCards for two months are available from just 17.90 euros:
https://www.bahn.de/angebot/bahncard
The example of a trip between Tübingen and Frankfurt shows how prices can vary. For example, between 23.90 and 68.90 euros must be paid for a ticket around two weeks before the planned journey—depending on the daily time and the expected capacity utilization of the trains. With the most expensive connection one is in Frankfurt in 2.34 minutes, the most favorable train needs for it 42 hours and 44 minutes. With the Bahncard 25, the cheapest ticket is available for 17.90 euros. However, the data are snapshots and can change daily.
Cheap tickets are also available from the companies Fixbus and Flixtrain. For example, the cheapest Flixbus travels between Tübingen and Frankfurt on October 13 for 11.99 euros without changing trains in just over four hours. The Flixtrain travels from Stuttgart to Frankfurt for as little as 4.99 euros. However, you still need a ticket from Tübingen to Stuttgart, which costs 10.50 euros.
https://www.flixtrain.de/zugverbindungen
https://www.flixbus.de/
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Flixbus. Günstige Fahrten mit dem Fernverkehr in Deutschland. Foto: tünews INTERNATIONAL / Theresa Melnyk.
