If you’ve spent any time in Europe I’m sure you’re aware that policies are much friendlier towards kids on the other side of the pond. 1/2 price kids tickets are pretty common on most European modes of transport. However, while planning Camp Mom I came across a set of fares that seemed too good to be true. I didn’t want to blog about them until I had actually tested my ticket and it went off without a hitch…and it did!
So here goes…IMHO the best deal in Western Europe if you’re traveling as a single parent with more than one kid, as I was: The Dbahn 3 day advance purchase ticket allows any parent or grandparent to list an unlimited number of children or grandchildren for free on the same ticket.
Read that again: unlimited. Traveling with the Brady Bunch? Free. The Duggars? Free.
Here’s something I learned while booking that makes it even better: a Dbahn ticket, while being booked on “German” rail, does NOT have to start or end in Germany! As long as you TRANSIT Germany, it counts!
For instance: I bought a ticket from Salzburg to Paris. I changed trains in Stuttgart (Germany). Dbahn booked it as a German ticket, and my kids booked as free! Second class was 69 Euro for all three of us. I went nuts and paid the extra 20 Euro (89 all in) for first class so we got reserved seats, lounge access in Stuttgart and a full meal on the Paris train including a nice Rose for me!
Not a parent? Dbahn has some other group rates that are worth a look.
Have you found any other “all kids are free” steals? Please share!
Looks like a real deal!
Thanks for the info. While we usually rent a car, I do enjoy train travel in Europe too. But I always find the train timetables, schedules and fares rather confusing so I will have to poke around the website a bit before our next trip.
Hi Denise,
I found a combo of car rental and train to be most effective on our trip. I used the car when we were stationed in one spot for a week and the train when point to point made sense. I do agree that the site can be a bit confusing. I found that pulling out a map of Europe on paper (I got the Rick Steves “Europe by Rail” from the Library) while I looked at it helped me keep all of the cities straight in my head.