Germany is probably one of the most popular destinations for travelers. No doubt, this country is full of beautiful fortresses and unique pubs. Not quite sure that you want to rent a car? If you mind your budget but care about your comfort here are two equally good ideas to travel around the country.

Railroad
The best way to travel is on the ICE train. You can look up their schedules on the German national train website (www.db.de) or check the English version (http://www.bahn.de/p/view/international/englisch/trains/our_trains.shtml)

Comfort
The great thing about the ICE is it will go through many countries and travels at 150 miles per hour. I took an ICE once from Frankfurt to Brussels and it only took about 2 hours.

Prices and discounts
The German train tickets are just generally very expensive compared to the rest of Europe. If you have a German student card you can have a discount special on the ICE. Otherwise you are likely to pay anywhere from 30-80 euros a ticket. There are possibilities to find specials on certain routes and rails but you have to search around the website for a while.

Bus
The German busses are very clean and very technologically up to date and are cheaper than most trains. The best place to book online would be http://www.touring.de/. Look in the right hand corner of the page to change the language into English.

Comfort
Compared to ICE which is super fast, buses are relatively slow. However, they have air conditioning and are really neat and tidy.

Prices and discounts
If you want to save money while traveling through Germany, try the bus. Prices vary from 30 to 50 euro depending on the distance you travel.

A helpful hint
Also if its your first time in Germany, and you don’t know much German, just say, “Entschuldigung, mein deutsche Sprache ist nicht so Gut, können sie English schprehen” This means, “Excuse me, my German is not good, do you speak English?” Most people in Germany speak English, at least most of the younger generation.

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* Gutentag (in German) Good afternoon!