I'll be in Munich and my friend will be in Zurich. We're looking for a town in between where we can meet for a night. We'll be traveling by train. I thought of Innsbruck, but I'm not very familiar with Austria, so maybe there are other nice towns that I'm not aware of... any thought?

The distance from Munich to Innsbruck is only half as far as from Zurich to Innsbruck. On the other hand, Innsbruck is a nice place to meet and is the only large city with good rail connections. Sounds as if you have picked the right place. Good luck.

Actually, as I think about this more it might be better to meet somewhere north since we'll be heading on our way to Amsterdam and Innsbruck takes us south. I'm not familiar with the German towns north of Zurich, but are there any that are 4 hrs or less from either place and get us going in the right direction towards Amsterdam?
Thanks!

Steph, sounds like you want to meet in either Stuttgart or even Frankfurt. Getting to Amsterdam from Frankfurt is very easy. The closest, but easiest place for both of you to meet, I think, would be in Stuttgart.

Maybe somewhere near/on the Rhein--Heidelberg, Mainz?

What about Mannheim? It's only a few hours from Zurich and Munich. Anything interesting in this city? Mainz is also about 4 hrs away for both.

The lines from Munich to Amsterdam and from Zurich to Amsterdam meet at Stuttgart and at Mannheim: I agree with Mr Simmons that Stuttgart might make a good spot, if you plan to reach Amsterdam by day train. Munich to Stuttgart is two hours, and Zurich to Stuttgart is three hours. Express trains on both routes have buffet cars or restaurant cars. From Stuttgart to Amsterdam you change at Frankfurt airport, with buffet cars on both trains, or (my preference) at Mannheim, thus: Stuttgart 1327, restaurant car train, Mannheim 1405 to 1439, restaurant car train routed along the left bank of the rhine, Amsterdam 1954. You can in fact leave Stuttgart at 1351, but that train has only a buffet car, with a poorer lunch than the 1327 gives you.

If you did want to meet beforehand, the direct trains between the Zurich and Munich run via Memmingen, Lindau, Bregenz, St Margrethen, St Gallen, and Winterthur. The half-way town, two hours from each city, is Lindau, on Lake Konstanz, and you could meet there. Buffet car trains leave Munich at 0812 and Zurich at 0733 and reach Lindau at 1029 and 0930 respectively. I am sorry that your friend has an hour?s wait, but the town is pleasant. Innsbruck is four hours from Zurich

Please write again if I can help further. Welcome to Europe.

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Lindau is a lovely little town and supereasy to get to for both parties. Also ticket to Lindau from Munich qualifies for Bayernticket - cheap one price ticket for up to 5 adults. As there has been a lot of changes in pricing on Deutsche Bahn in past 2 mths - with much abuse - I would check pricing. Bayerntickets used to cost 2 years ago about $15 for the day -travel anywhere in Bavaria.