It's by subscription only. You can't buy it at a ticket machine. The ticket is valid for each calendar month (e.g., September, October, November ? not for any 30 consecutive days). You must purchase the ticket before the 20th of the month to use it during the following month.

In 2026, you cannot buy the Deutschland-Ticket from a standard ticket machine because it is exclusively sold as a digital or chip-card monthly subscription. The "D-Ticket" is designed to be a paperless, cashless product managed through apps like DB Navigator, hvv Switch, or mo.pla. While you can visit a Deutsche Bahn "Travel Centre" (Reisezentrum) in person to have a staff member help you set up the subscription on a physical chip card, the vending machines at stations only sell traditional single-trip, daily, or weekly tickets. For 2026 tourists, the best practice is to download a transit app and purchase the €58+ subscription there. Just remember that it renews automatically every month, so you must manually cancel the subscription (often by the 10th of the month) if you only intend to use it for a single vacation period.