I'd like to visit Hamburg on 26th December this year, travelling by train from Poland. I've got a valid (Polish) student ID and I'm wondering if there's any discount I could get because of that. I only heard about BahnCard so far, but it's too expensive to buy it for just four rides (Warsaw->Berlin, Berlin->Hamburg and the other way round). Do I have any other options?
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a German or Polish student ID? I heard some German Länder offer discounts to their students on regional trains.– VinceDec 4, 2013 at 14:48
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Polish student ID :/– d33tahDec 4, 2013 at 14:51
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2You used to be able to buy a BahnCard 25 valid for just 3 months, at a decent discount, if that's still available could that be an option?– GagravarrDec 4, 2013 at 15:17
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1@user34936 How's that? I had one with a French address for several years (not anymore, though, so they might have changed the rules).– RelaxedDec 5, 2013 at 8:53
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1BahnCard includes RailPlus, which gives a 25% discount for boarder crossing trips (starting in Germany). There should be some option to buy RailPlus in Poland as well. Maybe you can find out if it lowers your price for the whole trip if you book Warsaw-Hamburg in one go.– TimDec 6, 2013 at 11:30
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5 Answers
I don't think there are any student-specific discounts, except that you can get the BahnCard about 1/3rd off. But as you say, the BahnCard is for people who travel frequently, not for single trips.
Other ways to save money:
- Book your ticket as early as possible - there are limited quotas of cheaper tickets available if you do so.
- Use the Quer-Durchs-Land ticket, to travel as far as you can on a single day for 44 EUR - but you can only use local trains. Up to 4 people can accompany you for 6 EUR each.
- The Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket works the same, but only on weekends, and it's valid for up to 5 people and costs 42 EUR.
- The Länder-Tickets work the same but are restricted to a single state, prices start at 22 EUR.
answered Dec 4, 2013 at 15:32
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Geat tips. How do you access those tickets. Does the website sugest them when you simulate a trip or you have to ask them directly going through some special page? I recently booked tickets in bahn and found the website complex for someon using it for the first time.– nsnDec 5, 2013 at 12:03
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@nsn: the website will suggest all applicable tickets, but unless you choose the "nur Nahverkehr" option yourself, it will look for the quickest connection, which usually includes ICE trains, and then those tickets will of course not apply. Dec 5, 2013 at 12:09
I would check bahn.ltur -- I remember I got a ticket from Berlin to Frankfurt for just 26 Euro (normally about 135 Euro I think). I looked up Berlin to Hamburg and it also gives me options for 26 Euro tickets. Do know, that you have to make that specific train that you bought the ticket for. The other problem is I don't think you can buy tickets very far in advance.
I also found this link and you can get from Warsaw to Berlin for 48 Euros.
Not exactly sure what your budget is though.
But specifically for student discounts, I'm not sure. I was just visiting Germany a few months back and I used that discount site.
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It seems to me that the Europa-Spezial tickets all require you to start from Germany. Dec 5, 2013 at 8:30
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@MichaelBorgwardt I thought it needs to be to or from Germany, not necessarily starting in Germany. It's a long time ago but I think I got one from the Netherlands to Germany and back.– RelaxedDec 5, 2013 at 8:56
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@MichaelBorgwardt, maybe. I'm not sure I haven't taken it, but either way it would be an option for the way back.– HannaDec 5, 2013 at 15:52
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1bahn.ltur.com does not seem like having any special prices or conditions, just a extraordinary bad web interface for booking. You can do the same on the official bahn.de website.– rugkNov 18 at 0:45
There are no student discounts available for DB tickets — neither for school nor for university students. Everybody aged 14 or older is required to pay the adult fare, no exceptions.[1]
However, I wouldn’t blatantly discard the option of a BahnCard. There is a so-called Probe BahnCard (trial BahnCard) which only costs €19 but gives you the full 25 % discount on any ticket (excluding the flatrate tickets such as Schönes Wochenende). It is valid for three months. Since it automatically turns into a subscription, you need to explicitly terminate the contract in time. Your tickets need only cost more than €76 for the Probe BahnCard to be worth it.
[1]: Okay, strictly speaking that was a lie. Special commuting tickets are available at discounted prices for school and university students (Schülerwochenkarte and Schülermonatskarte), but they can only be bought with a confirmation by the school/uni, a special card onto which you write your address and which is stamped at a station and only for the route from home to school. So not an option here.
Amazing nobody mentioned they have special ticket contingents for young (u27) travelers.
https://www.bahn.de/angebot/sparpreis-flexpreis/super-sparpreis-young
It's called (Super) Sparpreis Young. Well the name should be self-explanatory.
To see them, just make sure to set your age group while booking (You may easily overlook that):
Obviously, this assumes you are a young student and indeed it does not matter that you are a student, there are no special offers for that. Age matters for the DB.
Also, as mentioned already, BahnCard's for U27 are not that expensive and can often be financed by one or two trips (AFAIK if it is one trip, the booking portal also recommends you to buy one). My BahnCard 25 (My = U27; 25 = 25% discount) costs 36,90€ as of 2023-11. (Just remember to cancel it, which you can directly after buying. It would otherwise renew automatically.)
Also DB frequently has longer or short special ticket programs with different pricing like “Super Sparpreis Aktion” or generally other more or less temporary offers.
Just one more tip: If you go for a cheaper solution, have a look also at the buses which offer great discounts http://www.eurolines.de/de/internationale-fernbusse/fahrplaene/buslinien-deutschland-polen/
