German train tickets & website

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Ash

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For rail travel in Germany, is there any advantage to prebooking train tickets on www.bahn.de rather than buying at the station on the day of travel?

It's just a one time trip, Berlin to Leipzig returning the following day, no special travel cards.
Are the fares cheaper online? It isn't clear on the website.

Any advice anyone has would be great.
 
Yes, it is cheaper on their website but only if you choose your train in advance and buy one of the Sparpreis tickets for it. Here is how it breaks down:

* While supplies last (and no later than three days before travel), you can buy Sparpreis-Tickets online. You have to pick specific trains and are bound by these. The price should be from €19 oneway or even less per person if there are two of you going.

* If there is no Sparpreis available and you are traveling within less than a week, you can buy last minute tickets at http://bahn.ltur.com/ from €24 oneway. The number of tickets is very limited and you have to pick specifc trains again.

If you do not avail of any of the above, you have to pay full price. There are different options:

* Buy a regular ticket online. No surcharge.

* Buy a regular ticket at a machine at the station. No surcharge.

* Buy a regular ticket at the window. Surcharge for bothering a human when a machine would have done (notice this is the opposite of Ireland where you pay a surcharge for the privilege of dealing with a machine).

* Buy a regular ticket on board. Surchage for onboard sale. This is the dearest option with a total surchage of €5 or so.
 
One other option that is sometime available is to get a temporary 3-month Bahncard 25. That means you get 25% discount on normal tickets so depending on how far you're travelling it can be worth it. They don't always offer it so the only thing to be careful about would be not signing up for a full Bahncard, which costs a fair amount every year (I pay 230 per year for a Bahncard 50, which gives me 50% discount) and has lots of small print for when it can be cancelled.

I did get a 3-month Bahncard 25 a few years ago when I was just here on holidays - it cost 25 euro then and if it's available on special offer would probably be about the same now. Berlin to Leipzig costs about 40 euro on a normal ticket, which would mean you'd only be saving 10 so even for a return ticket it wouldn't be worth it (spending 25 euro to save 20 euro = silly :) ). But if you were planning to do any other travel it's something to keep in mind.

It's also possible to get regional special offers for travel on the non-express trains (so you can't go on the IC or ICE intercity trains) and if you have a few people and plenty of time that can be a very cheap way of getting around. For example, there's a ticket for Brandenburg-Berlin which costs 28 euro which allows up to five people to travel within that state for a full day (Mondays to Fridays after 9 a.m. and all day on weekends and holidays). Another advantage is that it can usually be used for travel within the main cities (trams, underground etc). [broken link removed].
 
Thank you both very much for the very detailed and informative replies.
There will be two travelling so it might work out cheaper. It's a flying visit so a bit unsure of committing to specific trains in the event of a delay.
Will check out the site again and see what the best option is.

Again, thank you both for your great relies. They are a great help.
 
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