Freiburg im Breisgau Travel Forum

My husband and I are arriving in Germany in late September. We are trying to find the cheapest way to get from Munich or Frankfurt (which ever is cheaper) to Freiburg. Originally we were looking at taking a train, but it seems to be quite costly. Is it really as expensive as it looks online? Is it cheaper to buy tickets when we are in Germany? Is is cheaper to take a bus, if a bus even runs to Freiburg? Sorry for all the questions, I have just been on the internet for a long time searching. Thank you all for your time.
ps... we are planning on traveling from Germany to Switzerland, then staying with family for about a month, then traveling onwards to France and Spain. Would a rail-pass be worth the cost?

Actually, it is sometimes cheaper to buy German rail tickets in advance online because Bahn.de has some good advance offers. It is not cheaper to buy them at stations, in my experience. At German stations it is cheapest to use ticket machines.

http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

will give you times and fares in English. You can get advance tickets for 29 euro one-way from both Munich and Frankfurt>Freiberg, which is a very good price. These advance tickets have limited availability (and are not available for all departures every day) so you do need to book well in advance.

As for buying a railpass, I would strongly suggest that you roughly total your point-to-point fares before you do this. Eurail is not a train operator, and its passes are no longer the good value they once were. Point-to-point fares often work out cheaper unless you are doing a large number of very long journeys.

The bahn.de link I gave above will provide times and details for almost alleuropean trains, but only fares for/from Germany.

For Swiss fares you need to look at www.sbb.ch/en/

For France http://www.voyages-sncf.com/billet-train/horaires is an easier link than www.sncf.com (but is only in french).

For Spain http://www.renfe.es/horarios/english/index.html

You may be able to find long-distance buses (coaches) for some routes. www.eurolines.com is the portal for European carriers. Coaches are cheaper, but take longer

If your first stop is going to be Freiburg, and your intention to travel onwards to Switzerland I would also look at flights to Basel, as it is a lot closer to Freiburg. There is even a bus from the Basel-Mulhouse airport to Freiburg.

A railpass will probably not be worth it. You can get a lot of good deals by booking in advance.

Best deal are the Rail&Fly tickets.
http://www.mvv-muenchen.de/en/index.html
Prices are set by the airlines, e.g. Lufthansa sells them for EUR 25,00.
Frankfurt is closer to Freiburg than Munich.
Basel airport is only served by Air Transat from Montreal intercontinental. And a connection flight to Basel inside Europe makes no sense time or price wise.

If you opt for the EUR 29,00 specials you can buy at earliest 89 days in advance, keep in mind that these specials are only good for the connection bought for. No change. No refund.

Bus is for Frankfurt/Munich to Freiburg not an available option. The only country on your itinerary with a domestic bus network is Spain.

Best deal are the Rail&Fly tickets.
http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/prices/air_passangers/rail_fly.shtml