My husband and I will be traveling by train around Germany and to Prague and would like some help with our itinerary. On day 1 we arrive in Munich and will stay for four nights. We will not have a car and hope to do day trips via train or bus to Dachau and perhaps Salzburg in addition to touring Munich. I would also like to visit Garmisch. We will leave for Prague on the train and stay for three nights but have a night in between to perhaps stay somewhere else. Should we spend a night in Garmisch or somewhere else? I have read about Rothenburg and Iphofen and other quaint areas. In addition to the itinerary can you assist with hotel recommendations for Munich? We tend to avoid the Holiday Inn type of hotel for a more quaint experience yet we would like to be centrally located for walking around Munich. We are going in May. Thank you!

Just some rail info - use the Bavarian Ticket for ultra-cheap unlimited day travel all around Bavaria for just about 30-35 euros total for both. Book Munich-Prague trains or buses at www.voyages-sncf.com for discounts. Check www.seat61.com for sage advice on booking your own tickets to Prague - general info www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Nurnberg would make a nice place to stay as it has the quickest bus/rail links to Prague and you could spend the day in Rothenburg or stay there.

Thank you! Can you recommend a centrally located hotel in Rothenberg or Munich

Regensburg might also work. Not as center located as Nurnberg, but would be a lovely city for an overnight.

Pal, what do you think?

We were in Munich, Rothenburg and Salzburg in September.

In Munich we stayed at two places. For the first 5 nights we were at the Pension Lindner which we adored. Very small inn, fantastic host, rooms were spacious and comfy and had character, and the location was ideal for us. It is a very short walk to Marienplatz as well as the train, but also on a small side street so no noise. We would absolutely stay there again. When we returned to Munich, we stayed at the Hotel am Viktualienmarkt. The location was great as it was next to the market, and the host was wonderful. The room was fine, but just more sterile feeling and no character.

In Rothenburg we stayed at the Hotel Spitzweg and adored it! The host is fantastic and he makes an amazing breakfast. There is no lift and the hotel does not have wifi, but we were able to use the free city wifi there. The hotel just oozes charm! I know people dis Rothenburg, but we loved it. We were there for 3 nights and there were no crowds besides during the Night Watchman Tour (which is a must). Honestly, after staying here I would be very disappointed if we were to return and not be able to stay here, we liked it THAT much.

In Salzburg we stayed at the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten. If you look at a map, you may think it is a bit of a walk to the heart of downtown, but it isn't at all. Maybe 5 minutes. We loved the hotel, although our rooms there were TINY.

We used the tickets that PalenQ mentioned and it made transportation so economical! We were a family of 4 (adult kids were with us) and those tickets were perfect.

Hopefully some of this will help you with planning, and if you have any questions about the hotels I mentioned , just ask.

Are you sure that you can see and experience what you want with this plan in this time frame? This plan sounds unpleasantly ambitious to me – too much time in transit for far too little time to actually see or do anything while in any of these fascinating places. If you haven’t already done so, I strongly recommend that you plot your trip – and the places you hope to visit – on a calendar.

Good luck!

You should book Munich-Prague trains at Czech Railways www.cd.cz - fares from €15 in 2nd class or €35 in 1st class and you print your own ticket.

Why not voyages-sncf? Because they are FRENCH railways! ;0)
Why not German Railways DB at bahn.de? Because the Czechs partner with German regional operator Landerbahn on this route, not DB, so DB cannot sell these cheap tickets for the Munich-Prague trains and wants to sell you a long-distance bus ticket instead (ugh!).

They have just increased train service on this route from 4 to 7 trains per day each way, now all air-conditioned with power sockets at all seats and in most cars, free WiFi. https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-ro...e-by-train.htm

"...we would like to be centrally located for walking around Munich... Can you recommend a centrally located hotel in Rothenberg or Munich"

kja is right. You need a new plan.

You will sleep in Munich 4 nights, but Day 1 will probably be a drowsy one - expect jet lag and maybe only a little sightseeing since you'll have just completed an overnight flight across several time zones. Then you have 3 day trips on 3 separate days (Dachau, Garmisch, Salzburg.) You won't have much time left for Munich at all. Getting to Garmisch and back takes 2.75 hours; Salzburg takes 3.75 hours. Both are full-day undertakings and even then your time is compromised. Dachau is closer - if you go there in the morning you'll still have some afternoon sightseeing time back in Munich, but Dachau does NOT put people in a mood for lighthearted sightseeing.

Then you depart Munich on Day 5 for 1 night in Rothenburg (2.75 - 3.25 train hours, 3-4 different trains required) where you unpack, have lunch, and spend a few hours in the afternoon and evening; the next day you travel to Prague for 3 nights (5-6 hours minimum on trains/buses.)

IMO the only places where you'll have a decent amount of time appear to be Dachau and Prague.

You need some more time. If you find it, then I suggest you stay 2 nights in Salzburg and 2 in Garmisch if you go to these places. Substituting Regensburg (UNESCO World Heritage city, on the route to Prague) for Rothenburg would greatly cut down on your ground travel time.

Or you can change or cut back on your destinations. An alternative to Garmisch would be to visit Berchtesgaden on a day trip from Salzburg (only 45 minutes on Bus 840.)

You can check all your train travel times at the German Railways itinerary search page:

https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de//bin/query.exe/en

Regensburg might also work. Not as center located as Nurnberg, but would be a lovely city for an overnight.

Pal, what do you think?>

Yeh Regensburg is one of the most interesting and ancient cities in Germany - said to have more old historic structures than just about any German town -many of which lost much of theirs in WW2.

Bus is an hour faster and always cheap Munich-Prague - both buses and trains run by DB I believe.

Thank you all for this information. I will take a look at the calendar and perhaps fit in a few more days as I have not yet made plane reservations.

> both buses and trains run by DB I believe.

Some of the buses are run by DB, others by the Czech company Leo Express (aka Student Agency). The trains are a joint venture of the Czech Railway (CD) and the Bavarian Railway Company (BEG) and operated jointly by CD and the Laenderbahn, ultimately a subsidiary of the Italian Ferrovie dello Stato. That joint venture was set up some years ago in order to compensate for the DB's withdrawing of all of it's trains to Prague. A very important consequence for travellers of that is to *never* buy tickets for those trains from DB - you will have to pay the very high international standard fare (€74). Either buy at the CD website (tickets committed to specific trains start at approx. E15; print at home) or buy a so called "Prag Spezial" ticket aboard the train (called "ALEX", the ticket is €36) or use a combination of one of the Bavarian day pass (»Bayernticket«, covers you until the border at Furth im Wald; »Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket«, covers you until Plzen; both valid after 9am on workdays and all day on weekends and public holidays) and a - cheap - standard fare ticket of CD for the respective Czech leg. Look up details at the website of the "man in seat 61" (Germany / travel from Munich to Prague by train).

Guess Nurnberg-Prague buses run by DB. Thanks for wealth of info sla019.

We have added days to our trip and would like thoughts or suggestions on the following itinerary:
Depart US on Tuesday, May 15th and arrive in Munich on Wednesday, May 16th -- stay in Munich for 5 nights departing Munich on Monday, May 21st. While in Munich we would visit the city of course but take a day trip to Garmisch, go to Dachau, etc.

We then have 5 nights to spend somewhere else (Salzburg or head to Rothenberg area?? ) before we travel to Prague. We will stay in Prague May 27th, 28th and 29th. May 30th we travel back to Munich to stay near the airport and fly out the next day.

We are not renting a car but are traveling by train. Our thought after Munich was to head to Salzburg for a few days and then up to Prague but is that the best use of travel time? I would love to see Rothenberg area or something on the romantic road but don't know how that would be by train. Thank you for your thoughts/suggestions!

"We are not renting a car but are traveling by train... I would love to see Rothenberg area or something on the romantic road but don't know how that would be by train."

This is SO easy if you have a few days. Take the regional train to Nuremberg for 3 nights or longer (2 hours travel time, €31 for a Bayern Ticket day pass.) Visit Nuremberg, but also see some smaller places... Day trip to Rothenburg (be sure to spell it right or you'll end up in the wrong town) and/or Iphofen and/or Bamberg (2 lovely places, both accessible by direct train from Nuremberg.) Then when you're done, take the train or the Intercity bus that the German Train system operates between Nuremberg and Prague.

https://www.bahn.com/en/view/offers/...mannheim.shtml

Iphofen - scroll down to see photos!
http://www.stadtbild-deutschland.org...3cfa68122678a3


Bamberg - a UNESCO World Heritage city!
https://en.bamberg.info/sehenswertes/

It's only €20 for a day pass for two adults to travel to Rothenburg, Bamberg, or Iphofen by train from Nuremberg:

https://www.vgn.de/en/tickets/all-day-ticket-plus/

This looks beautiful! As you suggest, perhaps we should spent 4 nights in Munich, 2 in Salzburg and then head to Nurenberg for 2 or 3 nights and then on to Prague for 3 nights? Does this make sense? Thank you so much! If you have hotel recommendations I would appreciate it.

I think those regional local passes come in first class too - at least Bavarian Ticket does and if so may be worth the relatively extra few euros to go first class and practically always be guaranteed seats. Some regional trains I have been on at times get SRO when school kids blast aboard on some trains that also act as school buses.

I am now thinking of flying in to Munich and going right to Salzburg for 3 nights--heading back to Munich for 4 nights--on to Rothenberg or Nurenberg for 3 nights and then to Prague for 3 nights. Is this doable via train? Thank you!!

All doable except buses Nurnberg to Prague are quicker than trains on that route - otherwise all those places excellent rail service, even Rothenburg - on a deadend spur line off main line. I'd add a day to Prague and take away from Rothenburg/Nunrberg. Use the Bavarian Pass for all German trains -buy it at airport station and take train from there into Munich and change for Salzburg - all covered by Bavarian Ticket for a pittance.

Book Rothenburg/Nurnberg at www.bahn.de/en or cheaper on Czech Railways site (see www.seat61.com for that angle - same ticket just cheaper from Czech site often (only trains involving Czech Republic of course.

Thanks! Do you have recommendations for hotels at any of these venues?