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In addition to the 9-Euro ticket, there is another interesting offer on the German railways - the Egal-Wohin-Ticket, a train ticket which allows one to travel between any two places in Germany for 40 EUR.

I tried to obtain it in one of the Edeka shops in Bremerhaven, but when I asked for it, the cashier gave me a very strange look and said that railway tickets should be purchased at the train station. It was obvious that she had never even heard about this offer. I'm traveling long-distance within a few days and would like to obtain the ticket.

It could be possible that there are some limitations on where the ticket can be bought or the offer is no longer valid, or the tickets are sold out. If not, where can I really buy the tickets?

Edit: I tried multiple places where you're supposed to be able to buy these (Marktkauf, Budni, Trinkgut, Nah & gut, EDEKA) and in some Budnis, there were empty places where the tickets used to be saying that they are sold out.

Finally, I was lucky in one of the Niemerszein EDEKAs, but the process of buying the tickets was unexpected - they printed the code on a receipt at the cashier's desk (the one which serves also as info/tobacco/quick desk) instead of having a ready-made card for it.

I bought some and later (Wednesday evening) successfully booked a ticket for Friday morning which would otherwise be about twice as expensive. I wouldn't be so pessimistic about the slots in the trains being sold out - right now there are plenty of people who have the tickets available and I was still able to secure a slot, and with time the number of unused tickets will go down, and they are valid for more than a year.

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  • did you look at the gift card stand (Geschenkkarten-Ständ), as suggested by DB, when you were in the shop?
    – mlc
    Commented Aug 23, 2022 at 22:35
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    @mlc This particular shop didn't seem to have one, unlike many other shops I've visited. Or they are not near the cashier desks at Edeka.
    – JohnEye
    Commented Aug 23, 2022 at 22:36

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DB has had similar offerings before, and also this time, they make it hard to get and hard to use.

Be aware:

  • The tickets are only available in 'participating' Edeka shops and not all Edeka shops. The list of participating shops is not published, nor is there an online function to search for one.
  • DB points out, that even participating shops may be sold out and that the offer is only available as a limited number of tickets. They obviously expect you to run around to different Edeka shops or at least call them in advance to ask if they are participating and still have tickets.
  • It is not really a ticket as the name suggests, but rather a voucher you can use to later pay for a proper train ticket. There is a limited number of seats on each train for Egal-Wohin-Ticket holders, so even if you have managed to find and buy a voucher, you have no guarantee that you can actually use it to book a ticket for the train you later intend to travel with.
  • It is not possible to check if seats are available for a specific train without actually having a voucher code. You have to buy an Egal-Wohin-Ticket first, to then later possibly find out that you can't use it for the trip you have planned.
  • And finally, 39.90€ is not necessarily a very good offer for a train ticket in Germany. If you buy your regular ticket a bit in advance and can travel during off-peak hours, you can probably get a cheaper saver fare for most routes. I can for example now get a regular ticket from Munich to Hamburg (almost across the entire country) for 37.90€ if I book 6 days in advance, 27.90€ if I book 8 days in advance and 17.90€ 13 days in advance.
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    The "man in seat 61" has complained this appears to be a common strategy: make a certain ticket hard to buy (or unknown), then observe that nobody buys them, then abolish the offer. Apparently Great Britain has many of those.
    – gerrit
    Commented Aug 24, 2022 at 8:37
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    To add some context: the referenced 17.90€ fares (that I could find) are 19:28 - 6:50 and 00:01-09:30. off-peak hours is an understatement. Next-best is 59.90€ 10:55-17:24
    – Robus
    Commented Aug 24, 2022 at 13:16
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    @Robus On September 6th (in 13 days) you can get a 17.90€ ticket for the departure 04:12 with arrival in Hamburg 11:29. Perhaps inconvenient yes, but very cheap and not an overnight train as you claim is required.
    – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
    Commented Aug 24, 2022 at 15:02
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    @Tor-EinarJarnbjo If a train leaving at 04:12 is "perhaps inconvenient", just what would you consider to be definitely inconvenient? ;-) I really can't think of a worse departure time than 4 am
    – Fabio says Reinstate Monica
    Commented Aug 24, 2022 at 15:08
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    One reason for not taking the 4:12 train is living far away from the railway station, and having no public transport connections available from the accommodation to the railway station before 4:12 (that early). I don't know the details of Munich, but in some places the earliest public transport option which arrives to the main railway station leaves after 4:44.
    – pts
    Commented Aug 25, 2022 at 1:29

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