Flight from Munich to Brussels
 

We have planned an itinerary for our August honeymoon that involves a flight from Munich to Brussels (one way) on August 15. However, I remember looking at preliminary flight prices months ago and thought they were much cheaper. The cheapest direct I seem to be able to find is around 200 per person. Any suggestions how to find something cheaper? Does this have anything to do with the Brussels airport being partially shut down? None of the budget lines seem to fly between the two and this is a problem for our budget. Any suggestions are welcome!

Also, the 200 per person is in Canadian dollars, just to be clear.

Well when I thought it was US$, I found the overnight train for $89 (11pm-8am or 9 hrs), or regular train $79 taking 8 hrs or SAS flight from $120 and Vueling $149 and Luftansa for $146. All are US$

Now that you say it is Canadian $, it comes to $150 each so seems to be in line unless you want to take the overnight train or the regular train. You probably need to add 3 hours or so for transport to and from airports plus security while you are going from city center to city center with the train.

Try rome2rio.com or goeuro.com

I do Bxl - Munich return trip on a regular basis, and I always find thre price horrific.
I usually pay about 500 € and back - so 200 CDN $ (what is the rate ? it used to be much worse than USD) would be ok.

If you have time, you can take the train - it takes about 6-7 hours and is real cheap in advance - I had to take one when Lufthansa was - again - on strike. And they are alone or nearly on that route. Which may explain the price ;-)

For a random date in June I found a day train for EUR 59. It takes some 6hr30mn, which is not much more than flying if you take into account the getting to and from airport, check-in procedures etcetera. Check at: www.bahn.de/p_en/view/index.shtml

There are no direct trains but it seems always a change at Cologne to direct trains to Munich - perfect for taking a short look at one of Europe's most famous cathedrals, smack dab right next to the main train station.

Dump you bags in a station locker - waltz to church and back for the train to Munich - helps break up a long train ride. If bags are portable with wheelies or a backpack you may not even have to check them though you may have to take turns going into the church while one watches the bags which I suspect are not allowed inside.

Like tonfromleiden says above advance online booking thru www.bahn.de/en can yield deep discounted fares but be advised that these are non-changeable so if you miss the train you are out and have to them buy a full-fare ticket (you do get a partial refund on the discounted ticket I think but it cannot I think be changed to another train as those limited in number ducats sell out early typically. So if arriving by plane leave plenty of fudge factor time at Brussels Midi (South) station before your train.

It will take about half-hour to go from the airport train station to Brussels-Midi for the Thalys or ICE train to Cologne. First class is also discounted and may at times not cost much more than 2nd class and on a long trip well worth it IME - more roomy as 25% fewer people about in same-size train car with IME often empty seats in first class but often not many in 2nd class.

Discounted tickets except on Thalys trains do not come with reservations so on the Germany ICE portion you can reserve a seat in addition to the discounted ticket for a few euros and in 2nd class highly suggested, especially if you want two seats together.

For lots on European trains and what to expect like in 1st and 2nd class check these IMO superb sources: www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.seat61.com- latter has great info on getting discounted tickets.

Thanks everyone. We don't want to take the train as we don't want to waste a day, and would like to get to Brussels relatively early that day.

Flights from Stuttgart are around $75, that may be where I made a mistake with my math - looks like I won't find the same from Munich, so may have to rework the trip a little bit - fortunately our hotel bookings are flexible. If anyone knows of a closer airport than Stuttgart that may have a similarly priced flight, please share!

Lesson learned, ALL flights within Europe aren't cheap. Darn.

Fly to Stuttgart and take the short train ride from there to Munich?

I agree flying makes more sense since you are at Brussels Airport already.

MUC-CPH-BRU via SAS is cheaper.
MUC-AMS on KLM is little more but needs train AMS-Brussels.
MUC-CDG could have been Economy MINI $55 no luggage or Economy Classic $78 with luggage if booked earlier at www.airfrance.com. I see Economy MINI still available for Aug 8 and Aug 18, but pretty much gone now.

PalenQ, we are starting in Munich, so the other way around. We are driving from the Black Forest on the 12th to Munich, and then the hope was to fly early on the 15th to Brussels, spend the day there as it is the last day to see the Flower Carpet, and then train to Bruges where we have 3 final nights before flying home to Toronto via Brussels.

Greg, are SAS and KLM airlines?

Update: I found a reasonable flight from Munich to Eindhoven, (100 euro for both of us) and we will train/bus from there. Not ideal, but looks like the best I can manage.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Good idea. I never thought of Eindhoven.

Whathello, Eindhoven is a very convenient airport; small, lots of cheap flight. It's a good alternative to the Belgian airports. From Waterloo where you live it takes a bit of time to get there, though. Rotterdam is another alternative.

I've flown into Maastricht from London once- another viable airport not far from Brussels. Luxembourg too.

I had never heard of Eindhoven but plugged in Brussels on Skyscanner and let them show me the cheapest combinations - Paris, Eindhoven and Cologne all were reasonable but only Eindhoven was an AM flight, which given the extra travel time, was necessary so as to not set us back too much.