Train from Munich to Dusseldorf
Aug 24th, 2004, 04:39 PM
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Train from Munich to Dusseldorf
We are going to Germany in Nov and are planning to stay a week in Munich and then go to a trade show in Dusseldorf. We have booked accomodation and will need to travel by train from Munich to Dusseldorf on a specific day. From a eurail schedule I saw, we have a choice of three ICE trains that day. Will we be able to purchase tickets the day or day before we need to travel? Or should we be trying to reserve tickets before leaving home?
Aug 24th, 2004, 04:49 PM
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You shouldn't have a problem purchasing a ticket the day you leave Munich. If you travel first class, you might even have a car to yourselves. Second class can get crowded, and you might want to get a couple of reserved seats the day you travel, or the day before if you're worried. I used to always pay extra for a reservation, but rarely needed it. Have fun in Munich.
Aug 24th, 2004, 06:28 PM
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If you are going to do much traveling around Europe by train, you will help yourself greatly by learning to use the national rail system schedulers.
The German one is excellent for Germany and Austria and most of western Europe, except the UK.
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/d
There is a version with English language captions.
The Swiss national system is very good, too. www.sbb.ch. It comes in 4 languages. The French system is www.sncf.com. It too has English captions. I find it to be the balkiest to use.
The fact that some scheduler showed you only 3 trains a day between München and Düsseldorf is laughable. No change connections to Düsseldorf leave München at 7:31, 9:31, 11:31, 15:31, and 17:31.
Then there so many 1 change connections that the scheduler page would not show them all in one pass. But between 13:31 and 19:31 I counted 6 more departures involving 1 change of trains. And that does not include any morning departures requiring 1 change.
You need to review the schedule and see which one of many you want to take. Some of the connections involve no changes while others involve one change.
A few involve more than 1 change, but there are so many of the others I see no need to get on a train leaving Munich for Düsseldorf that requires you to make more than 1 change.
I suggest you buy your ticket soon after you get to Munich. There is often a discount if you buy several days in advance. And if you want non smoking, I suggest booking early to get a reserved seat in a non smoking car.
The smoking cars can be foul places for a non smoker. In fact, I have seen smokers get up and leave a non smoking car, go to the smoking car for a few drags, and then return. Even smokers cannot stand the pollution in a smoking car!
The Munich main station is a large one, but it is logically laid out.
There is a huge board above the platform area that displays the time of departure and the track number of all trains that that come and go during the day. So it is constantly changing because the Munich main station is a busy place.
Therefore finding the right track is easy, if you know the departure time.
The German word is Gleis.
The German one is excellent for Germany and Austria and most of western Europe, except the UK.
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/d
There is a version with English language captions.
The Swiss national system is very good, too. www.sbb.ch. It comes in 4 languages. The French system is www.sncf.com. It too has English captions. I find it to be the balkiest to use.
The fact that some scheduler showed you only 3 trains a day between München and Düsseldorf is laughable. No change connections to Düsseldorf leave München at 7:31, 9:31, 11:31, 15:31, and 17:31.
Then there so many 1 change connections that the scheduler page would not show them all in one pass. But between 13:31 and 19:31 I counted 6 more departures involving 1 change of trains. And that does not include any morning departures requiring 1 change.
You need to review the schedule and see which one of many you want to take. Some of the connections involve no changes while others involve one change.
A few involve more than 1 change, but there are so many of the others I see no need to get on a train leaving Munich for Düsseldorf that requires you to make more than 1 change.
I suggest you buy your ticket soon after you get to Munich. There is often a discount if you buy several days in advance. And if you want non smoking, I suggest booking early to get a reserved seat in a non smoking car.
The smoking cars can be foul places for a non smoker. In fact, I have seen smokers get up and leave a non smoking car, go to the smoking car for a few drags, and then return. Even smokers cannot stand the pollution in a smoking car!
The Munich main station is a large one, but it is logically laid out.
There is a huge board above the platform area that displays the time of departure and the track number of all trains that that come and go during the day. So it is constantly changing because the Munich main station is a busy place.
Therefore finding the right track is easy, if you know the departure time.
The German word is Gleis.
Sep 11th, 2013, 07:52 AM
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If you look at the German rail websie - bahn.de - you will see all the trains - and at better prices than Eurail - which is reseller that marks up all tickets.
The site has a dropdown flag for various languages at the top - but frankly is so easy to use that I just look at the German.
The site has a dropdown flag for various languages at the top - but frankly is so easy to use that I just look at the German.
Sep 11th, 2013, 07:59 AM
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The fastest trains are direct ICE (InterContinentalExpress) trains that take 5 hours - walk up fare is 139 euros but if you book weeks in advance you can usually get a 79 euro fare but that would be train specific and non-changeable so be sure of your times and as they are sold in limited number it is imperative to book really early.
You can always buy walk-up fares in Germany and be sure of getting on trains as they do not require reservations so you can always board or you can make an optional seat reservation - if doing many more train trips investigate the German Railpass - especially if you want flexibility to hop any train anytime - a couple of 5 hour train rides at full price may be more than the total cost of a pass and you would have additional unlimited travel days to boot.
Some superb sites for Germany train info - http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id9.html; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com - the latter has great info on discounted tickets.
You can always buy walk-up fares in Germany and be sure of getting on trains as they do not require reservations so you can always board or you can make an optional seat reservation - if doing many more train trips investigate the German Railpass - especially if you want flexibility to hop any train anytime - a couple of 5 hour train rides at full price may be more than the total cost of a pass and you would have additional unlimited travel days to boot.
Some superb sites for Germany train info - http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id9.html; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com - the latter has great info on discounted tickets.
Sep 13th, 2013, 09:39 AM
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Will we be able to purchase tickets the day or day before we need to travel? Or should we be trying to reserve tickets before leaving home?>
Again you will always be able to get on trains - there are so so many and even if they are full - rarely IME of decades of German train riding - you can still board and seats will open up at the next stop - but there is no need to pre-book to guarantee a seat - the reason to pre-book is saving 60 euros or more off the price of a full-fare walk-up ticket - but then you are stuck like glue to that one train - no changes nor refunds allowed and to get those limited in number tickets you often must book months in advance - try some dummy dates of various times out front of a train and see what types of fares are available - again the cheapest fares can sell out weeks in advance.
Again you will always be able to get on trains - there are so so many and even if they are full - rarely IME of decades of German train riding - you can still board and seats will open up at the next stop - but there is no need to pre-book to guarantee a seat - the reason to pre-book is saving 60 euros or more off the price of a full-fare walk-up ticket - but then you are stuck like glue to that one train - no changes nor refunds allowed and to get those limited in number tickets you often must book months in advance - try some dummy dates of various times out front of a train and see what types of fares are available - again the cheapest fares can sell out weeks in advance.
