Savings Fares on German Railways
Cheap Train Tickets in Germany with Deutsche Bahn Sparpreise 25 & 50
Mar 15, 2008
German Railways (Deutsche Bahn) offer a wide range of different train fares and cheap rail tickets that allow for huge savings for travelers willing to give up some flexibility by limiting travel to specific trains on specific days.
Saving on German Railway Trips with Sparpreise 25 & 50
Sparpreise (savings fares) are the easiest way to save on German Railway train trips. It allows for savings of 25% and 50% on railway journeys in Germany subject to several restrictions.
The basic requirements for 25% savings are as follows:
- Sparpreise are only available on return rail trips.
- Tickets are only valid on trains specified at the time of purchase.
- Tickets must be bought at least three days prior to travel.
- The number of Sparpreis tickets per train is limited.
- The minimum cost of the ticket prior to the discount is €38 for second-class travel and €57 for first class-travel.
- Part of the journey must be in an Inter-City (IC), Euro-City (EC), or Inter-City-Express (ICE) train.
Additional requirements for 50% discounts are:
- A Saturday night stay is required.
- Alternatively, both legs of the journey must be on either a Saturday or a Sunday.
- Fewer tickets are available per train.
Additional Savings on Sparpreise
Additional savings are possible that can be added to the applicable Sparpreise:
- Sparpreise can be combined with the BahnCard 25 (but not with the BahnCard 50). A Sparpreis 50 plus BahnCard 25 thus gives up to 62.5% discount (50% discount on the normal price plus a further 25% off).
- The Mitfahrerrabatt (companion discount) can be combined with the Sparpreise. It can be applied for up to four additional travelers who buy tickets at the same time for the same journey. The first traveler pays the Sparpreis, whether 25 or 50, and the companions each pay only 50% of what the first traveler has paid.
Cancellation and Change Conditions for Deutsche Bahn Rail Tickets
Normally priced (Normalpreis) rail tickets in Germany can be cancelled gratis and fully refunded up to a day prior to the intended commencement of a journey. Any trains may be used and stopovers are allowed en route.
Savings fares (Sparpreise) have special cancellation conditions. Tickets can be refunded up to a day prior to the booked journey but a service fee of €15 applies per ticket. If a different train than the one for which the ticket was bought is used, a Sparpreis-Zusatzkarte must be bought prior to boarding the train. This additional ticket cost the difference between the Sparpreis and the normal fare plus a service fee of €15.
- Deutsche Bahn has many special offers worth considering when traveling by rail in Germany. Frequent travelers on German trains should consider buying a BahnCard for 25 to 50 percent savings in addition to the above Sparpreise. Foreign visitors can use the German Rail Pass, which is a good deal when longer journeys, especially one way journeys for which Sparpreise are not available, are planned.
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