The Bimmelbahn road train: 1,585 ratings, and what seventeen people wrote
What the seventeen are about
Coverage, mostly. Several reviewers make the same point in different words: you see a great deal in a short time, and more than you would cover on foot in the same forty minutes. The driver comes up often and warmly. So does the shaking on the cobbles, which nobody blames on the operator.
“Der Humor des Guides/Fahrers war Klasse, ebenso seine Fahrkünste in den doch vollen und engen Straßen und Gassen. Die Informationen kamen gut verständlich, ohne Kopfhörer, von einem Audioguide. Die Bimmelbahn war nicht sehr voll, was angenehm war. Sonst wäre es doch sehr eng geworden. Wir sind sehr durchgerüttelt worden, aber für das Kopfsteinpflaster und die vielen Baustellen kann der Anbieter nichts.”
“Sehr empfehlenswert. Man sieht innerhalb kurzer Zeit viel von der Stadt. Tatsächlich hat es hier bisschen mehr gekostet, aber es passt so. Was wirklich gut war, im dritten Wagen bekommt man Kopfhörer, während die vorderen Wagen über Lautsprecher lauschen dürfen.”
“Wir dachten, die Bahn fährt hoch bis zur Festung”
“Man sieht in 45 Minuten sehr viele beeindruckende Sehenswürdigkeiten, die man zu Fuß in dieser Zeit nicht sehen würde.”
“Die Tour war toll. Man hat viele Sehenswürdigkeiten sehen können. Leider war es trotz Heizung kalt weil es irgendwo an den Beinen hereinzog.”
“We wove in and out of the old town streets and saw it all !”
Three things the reviews correct
It does not go up to the Marienberg. One reviewer thought it would, said so in a single sentence, and still gave five stars. The loop is the old town at street level, and the fortress on the hill across the river is a separate journey.
The headphones are not in every carriage. Two reviewers describe the sound differently. One heard the commentary perfectly well without headphones; the other says the third carriage has them while the front ones use a loudspeaker. The listing promises an audio guide in six languages and says nothing about where you sit. If the language matters to you, that is the question to ask before you get on.
One of the seventeen is not about Würzburg. A five-star review on this listing describes a family discovery tour of Frankfurt with a guide called Dimitri, four children in the party, and how much they heard about “die schöne Stadt Frankfurt”. Würzburg is not in it. It has been left out of the quotes above rather than presented as evidence about a road train it does not describe, and it is a fair warning that a star average is built from whatever people attach to a page.
What works
- The largest rating sample of anything that happens in this city: 1,585
- Reviewers agree on the thing you would book it for — ground covered per minute
- Warm about the drivers, repeatedly, and two reviewers travelled with children
- The six-language audio guide is confirmed as audible in the reviews
Worth knowing
- It passes the Residence and does not enter it; no admission is included
- One reviewer expected it to climb to the fortress, and it does not
- Headphones appear to depend on which carriage you are in
- Cobbles and roadworks shake it about, and a January rider felt a draught
- One of the seventeen written reviews describes a tour of Frankfurt
If you want the palace as well
Buy the state ticket separately and walk in. It is inexpensive, everyone under 18 pays nothing, and it already entitles you to join a guided tour — English twice a day, German every full and half hour. The road train is the forty minutes around the palace, not a substitute for it. How the two fit into a morning is on how long you need, and the rest of the day is on one day in Würzburg.
The standard walkWürzburg: Guided Walking Tour
Wine on the bridgeWürzburg Old Town Tour with Wine Tasting on the Alte Mainbrücke
Private, per groupWürzburg: Private Walking Tour With Professional Guide
Frequently asked questions
Does the Bimmelbahn go to the Marienberg fortress?
No, and one reviewer says plainly that they had expected it to. It loops the old town at street level for about forty minutes. Getting up to the fortress, and getting to the Residenz from the station, are on how to get there.
Do you get headphones on the road train?
According to one reviewer the third carriage has headphones and the front carriages hear the commentary over a loudspeaker. Another says the audio guide was perfectly clear without them. The listing promises an audio guide in six languages and does not say where you have to sit for it, so ask as you board.
Is the road train good with children?
Two of the seventeen say so directly: one calls it an experience worth having for the children too, another calls it perfect with children, and a third says it suits young and old alike. Forty minutes sitting down suits a short attention span better than a walking tour does. What bores a child inside the palace is a different question, handled on visiting with children.