I have 2 free days in Munich pre-tour in July with my elderly mother. She would love to see Berlin. I am looking at the rail or bus-does anyone have feedback on this subject?
thanks!

You will lose a lot of time traveling. If your plane reservations have not been made yet, I suggest that you open-jaw. Fly into Berlin, stay there 2 days and take high speed train to Munich. Fly back home out of Munich when the tour is over. Rail info, including departure times and trip costs are on the internet.

The fastest train takes 5:52.

Take a flight. www.lufthansa.de www.airberlin.de Book ASAP in order to get a good rate, but open-jaw is the best option.

We considered flying from Berlin to Munich for our upcoming trip but we calculated that we would have to leave for airport about 2 hours ahead to check in, baggage restrictions are pretty strict so we would have to check bags, then an hour flight plus 30 minutes boarding time, another 30 minutes to collect baggage then 45 minutes by train to Hauptbahnof.

Not much of a time savings all things considered. Am I missing something because price is equal.

No, you are NOT missing ANYTHING

look at flying for the speed...when i last did this i booked through a TA in germany and they got me a air/hotel deal that was amazing....

What "speed" as there is virtually no difference when you look at door to door?

Okay, here is what you can do:

I assume you are ready to leave your hotel around 7:30.

Option 1: Taking the train. You leave your hotel and take the U-Bahn to the Hauptbahnhof. Train leaves at 8:20 and arrives in Berlin at 14:19. Since Berlin Hauptbahnhof is in the middle of nowhere, you have to walk/ride from there. You will be at your first attraction by 14:40, leaving half a day in Berlin. The next day, you have another half day for sightseeing. At about 14:30 you proceed to Hauptbahnhof to board the train which is leaving at 14:58, arriving in München at 20:50. IMO, this is doable and not too stressful. You will have two half days in Berlin.

Option 2: Taking a flight. You check in online. You leave your hotel at 7:30, arriving at the airport at 8:30. Plane leaves at 9:20 and arrives at 10:25 in Tegel. When you take the inexpensive airport bus, you will be in Berlin-Mitte around 11:30, thus giving you three hours more in Berlin on the first day. On the the second day, you leave for Tegel around 17:30 for the 19:00 flight which arrives in München at 20:10. You will be at your hotel around 21:15. You get another three hours compared to train travel.

Totally, flying saves 6 precious hours. And if you are very anxious, add half an hour time on both check-ins and you have still won 5 hours totally.

Believe me, I do a lot of travelling within Germany and this is exactly how it works. And sitting for almost six hours in a train is not exactly a very exciting experience.

traveller1959 is spot on.

There is no "high speed connection" from Munich to Berlin. There are high speed trains running on somewhat upgraded rail connections, but usually not faster that 160kph/100mph. A bit of the trip can qualify as scenic, most does not.

And there is no need to show up at the airport 2 hours before departure. 40 minutes is sufficient for ordinary people, 60 minutes for the worrywarts. Security at Munich airport takes 5-10 minutes for domestic/Schengen flights. You don't wait 30 minutes for luggage. 10-15min is the average, 20min would be an eternity.

Door-to-door time with train is appr. 7hrs; compare with 3.5-4 hrs by plane.

How about in the opposite direction from Berlin to MUC? Also an hour ahead is sufficient? So the only real concern is the charges for excess baggage as the allowances are fairly low on the budget carriers.

Do you already have the air tickets booked? If not, you could look into an open jaw ticket flying into Berlin and out of Munich.

Yes, as we are using FF miles and Munich is just very hard to get.

We are already open jaw into Berlin and out of Frankfurt and I check daily to see if any seats open up out of Munich as that is our preference, even though we have to pay a change fee to book them should they become available.

Yes, one hour before departure is also enough at Berlin Tegel airport when you fly Lufthansa or airberlin to MUC.
You have 20 kilos allowance for checked baggage with either airline. And you don't pay for it. They usually bend the rules when you have just a bit more. Neither airline is a budget carrier, though you may find discounted airfares for off-peak travel.

Germanwings uses Berlin Schönefeld airport which is located at the SE edge of town, and more time-consuming to get to than Tegel airport. You pay for checked luggage with Germanwings.

But check the airline you wish to travel with for their own set of rules re. checked luggage and hand luggage.

Anyway: If you have more than 20 kilos each and an elderly mother which cannot probably carry that much weight on her own, the train might not be that convenient as you have to handle the luggage yourself.

Cowboy, mom is not coming along this trip, just my husband and I. We travel carry on only generally but Air Berlin's limit on carry on is quite low - 5 kilos. My husband is a professional photographer and his gear weighs more than they will allow us to carry on, another reason we normally opt for trains.

Thanks everyone.

Like the airport in Berlin isn't out in the middle of "nowhere" get REAL

In that case, you may be better off with the train unless you manage to split up your husband's photography equipment as hand luggage within the requirements, and check one piece of luggage with the rest of your stuff.
They hardly ever weigh hand luggage with airberlin - but do have an eye on the size of the gear. If you were not traveling with possibly expensive and fragile equipment I would suggest to just try to bring it on board. But in your case, it may not be a smart idea.