The Family Ticket, which operated as a trial over the summer, is now remaining on sale permanently. For €99.99, the whole family can travel round trip on an ICE, with seats already paid for. Whether this is cheaper than regular tickets depends on the route, prices on the day of purchase and additional costs. After all, for example, one parent can bring up to three children aged 14 and under free of charge at the price of an adult ticket, with separate seats allocated.
From a summer trial offer to a permanent one
In the summer, the Family Ticket was sold from June 14 to September 12, and travel with it was possible from June 26 to September 14. A one-way trip for the whole family cost €59.99 at the time. DB considers the pilot project’s results a success. According to the company, there were roughly 100,000 more families on long-distance trains during the holidays than a year earlier. DB CEO Evelyn Palla announced that the ticket would become permanent.
Sales of the Family Ticket open on October 26, with the first journeys possible from November 1. The ticket’s end date has not yet been announced. The sales launch is timed to coincide with the Bavarian holidays, which run from November 2 to 6.
Who can use the Family Ticket
- The ticket price covers travel for up to five people.
- One or two adults, with at least one child required. The child must be 14 years old or younger.
- No family relationship between passengers is required.
- The ticket is valid in second class on long-distance trains within Germany, including ICE. International routes are not included.
- When booking seats for children, they must be specified immediately before the offer is generated; otherwise the offer will not appear in the system.
How much can actually be saved
At first glance, it seems the family benefits on the children. But that is not the case. On Deutsche Bahn long-distance trains, children aged 14 and under generally travel free of charge if accompanied by a person aged 15 or older. A family of two adults and an eight-year-old child pays only for the adults with a regular booking. The same rule applies when two children are traveling.
So everything comes down to a simple comparison: how much regular adult tickets cost versus how much the Family Ticket costs.
Let’s take a hypothetical example. A family of two adults and a child travels from Munich to Berlin and back. If regular adult tickets cost €160 combined, the €99.99 Family Ticket saves €60.01. But if Sparpreis tickets totaling €80 are available on the same route, a regular purchase will be cheaper, with a difference of €19.99. These figures are illustrative calculations, not actual fares.
But if one adult and two children travel to the same Berlin, the trip price would be €80, or €40 at a special fare, which already makes the Family Ticket unprofitable.
Overall, on long routes the regular price for two adults often exceeds the cost of the Family Ticket. From Munich, ICE trains reach Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main, and from Nuremberg there are long-distance services, for example to Berlin. On shorter segments, say from Munich to Stuttgart, Sparpreis tickets may prove more economical.
Seats that don’t need to be purchased separately
There is a second advantage of the Family Ticket. The price includes seat reservations in the carriage, whereas with Sparpreis tickets they usually have to be purchased separately. According to specialist portals, one seat one way costs between €2 and €5.50, and there has been no special family rate for seat reservations since June 2025.
Where the ticket becomes unprofitable
The ticket is not valid on all routes. It applies only to certain long-distance trains and is tied to booked services. The number of seats under this fare is limited, so it is not available on every train. Seat reservations are cancelled if a delay of 20 minutes or more is expected at the destination due to a late or cancelled train. The family can then travel on another train under passenger rights rules, but the reserved seat does not transfer to it.
The Family Ticket does not apply to regional trains. In the summer offer, the surcharge for them was €22 per direction, and for the permanent ticket its amount has not yet been announced. Whether additional tickets are needed for connections also depends on whether the family has a Deutschlandticket. And children aged six and older must have their own valid ticket for local transport.
Another question concerns flexibility. Trips with children sometimes have to be rescheduled or changed at the last moment, for example due to illness. In the summer, cancellation up to the day before the ticket’s first day of validity cost €10, with the remainder refunded as a voucher. For the permanent ticket, the refund and exchange conditions have not yet been specified. A low price ceases to be an advantage if the trip falls through.
