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Hi
We will be travelling from Mittenwald in Germany to Switzerland.  We will have a Swiss Rail Pass for the Swiss section of the rail journey.  I am trying to find out whether it is cheaper to order the tickets 90 days in advance or just pay for them on the day.
When I go onto the OBB website, I am unable to bring up any fares from Mittenwald to Buchs (the border station).
However, as a rough guide to the cost of the tickets, I have entered Innsbruck to Buchs.  If I enter the travel date, for instance, for tomorrow, the cost of the ticket comes up as the same price as when I enter a date for 90 days tiime. (28.90 euro, I think, in both cases)  Would this be correct?  If this is the case, I would be better off to purchase the tickets on the day of travel, rather than in advance, especially if the cost is the same.  There will be 4 adults travelling, & I understand from the website that the cost decreases for 4 tickets.  Is this correct?
Could you also please confirm, if I am able to purchase these tickets in Mittenwald for the journey to Buchs, or do I purchase Mittenwald to Innsbruck & then purchase Innsbruck to Buchs.  I think the cost from Mittenwald to Innsbruck is about 10 euro.

Any advice on theis would be very much appreciated.
j munchy


j

In case of Mittenwald-Switzerland journey you actually have a few options:
a) cheapest one will be to purchase in advance discounted tickets from Scharnitz (first Austrian station after the border) to Buchs(SG) via OeBB website. If you do so early, you have a chance to buy tickets for as low as 9 euro, which is a super bargain in this case

While Mittenwald is just 6 km from Scharnitz and even full fare ticket is really cheap. Or alternatively you can even take a walk over the border
b) other option is also relatively cheap and what is important doesn't require any prepurchase of tickets allowing you to be flexible. Idea is to travel to Switzerland via an opposite way, thus not through Innsbruck, but with 29 euro Bavaria Lander ticket (valid for up to 5 people) from Mittenwald to Lindau, while then just a full fare ticket till first Swiss station - St. Margrethen (straight forward international Lindau-St.Margrethen will cost 7,4 euro per person or instead domestic Austrian ticket Lochau-Hörbranz-Lustenau, thus covering segment from the German-Austrian border till Austria-Swiss border for 3,6 euro per person). Alternatively you can also forget about transiting Austria at all and just continue from Lindau or neighboring Wasserburg by ferry to Swiss Rorschach (should be a nice journey over the Bodensee)
c) if again think about going via Innsbruck, then in case you've already missed discounted tickets till Buchs it might make sense to buy discounted domestic ticket till Bregenz (also from 9 euro and a bit easier to catch), while from Bregenz it's 15 min. ride to St.Margrethen)
d) another option without necessary ticket prepurchase is just buy regular Austrian domestic tickets from Scharnitz with Minimax group discount (-40% off regular fare makes it 101 euro for 4 passengers). Obviously it's almost three time more expensive comparing to four 9 euro tickets, but you stay totally flexible and can buy such ticket even 5 min. before departure.

p.s. just in order to compare: full fare (=when you purchase at the station before departure) Mittenwald-Innsbruck is 11,1 euro per person, Innsburck-Buchs (SG) you already know, while direct international ticket Mittenwald-Buchs via Innsbruck is around 40 euro per person

Wow! Thank you so much for that very detailed reply.  I will have a look into those options & see what works out best for lus.
We are not travelling untill September, so have time to purchase tickets in advance if we need to.
Just a couple of further questions please:
We are heading for Lucerne, so does that fit in quite well with your wonderful suggestions & my other question is,
can you give me an idea of the ferry cost from Lindau or Wasserburg to Swiss Rorschach.
We fly back to Australia from Zurich, but my son will be heading back to Munich for Octoberfest, so your input will be most
helpfull planning his trip back to Munich.
I really appreciated your advice, it has helped me so much.

Warmest regards
j munchy

We are heading for Lucerne, so does that fit in quite well with your wonderful suggestions

Buchs(SG)-Luzern it's from 2:15 to 3:20 (depends on connection) with one or two train changes, while Rorschach-Luzern is 2:30-2:45 also with one or two train changes, St. Margrethen-Luzern is again one or two changes and 2:40-2:55 travel time. As you can see yourself, not a big difference between whether you start in Buchs, Rorschach or St. Margrethen, Swiss rail system is one the most efficient in Europe, as result it's not a problem to travel from any point to any with decent travel time.

can you give me an idea of the ferry cost from Lindau or Wasserburg to Swiss Rorschach.

Full fare Lindau-Rorschach is 11,7 euro, while Wasserburg-Rorschach is 8,6 euro, but at the same time your Swiss pass gives 50% discount on BSB ferries, which is definitely a pleasant thing 

... my son will be heading back to Munich for Octoberfest, so your input will be most helpfull planning his trip back to Munich.

Well, here answer depends on whether he will still have Swiss pass valid and whether he travels alone or with somebody. If alone and without pass covering the Swiss segment, then probably an Ok solution will be to purchase in advance discounted Zurich-Munich ticket (either on SBB website - from 48 CHF or DB website from 39 euro), that will fix his dep.time and train, but save money since full fare Zurich-Munich is 92 CHF or 75 euro. In case pass is still there to use, then good idea will be just to repeat the route till Wassenburg or Lindau, while from there just use Bavaria Lander ticket single for 21 euro, in this case no prepurchasing of tickets required. If traveling with somebody else, then again it's possible to rely on Bavaria Lander ticket for a group (29 euro) getting up to 5 passengers from either Wasserburg or Lindau to Munich etc.

Thank you very much for you prompt reply.  The Swiss Pass will still be valid for my son & as he will be travelling alone, he will be using the single Lander Bavaria ticket.  I will look at these options & work out the best for us to use.  I am so glad I used this site as you have given me ideas, that I would not have thought of otherwise.  It really does take the worry out of planning such a trip.
Very best wishes & thank you for the time & effort you put into helping people like me.

J munchy

No problem, we always glad to help fellow travelers =)

If Swiss pass will be still valid, then obviously no need to book those international discounted tickets in advance (--> and limit yourself to specific date and train). Bavaria Lander Ticket Single seems to be almost perfect solution here, while the way of getting to Bavaria (either by ferry or by land via Austrian Bregenz) that's already a secondary question, which won't really influence general idea.
Also just to remind you one more thing to remember with DB Lander tickets (both single or group) - cheapest price for them is when you buy it from DB ticket machines or online, while in case of purchase from DB ticket counters there is an extra charge of 2 euro per ticket.