Five Non-German Cities You Can Visit with Germany's 49-Euro Ticket
Spend some time and save some money to see more of Europe.
If you know our family, you know we make good use of the Deutschlandticket - the Germany-wide subscription rail pass that covers all local and regional transit throughout the entire country. This includes buses, trams, and the S-bahn and U-bahn metros in different cities.
But what you may not know is that you can use it to take certain regional trains into bordering countries.
The ticket doesn’t cover any transit within those countries, but it will get you there.
On a recent trip to Munich, my husband and son (a huge rail fan),discovered you could take a regional train from there to Salzburg, Austria - best known by me as the birthplace of Mozart, but also for its stunning architecture, delicious food, and, for Sound of Music fans, the home of the real-life von Trapp family.
That got me thinking: Where else can we travel on the Deutschlandticket that isn’t, well, Deutschland?
Here are four other non-German destinations you can reach from Germany, using the 49-euro ticket.
Venlo, the Netherlands
You can actually visit several cities and towns in the Netherlands, if you travel from a border area in northwest Germany. For example, the RE13 from Hamm, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to Venlo, in the Dutch province of Limburg, is just six minutes. You can stroll the picturesque center of this city of 100,000 people, visit St. Martin’s Church (St. Martinuskerk) which was built in the 1400s, and walk (or bike - this is the Netherlands, after all) along the Maasboulevard - the scenic park along the Meuse River.
Luxembourg
OK, Luxembourg is a country, not a city. But public transportation throughout the tiny nation is free. So, a trip on RE11 from Koblenz or Trier will take you to the capital, also named Luxembourg, and from there you can continue on through the rest of the country - for example, to visit the beautiful village of Clervaux, the wine region of Moselle, or go hiking in the picturesque Müllerthal region, known as Luxembourg’s “Little Switzerland.”
Basel, Switzerland
By taking the SBB trains from Baden-Württemberg, you can the city of Basel in actual Switzerland. Visit the medieval Old Town and the Basler Münster (Cathedral), climb to the top of the Spalentor, or take a refreshing dip in the Rhine, and float downstream to see the sights the way the locals do.
Tønder, Denmark
The RB66 from Niebüll in Schleswig - Holstein will cross the Danish border and continue on to the small village of Tønder on Denmark’s southwest coast. From there you can also visit the beaches around Rømø and the Wadden Sea National Park.
Besides this list, there are several other cities and border towns you can visit with the Deutschlandticket. According to this article from RBB, the ticket is valid for regional trains going to “17 towns in the Netherlands, 14 in Belgium, 15 in France, 15 in Switzerland, 12 in Austria, five in the Czech Republic, six cities in Poland, and two in Denmark.”
Reddit user u/jm_rtr even put together this cool Google map showing the different possible destinations.
Have you taken your Deutschlandticket on a journey outside Germany? Drop me a line in the comments with your recommendations.
Etc. …
Other things I’ve been, reading, seeing, and doing this week.
Reading
Around the web:
The Atavist - A Journey of 6,000 Miles by Rhana Natour. ( via Longreads)
Hauptstadt Mutti - Khuê Phạm: “Anders zu sein, war nie einfach, aber immer ein Antrieb.“
From the Substack network:
Watching
Footage from a 1981 documentary filmed in West Berlin. Among a lot of other things, you can see the former Church of the Reconciliation (Versöhnungskirche) still standing in the death strip between the sides of the Berlin Wall along Bernauer Straße. The church was demolished in 1985 and the Chapel of Reconciliation was later built on the site as a memorial.
Free to ride around Luxembourg- that sounds good-Also, is the Rhine really clean enough to swim in?