Travelling by rail - Options galore
1. For match ticket holders only
Free travel with match tickets
Many BUT NOT ALL tickets for football in Germany include free travel for getting to and from the game on local and regional public transport services (see individual club pages / your ticket for details). They do NOT cover travel on long-distance / express trains. They do cover, for instance, all buses, trams, metro and underground trains in the relevant city and local trains in the surrounding transport network area (more on that on my Transport networks page).
Match tickets are typically valid for travel on these services from 3 hours before kick-off until the end of operations that night.
Travel on the buses, trams, overground and underground trains covered by match tickets cannot be booked in advance. You just turn up and get on.
2. For everyone – with or without match tickets
Deutschlandticket
The 'Deutschlandticket' was introduced as a measure to help combat the cost-of-living crisis. It offers unlimited monthly travel throughout Germany on all forms of local and regional transport. It's sold by Deutsche Bahn and costs just €49 a month!
If you're just going to Germany for one game and spending only 48 hours or so in the country, it probably won't be worth you getting one. But if you're on an extended groundhopping trip, it could add up.
That's because although it's a subscription sold by calendar month, it's cancellable at any time. And if you're clever, you can end up paying just a small pro rata portion of the €49 price. For how to do this, see my Deutschlandticket page.
The only mode of transport excluded is intercity express trains (ICE, IC/EC). Otherwise, you can use it for all local transport and, if you don't mind the more leisurely pace of regional train connections, for travel between cities too. From Cologne to Dortmund, for instance, it adds about 20 minutes to the journey time, while for the longer trip from Berlin to Dortmund it adds around 3 hours.
Super Sparpreis tickets (Super Savers)
A limited number of tickets per long-distance train (ICE, IC or EC) are sold as super saver tickets. Prices start from €17.90. On shorter routes they are sometimes available from €9.90 if booked during a Deutsche Bahn promotion. They are train-specific and non-cancellable. They go on sale 180 days in advance. Holders of a BahnCard 25 or BahnCard 50 (German Rail discount cards) get 25% off (see more on the Bahncard below).
Group Super Sparpreis tickets
If you are travelling in a group of 6 or more, the group super saver tickets work out even cheaper and include seat reservations (which otherwise cost €4.90 per person in second class). Group Super Saver prices start from €8.90 per person in second class. As for the individual super saver tickets mentioned above, they are train-specific, non-cancellable and go on sale on the Deutsche Bahn website 180 days in advance. There is no further discount for BahnCard holders.
Trial BahnCard 25 (German Rail discount card)
You can buy a Trial BahnCard 25 for €19.90. It gives you 25% off the majority of mainline rail travel. It’s valid for 3 months from the first day of validity. It can be cancelled subject to giving 6 weeks’ notice. So, if you're planning an extended trip, the sums may add up for you. More details on the Deutsche Bahn website.
Quick links to train times and fares
You'll find links to train times and fares between some of Germany's major footballing cities on my Train times page.
Interrail
If you are considering using rail travel for your journeys from your home country to Germany and back again, then (providing that country is in Europe) an Interrail pass might be a good bet for you.
The Interrail website has all the details. There are three age groups: 12-27, 28-60 and 60+. You can get, amongst other options, passes for 4 days travel within a month, 7 days within a month, 15 days within two months, or for one month straight.
In addition to mainline trains, you can also use an Interrail pass in Germany on the S-Bahn, suburban local trains.
Look at any airline website and you'll see that just the return fare could cost you a lot more. And that's before you consider getting to the airport, parking there, perhaps booking a hotel room for the night before your flight if it's a very early morning departure, and, of course, before all your travel to the games once you're in Germany.
So, an Interrail pass certainly looks a good deal (even without the 25% discount for match ticket holders). By not flying you'd also, of course, be doing your bit for the environment!
Seat reservations
Where not included in the ticket price, seat reservations can be added when you buy your train ticket. They can also be made separately and, unlike most tickets, 181 days rather than 180 days in advance. A seat reservation in second class costs €4.90. Bookable on the Deutsche Bahn website.
3. Flixtrain
Deutsche Bahn is not the only option for rail travel in Germany. Flixtrain (Flixbus website shows you coach and train options) is a low-cost rival that operates on some key routes across the country and offers some incredibly low fares (from, for example, €6.99 for the 4-hour journey from Hamburg to Cologne).
As you can see from the network map below, many major footballing cities are covered by their rail network. For other cities not covered by that network, Flix offer their long-distance Flixbus coaches.
To give you an idea of how the Flixtrain fares and journey times compare to Deutsche Bahn times and Super Saver fares, I had a look (on 19 December 2023) at the four journeys shown below.
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Disclaimer
The information on this site has been put together with great care. However, I'm only human and humans sometimes make mistakes. Please therefore double-check for yourself anything that you are relying on. And please e-mail me at the address shown on the Legal page if you spot any errors or omissions. All prices shown above were as found online in December 2023.
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