ISU Adult Worlds: Oberstdorf questions

[manleywoman]

Hey all! I'm starting to make my plans for Worlds, and have a few questions for those of you familiar with the area or who live in Europe and use the train system a lot.

1) I've been told that Oberstdorf is quite small and you can walk from end to end in about 15 minutes, so I'm not worried so much about finding a good hotel. Having said that though, any suggestions? There's one I have my eye on and have contacted them for info, but wanted suggestions from any of you.

2) I'm assuming you can walk from the Oberstdorf train station to about any hotel easily? We'll be taking the train in from most likely from the Munich airport.

3) does the train system connect with the airport, or will we have to leave the airport and take a taxi to pick up our train to Oberstdorf?

4) once the competition is over, my husband, me and two friends want to take the train to Munich or Berlin for a few nights. Then we'll be taking a night train to Amsterdam for a few days. Is it best for us to get a Eurrail pass for so many train trips? I've been told we'll absolutely need reservations for a night train to Amsterdam so we get beds!

Any info is very helpful. Thanks in advance!

[mikawendy]

When I lived in Ireland, I used the Interrail system open to residents of the EU instead of using Eurrail, but I seem to vaguely remember that Eurrail publishes a brochure of train info for Europe. I know it had timetables (that came in very handy), and I _think_ it might have had fare information for point to point trips in it as well (such as for people who were traveling outside of where their pass would let them go).

Since many American students studying abroad use Eurrail, perhaps a travel agent geared toward youth travel (such as Council Travel or STA) would be able to let you know whether a pass or separate train tickets is more economical.

[jp1andOnly]

Sorry, its my pet peeve..but there is NO ADULT WORLDS!! It's the adult ISU invitational!!! (rant off)

Hey all! I'm starting to make my plans for Worlds, and have a few questions for those of you familiar with the area or who live in Europe and use the train system a lot.

1) I've been told that Oberstdorf is quite small and you can walk from end to end in about 15 minutes, so I'm not worried so much about finding a good hotel. Having said that though, any suggestions? There's one I have my eye on and have contacted them for info, but wanted suggestions from any of you.

2) I'm assuming you can walk from the Oberstdorf train station to about any hotel easily? We'll be taking the train in from most likely from the Munich airport.

3) does the train system connect with the airport, or will we have to leave the airport and take a taxi to pick up our train to Oberstdorf?

4) once the competition is over, my husband, me and two friends want to take the train to Munich or Berlin for a few nights. Then we'll be taking a night train to Amsterdam for a few days. Is it best for us to get a Eurrail pass for so many train trips? I've been told we'll absolutely need reservations for a night train to Amsterdam so we get beds!

Any info is very helpful. Thanks in advance!

[coskater64]

They list the name of a travel agent in the literature on the event. I'm using that.

[Mrs Redboots]

There is a railway station at Munich airport. The journey seems to take about 3 hours and involve a couple of changes, but it should be fairly straightforward. German trains normally run on time and are clean and comfortable.

For those doing the Mountain Cup the previous weekend, there will probably be coach transfer between the two resorts, if enough people are interested.

I've never been to Oberstdorf, so can't answer any other queries about walking distance, etc.

[sk8pics]

I was there in '99 and we flew into Munich and took the train to Oberstdorf. It was very easy to do. We walked everywhere in town. There are a number of small hotels around the main plaza of the town, where the church is, and we stayed at one of them. The one issue I ran into was that there was only one ATM in town that was on the same network as my MAC card. Fortunately there was that one! When/if I go this year, I will change some money in the Munich airport so I can be more prepared.

BTW, I like german food, but I recommend that before you order something in a restaurant, you make sure you know exactly what you are ordering. Some foods are quite different than you might imagine, and you may need to be a bit adventurous of you're unsure of what the menu item is. But if I'm skating and competing, I would want to know exactly what I'm getting!

There is a small Italian place in town that was just about the only thing open late at night, and it was very good. So I recall eating there several times.

Pat

[flo]

Anyone have any other good leads on good air fares?

[LWalsh]

Anyone have any other good leads on good air fares?

Hi Flo,

Price aside, I know that US Air flies direct out of Philadelphia to Munich. Sometimes it's worth a few $ to get there in a reasonable time frame. I know you are from DC area so it's feasible to take Philly flights.

Lara

[flo]

Thanks! The flights I have looked into are close to $900. I'd like to go into Lyon and then out of Munich, but if I can't get a more reasonable flight, I may have to only do Germany, or not at all.

[jenlyon60]

Frankfurt is a much more major airport (in Germany) than Munich, and there's a railway station in the airport.

You might be able to find a reasonable airfare from the US into Frankfurt. Orbitz has United flying out of Newark into Frankfurt nonstop for about $500 + taxes/fees.

Then a train from Frankfurt to Oberstdorf is about 68 - 88 Euros each way for 2nd class, depending on the type of train.

[Mrs Redboots]

Flo, it might be worth contacting Barbara Standke, who organises the Mountain Cup and is involved with the organisation of Oberstdorf. You certainly won't be the only skater in that particular fix, and while I know there will almost definitely be a coach from Villard-de-Lans to Oberstdorf, there probably ought to be some form of transport back, so people can get flights from Lyon or Paris. Barbara will know what other people are doing, and can (I hope) advise you. Do you need her e-mail? If so, pm me.

[flo]

Thanks. I've spoken with Barbara, so perhaps I'll ask her more about trains from the other airport. I don't mind taking a train in, and I'd really like to go.
Thanks again

[sk8pics]

I'm thinking that will be a long train trip from Frankfurt to Oberstdorf, and maybe not all that easy, especially if you have a lot of luggage, but I haven't looked at the actual train schedules. I've travelled by train a lot in Germany but that just seems like it would be a long trip. I thought i had seen some flights around $700 to Zurich, but now I forget out of which airport in the U.S., mabye JFK? I will check into this again in a week or two.

Pat

[jenlyon60]

4 hours by the express train from Frankfurt airport or 3 hours 15 minutes by the express train from Munich airport.

The local trains are much longer (approximately twice as long) but more scenic.

I just checked this on the German Rail schedule web site.

[sk8pics]

Hey. that's not bad at all! I'll have to include Frankfurt in my airport calculations.

Thanks!

Pat

[flo]

Thanks so much.
By the way, I've been calling it ISU Internationals. It's not worlds, but I can never remember the name!
Thanks again!

[DressageChica]

Just remember, if you buy a train pass you might want to reserve your seats. Just because you have a Eurorail pass doesn't mean that you will have seats on any train. Also, when you reserve a seat it's like €25 for each point to point, regardless if you have the pass. You should look into the price of point to point tickets if you won't be travelling a ton. Good luck and have fun!

[skaternum]

Thanks so much.
By the way, I've been calling it ISU Internationals. It's not worlds, but I can never remember the name!
Thanks again!I have to admit that this is one of my pet peeves. It's definitely NOT an adult world championship, which is what "Worlds" means. It's just an open adult competition that is sanctioned by the ISU. Some people may see this as nitpicking, but I'm just being realistic. If I go and win my event, I'm only "Adult World Champion" in my mind. And if I'm cooking up a self-delusion, it's gonna be a lot better than this, lemme tell ya. 8-)

[manleywoman]

Can anyone who lives in Europe go into more detail about the train system please? When I go to the Eurrail site there are so many types of passes, it's very confusing to figure out which one is the best to get and how to go about purchasing it.