Here are our top five rail journeys for this month.

1. Zürich to Salzburg

A wonderful transect from west to east through the Alps, taking in three countries (Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria) and including the mountainous Arlberg route through the Tyrol. Depart Zürich at 10:40 a.m., enjoy lunch on board, and you’ll arrive in Salzburg at 4 p.m.

2. Riviera Cruise

Sit on the right side of the train for sea views aplenty as you ride local trains from Marseille all the way to Genoa. The train hugs the coast for much of the eight-hour journey. Leave Marseille St. Charles at 9:25 a.m., and with two easy changes of train along the way (at Nice Ville and Ventimiglia), you’ll arrive in Genoa just after 5 p.m.

3. Northward Bound

Central Finland has a delicate beauty as winter slips gently into spring. The rail route from Helsinki north through Kuopio is a gem – in our view outshining the more westerly route followed by the fastest trains from Helsinki to Oulu. So leave Helsinki at 8:12 a.m., change at Kajaani onto a delightfully rural local train, and you’ll arrive in Oulu at 5:24 p.m. There is no better way to mark the coming of spring in Finland.

4. Belgrade to Bar

The rail journey from the Serbian capital to the coast of Montenegro is one of the finest in Europe and at its best in early spring. Take the Tara Express from Belgrade at 10:10 a.m. and you’ll reach the port of Bar in Montenegro ten hours later. The journey passes through Bosnia & Herzegovina along the way. Rugged, wild terrain aplenty with fabulous mountain and gorge scenery.

5. Hebridean Adventure

The West Highland Line from Glasgow is a classic. Travel it this month and you’ll still see winter snow lingering on the Scottish hills. Depart Glasgow Queen Street at 8:21 a.m., cross lonely Rannoch Moor and skirt Ben Nevis to reach the fishing port of Mallaig at 1:34 p.m. You’ll have a couple of hours to wander before hopping aboard the afternoon sailing over the sea to Skye.

The train times given in this article generally apply to weekday services. Weekend timings may vary. You can check current schedules in the March 2011 issue of the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable.

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A great weekend bargain in Germany

On the weekends, for example, travelers can roam the length and breadth of Germany by local and regional trains using the Schönes Wochenende Ticket (SWT), which allows unlimited travel for just €37. And the beauty of the SWT is that you can take along up to four other travelers without having to pay an extra cent.

We have friends who last Sunday traveled from Aachen (on the Belgian border) right across Germany to Salzburg using the SWT, effectively paying €7.40 each for a journey of over 500 miles that took in the Rhine gorge and much more fine scenery. The SWT can even be used to selected stations beyond Germany’s borders (i.e. Salzburg in Austria, Schaffhausen in Switzerland, Wissembourg in France and Szczecin in Poland).

Cheap regional tickets in Germany

While the German SWT is a weekend-only deal, regional tickets in Germany give the freedom to roam within a more limited area on any day, but only after 9 a.m. Mondays through Fridays. These tickets are named after the federal states (Länder in German) in which they are principally marketed. These tickets are typically priced at €20 for one person or €28 for a group of up to five people traveling together.

Roaming Germany’s Baltic coast

The Länder tickets are often valid for substantially larger areas than the federal states after which they are named.

You might expect the “Schleswig-Holstein” ticket only to be valid in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. Think again. This ticket also covers the German states of Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, not to mention selected cross-border stretches of railway into Denmark and Poland. This validity area thus covers Germany’s entire Baltic coast and offshore islands (several of which have causeways carrying railways to the mainland). So devotees of branch lines can use the Schleswig-Holstein ticket to travel very cheaply along rural rail routes from Padborg in Danish Jutland to the Polish town of Swinoujscie.

Similarly, the Sachsen ticket is valid far beyond the borders of Saxony. It can be used over a huge area that encompasses part or all of five German states, two cross-border routes into Poland, and one through the Czech Republic.

As with all Länder tickets, and with the Schönes Wochenende Ticket (SWT), just buy the ticket at the ticket machine before hopping on your first train. You can book a ticket online, but there is really no need to do this. The online tickets are no cheaper than those sold at station ticket machines.

Criss-crossing borders

In many border areas of Europe,  special rail passes are available, even to non-residents, to promote mobility in frontier regions. These are superb deals, often covering not merely the immediate border region but substantial areas well beyond the frontier.

The following are particularly good bargains for one-day tickets:

1. The Euregio Bodensee Tageskarte gives unlimited travel around Lake Constance (called the Bodensee in German) including ferries and selected rail routes in Austria, Germany and Switzerland: €28

2. The Euregio Maas-Rhein Tageskarte permits rail and bus travel throughout parts of eastern Belgium, the Limburg area of the Netherlands and over the German border to Aachen and beyond: €15.50

3. The EuroNeisse Ticket covers a large part of northern Bohemia (Czech Republic), part of Silesia (Poland) and eastern Saxony (Germany) and affords unlimited travel on trains, buses and trams: €10

All the passes mentioned in this post give travelers the chance to really explore a region or make longer hops at a bargain price. Local trains with frequent stops along the way often give a sense of engaging with landscape and communities in a way that is less possible on fast express services.

The post Exploring Germany: Rail passes for local train services appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Related: Sometimes First Class TGV is cheaper than Second Class

Tickets, however, can be kind of expensive — if you simply show up at the train station and purchase one on the spot for that day. But happily, they can also be a complete steal, and cheaper, in fact, than low-cost flights!

For instance, consider these TGV rates, taken from the website of the SNCF, the French National Railway:

For travel today: A 2nd Class refundable ticket booked today (on their site) for travel today (January 3, 2008) from Paris to Marseille costs €96.

For travel tomorrow: Most of the fares remain the same for travel tomorrow, at €96. However, the TGV offers cheaper Internet-only discount rates on its iDTGV lines (TGV trains outfitted with specially-themed cars for different atmospheres, including a “zen” quiet car!). On the iDTGV line, we found one €69 rate, for a 2nd Class, non-refundable ticket.

For travel next week: Rates start falling, however, when you book a week in advance. For the same Paris to Marseille route, we saw many of the same €96 rates (it is, after all, a Friday), but found more of the cheapies, including several €44.90 tickets, both in 1st and 2nd class (non-refundable)!

For travel next month: If you book even further out, say one month in advance, and travel on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, you could find even cheaper fares. For the same route on February 12, we found €19 2nd class seats, and €24 seats in 1st class!

Please note that these rates were taken from the official website of the SNCF. We found these rates by clicking on the French flag to remain inside the French portion of the site. When you click the US flag, you’re taken to the RailEurope.com website, which is, of course, in English.

We appreciate the service that RailEurope provides and partner with them on Eurail passes in our rail pass guide. The prices quoted, however, on their website for the same trips mentioned above are more expensive than the prices you’ll find on the SNCF site, even after you consider exchange rates.

For example, the cheapest fare we found for the Paris-Marseille route next week was $153 2nd Class, $212 1st Class. Rates for next month are much cheaper, mostly $80, although we found some seats for $41 in 2nd class. We couldn’t find 1st class cheaper than $124.

Some tips for booking a cheap TGV ticket

1) Try booking directly through the SNCF on their website in French. At least give it a shot — you probably won’t have any trouble navigating the site.

2) Book as far in advance as possible.

3) Travel on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, and be flexible with your hours.

4) Consider trying out one of the new iDTGV trains. They’re just as fast, and they’re kind of fun.

5) Do plenty of searches and look at all the times available. You will probably find a wide range of ticket prices.

We hope these thoughts are helpful. Please send us your thoughts, tips, and advice for traveling cheaply by train!

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