Pontresina-Fussen (Germany) Swiss vs German ticket

Will be traveling from Pontresina to Fussen Germany 22.07.2018. Was planning to use Swiss travel Pass to St. Margrethen, then get ticket from German railways for remainder. However, someone suggested I book the whole trip through bahn.de to avoid concerns with connections, getting a cheap ticket with their supersaver fare. Even though some fares available now on German rail website, no super saver fares posted yet for that route.

Looking for advice/personal experience with connections between Swiss/German rail. Is this much of an issue? How long should I wait for lower fares?

We would like quickest route to Fussen, which seems to be going through Buchloe. are there any more direct train route options?

Thanks!

Hi Eurodani,

There are indeed several ways to buy train tickets in Europe. If it were me, and I had the Swiss Travel Pass, I would check out the various websites to buy a ticket from St. Margrethen to Füssen. You can try bahn.de and other sites listed here to see what offers the best price. Like plane tickets, the price can drop later, it is a matter of buying when you find a price that is palatable to you. :)

The SBB timetable will give you the quickest routes by default: 1 connection in Buchloe (4.25 hours) or 3 connections in in Bregenz, Lindau & Kaufbeure (4 hours).

It is definitely an awkward route between those two towns.

I'd go through Buchloe; the fewer connections the better in my mind.

It is possible, depending on the time of day, that the train to Buchloe is somewhat busy (its going to Munich) so be aware of that and don't wait until the week of travel to buy a ticket/reservation.

Thank you Lucas. The bahn.de website is not bringing up the train through Buchloe, if I try to book from Pontresina to Fussen. It only gives the options through Hergatz, and Kaufbeuren. Also, do you know how I would enter my swiss pass on the Bahn.de website? I only see Bahn card 25, Bahn card 50, and SH card as options. I think buying a ticket from St. Margrethen to Fussen sounds like best option. Swiss trains generally run on time, correct? I think the connection time in St. Margrethen is about 30 minutes. Should that be plenty of time. Would I need to get German rail ticket validated or just show it once I'm on train out of St, Margrethen?

Ok, I figured out how to enter my Swiss Pass on the bahn.de website. But I only see one option for the 1 connection route through Buchloe, that reaches Fussen at 18:55. Does that EC train only run a few times per day? Would definitely prefer less connections, but also would like to arrive Fussen in afternoon. If we did end up with a several hour layover in St. Margrethen is there some sightseeing near train station that we could do?

Thanks!

>> Even though some fares available now on German rail website, no super saver fares posted yet for that route ... How long should I wait for lower fares?

The advance sales period for Deutsche Bahn savings fares is up to 180 days in advance.

You can search for savings saver fares here:

www.bahn.com/en/view/o ffers/germany/saver-fare-finder.shtml?dbkanal_007=L04_S02_D0 02_KIN0060_NAVIGATION-LINKS-SPARPREIS-FINDER_LZ01

>> We would like quickest route to Fussen, which seems to be going through Buchloe. are there any more direct train route options?

That is the route with least number of connections, and would be the route I would choose. Füssen is at the end of the line - see attached map of the train network in that area. You would be coming from the direction of Lindau.

Alpenrose

Hi Eurodani,

Be careful when selecting the correct rail pass on bahn.de (or other websites). I believe you have a Swiss Travel Pass and not a SwissPass (different products). The Swiss Travel Pass doesn't get you any discounts in Germany.

A connection time of less than 7/8 minutes is probably fine at St. Margrethen - 30 is annoyingly long. haha :). I'm not sure what I would do there for a few hours, I've never been. Their tourism site is in German and doesn't list much. If you really have several hours I'd pop over to St. Gallen I think.

On the SBB timetable I would take the 07:02 - 10:12 train from Pontresina to St. Margrethen (free with your Swiss Travel Pass). Then on bahn.de I'd buy a ticket for the 10:42 departure to Füssen, getting you there at 14:55. That is as early as you can do. It is currently 44 Euro (I see a low of 19.90 and a high of 50 Euro on random searches).

So it isn't a super amazing price but you can search around and wait to see what else you can find if you want. It depends on how fun this process is for you - it can be fun trying to find the best price and it can be frustrating! If you find something under 30 or 35 I'd grab it.

oh my, we will have the 4 day flex STP. So if we book St. Margrethen to Fussen, we enter "no Bahn Card". But if we were to book the entire ticket from Pontresina to Fussen, would we enter the "CH - General Abonnement" to show we have the swiss travel pass for the Swiss part of the journey?

I was able to get a Bayern Nacht ticket for the 4 of us from Fussen to Munich the next day (July 23) to connect with the Nightjet. but for our trip on July 22 from Pontresina to Fussen, a Bayern ticket would only work from Lindau, not St. Margrethen, correct?

Yes, the Bayern ticket wouldn't be valid in Switzerland - just from Lindau.

Thank you all so much for the helpful information. One last clarification on purchasing train tickets with a Swiss travel pass, on the Bahn.de website --

So if we book St. Margrethen to Fussen, we enter "no Bahn Card". But if we were to book the entire ticket from Pontresina to Fussen, would we enter the "CH - General Abonnement" to show we have the swiss travel pass for the Swiss part of the journey? Is this correct?

Hi,

So the Swiss Travel Pass and the Swiss General Abonnement are two different products. The STP is for tourists and the GA is for Swiss residents. The GA includes a discount for residents on German travel so you won't qualify for that discount.

You are going to want to buy a separate ticket for Germany.

Thank you very much for your help. I will plan on getting a separate German rail ticket from St. Margrethen. I was confused about entering the Swiss travel pass. You saved me from getting a wrong ticket. Thanks!

Happy to help. 2 tickets is really the simplest way.