I will be in Berlin for the marathon in September 2025. My husband is coming along and wants to go to Oktoberfest in Munich for a few days while we are there. In between, I would like to spend a couple of days visiting wineries, probably in Mosel but would consider the Rheingau or Pfalz. It is surprisingly difficult for me to find a train route that works to go from Berlin to Bernkastel or Trier (or anywhere, really) and then on to Munich. Would it be better to just fly to Luxembourg? Or rent a car and drive? Normally I would prefer train for ease, price and environmental reasons. But any option I find involves a combination of five trains/buses, costs as much as a flight and takes six hours!

We have not selected wineries yet because there are so many choices that I feel like ease of travel should be the starting point.

Any suggestions??

Thanks in advance.

Try breaking your trip into segments

Take a train from Berlin to a major city like Bonn or Frankfurt, then possibly rent a car for a few days to get to Trier.

Drop off the car where you picked it up and take a train on to Munich.

Try rome2rio.com for suggestions.

Hi moosey,

Where have you been looking for train routes for these trips? The best place to look is the German rail site at www.bahn.com. I see many, many options with only 1 change for both Berlin -Trier and Trier - Munich, so I don't see the problem that you describe.

Purchasing your rail ticket now for a Sep trip, the trip from Berlin to Trier is around 63€, while from Trier to Munich is around 80€.

Yes, it will take 5 or 6 hours for these routes, but driving may not be much faster, as German highways are well known for their traffic jams, or Staus, particularly around big cities like Munich.

Hope you find the info you need! Have fun as you plan!

s

train should be the easiest solution. bahn.de is easy. seat61.com to understand
do you want to be in a town or village during a wine festival?
Trier is pretty big and the wine village is really in Olewig. Bernkastel has become more Disneyfied. Some where like Urzig is more traditional.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I had tried just google maps and rome2rio without much luck but did not think to try bahn.de. I think that plus a car in the Mosel area will be best.

and bilbo thanks for tips on villages. Not so much thinking of a festival as just visiting a few wineries, but will be looking for a charming village to spend the rest of our short time, so will look into Uerzig.

You can use the train or a ferry along the valley bottom if of interest and this https://www.moselbahn.de/

Many years ago we stayed in Beilstein at Haus Lipmann, which we enjoyed a lot. No idea if it is still at such a high standard but I imagine so.

https://www.hotel-haus-lipmann.com/index.html

We ate there as well, paying for the daily menu rather than having a package. Try and get a room in the main building if you can. Ours had a view of the river.