2013 regional travel advice
GERMANY
Trains
Local Train Group Tickets: if you use one of the following tickets with a group, you can save a lot of money. they're only valid on local trains, so it might take you a while. the good thing is that local trains are more likely to take bikes, though! [the timetable of the german federal railway company will display you about bike taking options in the details of each listed train: http://www.bahn.de] the best way might be to travel together with other bike tour people and arrange this beforehand. there are also good experiences with asking people at the station to join me on a group ticket: especially in major cities, or the station where a train starts its journey; especially young people ;). it's good to place yourself next to the ticket machine(s) and maybe even put up a cardboard sign saying something like "share ticket: ... to ...?" ("Ticket teilen: ... nach ...?")
- STATE-BY-STATE-TICKETS: http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/prices/germany/laender-ticket.shtml
- see a map of the 16 german states here and figure out your way through them, going through as few of them as you can ;) : http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Bundesl%C3%A4nder
- WEEKEND TICKET (all germany, weekends): http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/prices/germany/schoenes-wochenende-ticket.shtml
- ALL-GERMANY TICKET (weekdays): http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/prices/germany/quer-durchs-land-ticket.shtml