Getting around germany cheap from heidelberg?

Question

I am going to be living in heidelberg for 4 months to study there and i will have weekends to travel, as well as about 10 days when i first arrive. i would love to spend the weekends travelling around germany, especially the moselle river (vinyards), rhine river (castles). I would also like to travel to Amsterdam for a few days before classes start. I looked online and a Train will cost about $160, is there a cheaper way to get around? Maybe busses? Is there a web site anyone can reccomend?

Answer 1

The best way is the train.  I am from Germany, I was raised in the Black Forrest and lived many Years in Wiesbaden.  When I  visited my home, I road the train past Heidelberg, to Nagold and on  to Spielberg.  It is a buitiful trip.

Answer 2

You can get a regional train ticket that is very inexpensive. I think it is less than 10 Euros. Check the bahn website the PP listed.  I don't think you are going to beat the train to Amsterdam. Lufthansa has a deal for 99 Euro flights around Europe, but that is one way, so you are still looking at 200 Euros. Also, Ryanair.com is cheap, but not available for that trip... When you get to Germany, you might be able to get into a bus trip to Amsterdam- like a chartered bus, but I doubt it will be cheaper. Make sure you have a valid student ID as there are generous discounts for students travelling.

Answer 3

If you look on deutsche bahn's website,

www.bahn.de

They also have special discount cards for teens and tweens

students under 26?

You can see that many evening trains have 'super spar preise'

and you can go by train in Germany on long trips even for €29

Also, in heidelberg you'll see Studenten Reiseburo's where you'll see signs for cheap buses, flights, and maybe under 26 train tickets.  At peak times it can be expensive.

You might look into a German Rail national pass from

raileurope.com or eurail.com

eurolines.com

is a Europe-wide bus network.  You might save a few bucks taking the train, or look into budget flights on ryanair, airberlin, easyjet, and germanwings.com