Deutschland ticket 2026

[Seehof]

I am going to Germany on the 15th April, leaving on the 24th. I know this has been discussed before but I find it still a bit confusing and wish to understand the current situation.

Am I right in thinking I can buy one at the beginning of April, but must cancel the standing order within a couple of days afterwards to avoid the following month’s charge?

What is the best site to book this on and what is the date I have to cancel it by?

Thank you.

 

[The exile]

I am going to Germany on the 15th April, leaving on the 24th. I know this has been discussed before but I find it still a bit confusing and wish to understand the current situation.
Am I right in thinking I can buy one at the beginning of April but must cancel the standing order within a couple of days afterwards to avoid the following month’s charge.
What is the best site to book this on and what is the date I have to cancel it by? Thank you.

I’ve always used the HVV (Hamburg) site - accepts uk cards and has as yet had no issue with me “dipping in and out” for one month every year. Cancel by the 10th of the month.

 

[rvdborgt]

There are also a few providers that allow buying a DT for one month only. Seat61 recommends 2, although the 2nd one has an added fee. I've used Mopla a few times, where you can cancel up to 24 hours before the end of the month instead of by the 10th of the month. You can also buy a DT from them after the 10th and still only pay that month.

 

[The exile]

There are also a few providers that allow buying a DT for one month only. Seat61 recommends 2, although the 2nd one has an added fee. I've used Mopla a few times, where you can cancel up to 24 hours before the end of the month instead of by the 10th of the month. You can also buy a DT from them after the 10th and still only pay that month.

I assume you mean that they’ll let you buy just one month as a stand alone, rather than setting up a subscription which you almost immediately cancel (which is what I do for HVV)

 

[rvdborgt]

With Mopla you still have to cancel, which you can do immediately.

 

[blimmo]

I have purchased a d-ticket from one of the non-subscription sites (I think the one linked from seat61 but I can't find the email now). It was very easy and charged no fees. I could then add it to Google wallet so the retailer didn't matter much.

Using it I needed to show my passport about 50% of the times I had it checked.

 

[DeverseSam]

I used tranzer.com for a month and it worked

 

[rvdborgt]

I used tranzer.com for a month and it worked

It surely works but they charge an extra fee you don't pay elsewhere.

 

[Stossgebet]

https://deutschland-ticket.store/autobus-oberbayern

Works for me.
Just buy the month you want. No subscription. Download the app for the ticket to reside in on your phone.

The comfirmation email they send after purchase contains a code, koen the app, input the code. And that will put the ticket in the wallet. It is a QR code to be scanned as and when you use it.

 

[Seehof]

Thank you, Stossgebet and the rest of you, so you definitely do not have to cancel it on the Autobus Oberbayern site? Thanks again

 

[Stossgebet]

Thank you, Stossgebet and the rest of you, so you definitely do not have to cancel it on the Autobus Oberbayern site? Thanks again

One off payment for the month selected. The website, depending on when you look, will only offer you 2 options. The current month, and the next month.
I Pay by credit card.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Mar 2026 ==

Sorry, just to be totally sure.
Tick the box for 'single ticket only'.
Then it will not continue as a subscription.

 

[Thames99]

Thanks for the advice on this thread.

On buses and trams do you scan the ticket when getting on or does it just need to be shown when there's a ticket inspection? I'll be in Frankfurt, Mainz and Wiesbaden if there are regional variations.

 

[The exile]

Thanks for the advice on this thread.

On buses and trams do you scan the ticket when getting on or does it just need to be shown when there's a ticket inspection? I'll be in Frankfurt, Mainz and Wiesbaden if there are regional variations.

In general in Germany you just get on. In some places you're required to get on buses using the front door after 20.00. Whether you then are expected to show the ticket to the driver, I'm not sure.

 

[Thames99]

In general in Germany you just get on. In some places you're required to get on buses using the front door after 20.00. Whether you then are expected to show the ticket to the driver, I'm not sure.

Thanks!

 

[rvdborgt]

Seat61 now has a specific page on tranzer.com where you can buy a Deutschlandticket for one month, without a subscription, with a creditcard, without a service fee and also after the 10th of the month. You don't need to cancel.

 

[Stossgebet]

Thanks for the advice on this thread.

On buses and trams do you scan the ticket when getting on or does it just need to be shown when there's a ticket inspection? I'll be in Frankfurt, Mainz and Wiesbaden if there are regional variations.

Just get on and travel freely.
I was checked by plain clothes random ticket inspectors last week. They also asked for ID to prove the D-Ticket (which has your name on it) was mine.

 

[cornishjohn]

Thanks for the advice on this thread.

On buses and trams do you scan the ticket when getting on or does it just need to be shown when there's a ticket inspection? I'll be in Frankfurt, Mainz and Wiesbaden if there are regional variations.

My advice would be to watch the locals board and follow their example.

Its a couple of years now, but I was possibly having to validate an AVV ticket on the Augsburg buses.

Elsewhere i've always been on D-tickets: I'm just back from Munich where everyone is just piling into buses through the centre doors and not showing anything. Berlin trams there's noone to show anything to too. NO checks onto Berlin buses either

Tagteamed by inspectors on the Potsdam trams where they followed me off one tram and onto the next so I had to show my ticket twice in quick succession. No ID check required. My partner was less lucky but a UK driving licence was acceptable ID on a different tram.

Mopla D-ticket succesfully bought by partner, used for a week and then cancelled without fuss. My VRM D-ticket account still working fine too.

 

[Mag_seven]

I am going to Germany on the 15th April, leaving on the 24th. I know this has been discussed before but I find it still a bit confusing and wish to understand the current situation.
Am I right in thinking I can buy one at the beginning of April but must cancel the standing order within a couple of days afterwards to avoid the following month’s charge.
What is the best site to book this on and what is the date I have to cancel it by? Thank you.

Reopened at the request of @BRX

 

[BRX]

Beware: the Mopla web page currently has conflicting info - in the main text it says you have to cancel by the 10th of the month and in the FAQs says within 24hrs of the end of the month.

mopla - Germany ticket

Get the €63 subscription with a pause option (cancel and resume later)!

en.mopla.solutions

I started the purchase process using their app that I installed last year. This informed me that I could cancel the following month's subscription up to 24hrs before the end of the current month. But I decided to update the app and the info changed, now saying it must be cancelled by the 10th of the preceeding month.

As I understand it, this means that using mopla you can now only buy a one month subscription if you buy it before the 10th of the month in which you want to use it. So for example it's no good to me if I want to buy one that just covers from now until end of September.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Sep 2026 ==

https://deutschland-ticket.store/autobus-oberbayern

Works for me.
Just buy the month you want. No subscription. Download the app for the ticket to reside in on your phone.

The comfirmation email they send after purchase contains a code, koen the app, input the code. And that will put the ticket in the wallet. It is a QR code to be scanned as and when you use it.

This seems not to work if you want to buy for the current month - for example just now I can buy one for October but not the remaining days of September.

 

[Seehof]

I used tranzer.com - so easy to use and does not need cancelling.
Would highly recommend.

 

[BRX]

I used tranzer.com - so easy to use and does not need cancelling.
Would highly recommend.

That's what I've done in the end. Easy to use as you say. There is a small booking fee though.

 

[rvdborgt]

I used tranzer.com - so easy to use and does not need cancelling.
Would highly recommend.

Can you pay for the current month only if you order after the 10th?

 

[redreni]

Worrying that Mopla used to be regarded as an outlier in offering cancellation at 24 hours' notice but now seems to have come into line with other retailers. Luckily I was organised enough to buy my ticket for this month last week, so was able to buy from deutschland-ticket.store and cancel before the 10th.

Does anybody know what additional validity, if any, the Deutschland Ticket can acquire in the event of disruption? For example, on a route served by both RE and ICE trains, in my understanding a SparPreis ticket for a specific RE train would become an open ticket and would be valid on ICE if the booked train were cancelled.

Would there be any circumstances (e.g. if significant disruption late at night meant that only ICE trains were running for the rest of the day) where a Deutschland Ticket would be accepted on ICE? Or would it be a case of asking nicely in my best German and hoping (if they understood me) that discretion would be exercised on the ground?

I only ask because statistically, significant disruption is a distinct possibility during my trip.

 

[Watershed]

Worrying that Mopla used to be regarded as an outlier in offering cancellation at 24 hours' notice but now seems to have come into line with other retailers. Luckily I was organised enough to buy my ticket for this month last week, so was able to buy from deutschland-ticket.store and cancel before the 10th.

Does anybody know what additional validity, if any, the Deutschland Ticket can acquire in the event of disruption? For example, on a route served by both RE and ICE trains, in my understanding a SparPreis ticket for a specific RE train would become an open ticket and would be valid on ICE if the booked train were cancelled.

Would there be any circumstances (e.g. if significant disruption late at night meant that only ICE trains were running for the rest of the day) where a Deutschland Ticket would be accepted on ICE? Or would it be a case of asking nicely in my best German and hoping (if they understood me) that discretion would be exercised on the ground?

I only ask because statistically, significant disruption is a distinct possibility during my trip.

As I understand it, you can't buy SparPreis tickets for journeys that purely involve RE trains, so there isn't an agreed policy that says that your ticket valid on RE trains becomes fully "interavailable" in the event of delays.

The DB website states that the use of ICE services is effectively only permitted with a D-Ticket if you would otherwise be stranded, similar to condition 28.2 of the NRCoT. You also need to buy the new ticket before boarding and then claim it back afterwards:
https://www.bahn.de/faq/deutschlandticket-verspaetung-ice-nutzung (translated)

Is the use of ICE/IC trains with the Deutschland-Ticket permitted if it is foreseeable that the destination will be reached with a significant delay?​

No, if you are traveling with a Deutschland-Ticket, you must always purchase a separate ticket for long-distance trains.
Since the Deutschland-Ticket is legally defined in Section 3 of the Railway Transport Regulations (EVO) as an offer with a significantly reduced fare, no refunds are issued for long-distance train fares, even in cases involving passenger rights.
Exceptions:

• If a cancellation or train delay affects the last connection of the day arriving by midnight.
• A delay of at least 60 minutes occurs for a train service scheduled to arrive between 0 and 5 am.

Only then, within the framework of the legal regulations of Section 11 (2) of the Railway Transport Ordinance (EVO), is the use of an ICE or IC/EC train possible.
In this case, too, the following applies: To use the ICE or IC/EC train, you must first purchase a ticket. The fare will then be reimbursed up to a maximum of €120 under the regulations governing passenger rights claims.

 

[redreni]

Thanks @Watershed - good to know!

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Train companies specifically were successful in lobbying the government to change the law after the 9€ ticket and before the Deutschland-Ticket to define the Deutschland-Ticket as such a "significantly reduced fare". With 'normal' Nahverkehr tickets, such as singles or regular monthly passes, it is perfectly possible to buy and afterwards reimburse ICE tickets when your Nahverkehr connection is delayed by more than 20 mins. During the 9€ ticket months, many people used this to go across the country on ICE trains basically for free, since delays in a long string of S/RE/RB trains were of course very likely, and thus the reimbursement claims very easy to make.

Of course, since now a very large proportion of Nahverkehr passengers, especially commuters, use the Deutschland-Ticket, this effectively worsened passenger rights for millions of people even in perfectly legimate cases...

 

[UBoot]

Probably restating some of the advice above again, but perhaps better to be clear.

The Deutschland ticket that you are buying is a 'subscription' rather than a single ticket, and therefore when you pay for your first month it is assumed you will continue to purchase a ticket each and every month.

If you buy a ticket within the first ten days of the month and then unsubscribe/cancel before the tenth day, then your ticket is valid for that one month only, and your 'subscription' ends.

If you fail to unsubscribe/cancel before the tenth day then you are automatically required to purchase a ticket for the next month.

If you buy a ticket after the 10th of the month, then you are automatically required to purchase a ticket for the next month.

Having said that, it is simply amazing value, and well worth the price!

UB

 

[AdamWW]

Does anyone know if there is a mechanism for buying one for children from outside Germany?

When I looked (a while ago) it didn't seem to be possible and you couldn't even buy an adult ticket for them.

 

[BRX]

Probably restating some of the advice above again, but perhaps better to be clear.

The Deutschland ticket that you are buying is a 'subscription' rather than a single ticket, and therefore when you pay for your first month it is assumed you will continue to purchase a ticket each and every month.

If you buy a ticket within the first ten days of the month and then unsubscribe/cancel before the tenth day, then your ticket is valid for that one month only, and your 'subscription' ends.

If you fail to unsubscribe/cancel before the tenth day then you are automatically required to purchase a ticket for the next month.

If you buy a ticket after the 10th of the month, then you are automatically required to purchase a ticket for the next month.

Having said that, it is simply amazing value, and well worth the price!

UB

Unless you buy from here, in which case you can just buy one month. There's an additional booking fee though:

https://seat61.tranzer.com/ticket-product/248

 

[duesselmartin]

Does anyone know if there is a mechanism for buying one for children from outside Germany?

When I looked (a while ago) it didn't seem to be possible and you couldn't even buy an adult ticket for them.

Not aware that exists as a non school ticket.