I am traveling with my husband and my parents from Prague to Munich and want to know the best way to travel between the two. There's a one hour flight on Czech airlines (which equates to about 4 hours total travel time), about 6 hours on the train and a 5 hour car ride. What is the easiest, safest, and most comfortable way for us to make this trip? If you've made the trip, how did you do it and would you recommend it?

>What is the easiest, safest, and most comfortable way for us to make this trip?

The safest trip is always by rail - the accident probability is lowest.
Concerning comfort, any trip where you don´t jump this and that way every hour (like you would do when flying) is better.

With driving, you would have some issues with a drop-off fee across the border.

If you decide for the train, on the part from Czech border to Munich you can use the Bavaria Ticket (27 E for up to 5 persons). And the domestic Czech tickets (Prague to the border) are ridiculously cheap anyway.

highwall

i'm perplexed for folks who want seamless as possible travel how they would use the Bavarian ticket, which they can't buy in Prague i think and would have to get off the train at the Bavarian border to buy one

they could not take the EC trains that go direct Prague-Munich i believe but have to take slow and perhaps crowded regional trains as pass i think is not valid on IC or EC trains

perhaps i'm missing something but it seems the Bavarian ticket thing is not practical for folks wanting the easiest and most comfy way?

what am i missing?

sincerely Hope Bonnhoff

>i'm perplexed for folks who want seamless as possible travel how they would use the Bavarian ticket, which they can't buy in Prague i think and would have to get off the train at the Bavarian border to buy one

This is one of those rare cases when it does make sense to buy a Bavaria Ticket online.

>they could not take the EC trains that go direct Prague-Munich

The trains between Prague and Munich are classed as ALX in Germany (Allgäu-Express - counts as a local train, seems like they took over the line from DB. ALX is a 100% SBB daughter *g*). So having a Bavaria ticket in advance is a reasonable proposition.

Well high wall i susposed you were correct but wanted it laid out for my understanding

danke!

- you buy the Bayern-Ticket or the Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket on the Internet and have it mailed to your US address. (Only takes a few minutes)
- You use trains that become an RE-Trains once they cross the border. The fastest "express" train, from Prague to Munich becomes RE in Bavaria

- You're happy

>Prague and Munich are classed as ALX in Germany (Allgäu-Express)
Can't be Prague to Munich is far away from the Allgäu and the area where ALX trains are operating. You must have made a mistake? Trains are RE and count as local trains. Right?

To avoid any confusion, go to BudgetEuropeTravel.com and use their 800 number to call their experts. They are extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and their prices aren't more than buying at the train depot, except for a small S&H fee. We took the train from Prague to Munich, having purchased tickets in advance through BudgetEuropeTravel, and were very happy with our choice. I believe we had to change trains once, though, which was the only concern since there was a very short connection time. It worked out fine, though.
>-

Checked it, the ALX (Alex) that operate there are trains of the "Vogtlandbahn GmbH", those also count as local trains.

OK, while the other rail mavens are doing the "battle of the ticket types" let me say that I have taken this very trip four different times, always by rail.

I usually left on the earliest possible departure from Prague Hlavni and in the earliest part of the day there may be less of a chance of running into pickpockets (no worse than the ones at Rome Termini IMO but that's subjective).

Take food if you can as I think those restaurant cars can be a bit pricey; but there's nothing quite like a sit-down meal on the train, either.

Scenery? There is a lot of evergreen forest along the way; IMO nothing of great note.

Is it easy? definitely and none of the security and "get there early and hope it takes off" routine as in airports; no checked luggage restrictions, either.

If you need to get there five minutes ago then fly. To simply get from A to B I wouldn't fool with a car and what you would do with it in Munich besides park is anyone's guess.

Now back to the would-be ticket agents and enjoy your trip...

I believe the fastest connection may be via Nurnberg, on some links at least involving an ICE portion Nurnberg-Munich

>prices aren't more
They charge $33 from Prague to the border, locally bought you'd pay a little above $10. Quite a markup, imho.

>I believe the fastest connection may be via Nurnberg, on some links at least involving an ICE portion Nurnberg-Munich

Check bahn.de yourself - it isn´t.

Straight beats fast

yes Nurnberg takes 30 mins longer, due to the change i guess or changes so you are right

but if you don't get the 9:18 direct train then the 13.18 via Nurnberg is the only other choice until late afternoon

I wonder if the Bavarian Pass is valid on the overnight train.

The beauty of the Bavarian Pass is that, if say you took the 9am train you could use it the rest of the day on any Munchen transport.

>Munchen transport
If it's Muenchen, I'd agree. ;-)

Munchken i meant

Due to the extremely expensive one-way airplane tickets I'm finding, I think we will be traveling by train and want to make sure I have this all figured out so as not to worry my 60 year old parents. I am still a bit confused as to how to book the tickets for the train. Can someone please explain in very simple terms how to do it? Thanks in advance!

Go to www.raileurope.com. This is an American site where you can look at timetables and book train tickets. It's very easy to use and understand.

I've taken the train from Prague to Munich before, and it's a long train ride. We took an overnight train to maximize our time in each city, and booked a sleeping car. It wasn't the most comfortable accommodations, but it did allow us to not waste an entire day traveling.

Bon voyage!

For any RailEurope product i always recommend BETS www.budgeteuropetravel.com; 800-441-2387 because you can actually talk to experts (ask for Byron) on the phone and they work thru RE but don't charge RE's high mailing fee. I understand your need for your parents to be worry fee and the extra amount over booking in Prague could be priceless to them. then all they need to do is board the train - no tickets to cancel yourself, etc. as RailEurope tickets require nothing other than boarding the train. Be sure to get a reservation with the ticket for seamless travel as these trains can be quite full on many days i think.

>Go to www.raileurope.com. This is an American site where you can look at timetables and book train tickets. It's very easy to use and understand.

Yes, it is easier if you remove half the relevant information and multiply the price by 2 - then you have RailEurope.
Night trains can be booked through www.nachtzugreise.de
For a day train:
You can see the information on Bayern-Ticket on
http://www.bahn.de/international/vie..._tickets.shtml
and buy it on
https://fahrkarten.bahn.de/privatkun...GroupChild=345
(I only see it in german, sorry - click on "in den Warenkorb" and go to the shopping cart sign)
Buy the ticket from Prague to the German border (Cheb) when you are in Prague, form a travel office or the station.
And, the most important thing:
STOP WORRYING!