Save on Rail Travel in Germany

Cheap Train Fares with the Schönes Wochenende (Happy Weekend) Ticket

Mar 15, 2008

Typical Small Deutsche Bahn Station, Wolfram Eberius www.flickr.com/photos/eberius/

The Schönes Wochenende (Happy Weekend) Ticket is a very cheap savings fare and a bargain for using Deutsche Bahn's regional trains for rail travel in Germany on weekends.

The Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket (Happy Weekend Ticket) is one of Deutsche Bahn’s most popular savings tickets. Like the popular Länder-Tickets, the Schönes-Wochenende-Tickets are valid only on local trains and for groups of up to five traveling together.

Conditions for the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket

The Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket is valid on Saturday or Sunday from midnight up to 3 am the following morning.
The ticket is only valid on local regional trains with the letters IRE, RE, RB, or S in the name.
Up to five passengers may travel on a Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket. The group composition may not be altered and names have to be entered on the ticket prior to commencement of the journey.
If two parents or two grandparents are the only adults traveling on the ticket, an unlimited number of own children or grandchildren up to 14 years old may travel with. (Children under 6 years always travel for free on German trains.)

Schönes-Wochenende-Tickets versus Länder-Tickets

The Schönes-Wochenende-Tickets and Länder-Tickets have a lot in common but there are important differences too:

Länder-Tickets have geographical restrictions while the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket is valid throughout Germany (and on some routes into Poland).
The number of cities where the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket is valid on buses, trams, and U-Bahn is much more limited when compared to Länder-Tickets.
Länder-Tickets are available all week while Schönes-Wochenende-Tickets can only be used on weekends.
A few states have cheaper Länder-Tickets for singles as well as for night travel.

Buying the Schönes-Wochenende-Tickets

The Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket cost €35 when bought online or from ticket machines. When bought at ticket counters, it is €37 and when bought on the train itself €38.50. Tickets cannot be bought in S-Bahn and some other local trains – failure to buy a ticket prior to boarding will result in a €40 fine per person.

Bicycles can be transported all day on a €4.50 Fahrradticket (Bicycle Ticket) although in some states bicycles are transported for free.

Dogs are not included on the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket – whether a ticket is required or not depends on the particular region and type of train.

Like the Länder-Tickets, the Schönes-Wochenende-Tickets are only valid on local and regional trains. When traveling long distances, especially on return journeys, many other discount fares are also available to travelers willing to restrict themselves to specific trains. Foreign visitors can also use the German Rail Pass – at first glance an expensive option but a real fare saver if mostly used on long-distance, one-way journeys for which discounted tickets are not available.

The copyright of the article Save on Rail Travel in Germany in Budget Transportation is owned by Henk Bekker. Permission to republish Save on Rail Travel in Germany in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.