Getting from Brussels to Munich
 

Hi I'm trying to get to Munich the cheapest way possible. I've found a 350 round trip flight to Brussels through StudentUniverse. I read on a website about a bus that runs directly from Brussels to Munich but I can't find any more information on it. Can anyone help?

Do you need to fly round-trip?

If you're flexible with your times, a possibility is to take the train from Brussels to Cologne (this shouldn't take long -- at most four hours? Check the schedules online) and then fly to Munich by German Wings. Presumably even with the wait times this will be faster than your bus option.

A useful list frequently referred to on this board can be found on http://www.whichbudget.com

Another option -- go to London Stansted (train/fly via Ryanair) and fly to Salzburg (Ryanair) and then take a train. I doubt that this is preferred to connecting via Cologne unless you've a desire to see London and/or Salzburg on the way. And you probably need to have very flexible times because Ryanair will have a limited schedule.

Actually EasyJet flies from London Stansted to Munich, but note that to fly to Brussels from London, you need to fly from Charleroi on Ryanair.

Basically from whichbudget.com you can probably find two budget airline trips to get to Munich through an intermediate stop, but I suspect that since these budget airlines have a limited schedule, you may want to choose an intermediate stop that you think you'd want to visit because the layover will be quite long (or you may need to spend a night in the intermediate stop).

Otherwise connecting via Cologne is probably still your best bet -- I suspect that trains to Cologne from Brussels are fairly regular and not very expensive. Instead of flying from Cologne you can also take a train to Munich.

Good luck.

I agree that rail connections are probably best for you in this case...by the time you fly over to London and then back to somewhere like Salzburg and then take the train you could probably be close to Munich. Although slower, the regular trains between Brussels and Cologne won't cost as much as a high-speed Thalys trip. Also, the trip from Cologne to Munich follows the Rhine for a certain part of the way depending on your routing.
Or the train to Cologne and then flying to Munich as someone mentioned although I'd check the timings closely (and the baggage allowances)..you may still end up doing better by sticking to rail.

Sorry I cannot help with information about bus travel.

The cheap bus travel miust be with Eurolines.
check either www.eurolines.be or eurolines.com

Go to raileurope.com and check out the train schedule, distance and time. I went from Brussels to Interlaken, Switzerland (9 hours by train) on an overnight train. I booked the couchette in advance, so we could lay down vs. sitting. The overnight rail trips maximize your time there and are included in your rail pass (couchette was a little extra). We didn't sleep real well on the over night rail trips (we did 2 of them), but enough to get by - it didn't hinder the trip!

Unfortunately, many of the overnight train runs from Brussels have been canned. Don't know why, the trains I took always seemed pretty busy, but they're gone. A private Dutch train service has been taking over some of the routes, but there are far fewer overnight trains than there were last year.

If you book online or buy your ticket at the ticket machine from Aachen to Salzburg costs 28 euros. National Offers Happy weekend Ticket . You open http://www.bahn.de/pv/view/int_guest...l_guests.shtml, then select transport, only local transport, and a weekend departure date. An example is this: Aachen 0814, Siegen 1051 to 1118, Frankfurt 1305 to 1330, Wurzburg 1525 to 1541, Treuchtlingen 1729 to 1734, Munich 1928 to 1942, Salzburg 2147.
Brussels to Cologne costs 40 euros and takes a little over two hours on the direct express from Brussels at 0614 to Aachen at 0808. Total weekend slow fare 28 + 40 equals 68 euros.

It is true that several night services have been cut. To make this trip by night you would now travel Brussels Midi 1928, Cologne 2149 to 2346, Munich 0718. But of course you pay a full fare and seat supplement. Brussels to Salzburg full fare second class costs 162 euros.

RailEurope usually cannot sell the weekend fare.

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Sorry: Brussels to Aachen by fast traimn takes a little under two hours, not a little over.

I might have mentioned that rail sleeper services are under threat where a no-frills flight flies the same route at a low fare. For example, the Paris to Rome sleeper service halves on 6 September

Ben Haines