How to Save Money on your Hikes with Deutsche Bahn
Dear Hiking Buddies,
being a frequent train traveler myself I got to know a couple of tricks that have helped me save quite some money on my trips to the mountains and, more generally, all over Germany. I've noticed that these tricks - even though they're simple to apply - are not well known. Therefore I'd like to share them with you.
Most of this post deals with the usage of vouchers ("e-coupons") that reduce the final amount you have to pay for train tickets including regional offers like the Bayern ticket. DB circulates these e-coupons from time to time. Just right now, there are quite some 10 € e-coupons available that make your ticket up to 20 € cheaper. Sometimes there are also 15 € / 20 € vouchers, however they are a bit less frequent. The official information can be found here, however I think it is quite sparse.
Personally I think that at latest as you apply these vouchers, using the train to get to the mountains is mostly cheaper than going there by car - irrespective of any other reasons that suggest going by train.
Q&A:
Q: Is it really worth it? How much can I save?
A: Example: A Bayern ticket for 2 people costs 33 €. You can apply 2 e-coupons in this case with 10 € each, so you end up paying 13 € for the ticket plus 2*~2€ for the e-coupons.
Q: Where do I get these e-coupons from?
A: Either you are lucky and you get one directly from DB via mail - sometimes they just give them away. Apart from that, they are often used in promotions for sweets (Nutella, Duplo, Knoppers, Toffifee) so you find them inside the packaging or for financial services (paydirekt). Otherwise you can reach out to ebay or ebay kleinanzeigen and buy them there.
Q: Where do I find this stuff on ebay (kleinanzeigen)?
A: https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-db-gutschein/k0 or https://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_nkw=db+gutscheinQB:
Q: How far in advance do I need to buy this stuff?
A: For me it is mostly sufficient to take care of it the evening before the hike. People who offer these coupons answer quite fast most of the time. This also requires that you can pay via PayPal.
Q: Who guarantees that I'm not cheated on if I pay via PayPal?
A: No one does. Buyer protection on PayPal is not valid for vouchers. However, your risk is quite low if you transfer 2 €. My own experience is that cheating happens quite rarely. In case of bigger amounts, do some background research on the seller.
Q: How do I apply the codes?
A: Most codes have a minimum ticket value on them. Mostly it's 29,90 € for 10 € coupons, 39,90 € for 15 € coupons and 49,90 € for 20 € coupons. I.e. you have to make sure that your ticket value is above this threshold. You can enter the codes in the step when choosing payment options: What you want to go for is "e-coupon (8 stelliger Code). Enter them there.
Q: How many coupons can I use at the same time?
A: 1 if you are booking a ticket for one person and 2 if you are booking a ticket for 2 or more people.
Q: I'm traveling alone, so my ticket value is below 29,90 €. I guess this does not help me then?
A: Wrong. Just buy a ticket (Bayern ticket or Werdenfels ticket) for 2 persons, fill in some random name and you are above that threshold. Additionally, you have now 2 people on the ticket so you can apply two vouchers.
Q: Does this also work for the vending machines at the train station?
A: As experienced myself: no. Only online or via DB navigator. Not sure about DB travel centers.
Q: I want to buy a BRB "Guten Tag" tickets because I'm traveling to Lenggries and they're cheaper. Can I apply these vouchers here?
A: No. (Please double check however, it has been a while since I tried it.)
Q: That sounds great, but I guess this is a one-time promotion right now, so it does not help me next year?
A: Wrong. Personal experience is that there is some kind of coupon in at least 75 % of the time throughout the year, if not more. Right now, most of the coupons from Storck (Knoppers & Toffifee) are valid until December 11, i.e. the train ride has to have taken place until then.
Q: What is a good price for coupons on these platforms?
A: For 10 € coupons personally I pay 2 € right now at most; for 20 € coupons, I think 5 € is still okay. Your personal thresholds might be different - of course you're still saving money if you pay 4 € and 10 €, respectively.
Q: Cool, can I also use e-coupons to get to the airport more cheaply or for more monthly S-Bahn ticket?
A: Sadly not. E-coupons cannot be used for tickets inside of one local transport association ("Verkehrsverbund") such as MVV. You might be able to make it work if you cross these boundaries, i.e. if you start outside MVV or if you add an ICE / IC / EC part to your journey, e.g. from Pasing to Munich Central Station. To be honest I don't know if it's worth it.
Q: Do you have any other advice on how to save money with DB tickets?
A: Sure. There is another kind of coupon called "Geschenkkarte" (in comparison to e-coupons mentioned above they consist of 7 characters). You can use them to pay for your tickets instead of money. You can buy them for a discounted price at discounters regularly, i.e. you buy a 30 € coupon for 26 €, which is another ~15 % discount in total. Example: https://travel-dealz.de/deal/bahn-gutschein-supermarkt/
Q: Anything else?
A:
- There's also a different kind of e-coupon called "Mitfahrergutschein" (fellow passenger coupons) that allow you to take another person with you an your ticket without having to pay twice. They can be worth it especially if you're traveling long distance. I don't think they can be combined with the e-coupons mentioned above and they cannot be used together with Bayern tickets, either. You can find more information here (German only).
- DB offers a bonus program called "bahn.bonus". For each Euro that you spend on tickets where you enter your personal bahn.bonus ID you get 1 point. You can redeem these points for Bayern tickets (500 points), regular train tickets all over Germany (1000 points) and other things. More information can be found here (well, not really, the English information is really sparse) and here (German only), respectively.
- Delays (does not apply to Bayern ticket and the like): If your train is at least 60 minutes delayed at the final destination you're entitled to a 25% refund of the ticket price. If the delay is bigger than 120 minutes, this you will even get 50 % back. Find more details on passenger rights and claim forms here.
- Sparpreis & Super Sparpreis (Saver fare / Super saver fare; does not apply to Bayern ticket and the like; only applies if your journey uses at least 1 IC / ICE train): If you book your travels far in advance, you can get very cheap tickets independent of the distance covered, e.g. going from Munich to Berlin for just 18 €. These tickets are less flexible than standard "FlexTickets", e.g. you cannot cancel them or will not get a full refund, but nevertheless they're often a good alternative. Find more information here and here, respectively.
- BahnCard (does not make Bayern ticket cheaper): In case you're traveling with long-distance trains it often makes sense to buy a BahnCard 25 or even 50. These reduce ticket price by 25% and 50%, respectively (depending on the ticket type, i.e. always 25% on Sparpreis ). Often a BahnCard 25 already pays off for one journey because DB also offers trial BahnCards that only last 3 months and costs 18 €. This means if you pay more than 72 € during these 3 months you save money with this offer. Find more information here.
- [Update 1] BahnCard e-coupon: There are (surprise) e-coupons that reduce the price of a BahnCard. Different coupons exist for different BahnCards (25/50). Keep your eyes open for these coupons on ebay or ebay Kleinanzeigen.
- [Update 2] bahn.bonus points: Even if you pay less for your tickets using e-coupons you will still get the full amount of bahn.bonus points for it. E.g. you will earn 33 points for a Bayern ticket for 2 people even though you only pay 13 € for the ticket.
Let me know if you have any other questions. Happy hiking (and getting there by train :-) ).
Best wishes
Henning
By the way:
Image author: Uwe Miethe (personal webpage)
Original address: https://assets.static-bahn.de/dam/jcr:aa448766-c433-45bf-80da-67b87975b21b/155111-206115.jpg
Please don't just use and copy the title image. Permission is granted by the author only for usage on this blog entry. Find out more about image credits in another blog entry.