I am traveling in December from Paris to Regensburg for a Viking cruise and am looking for the easiest and least expensive travel options. I can leave on December 10 and need to be at the Viking docks early December 11, 2026
Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide!
Keep in mind that easiest is not necessarily the least expensive option. That said, realistically your two options are to fly or take the train. Either way, you will have to go through Munich. The train from Paris to Munich is around 5+ hours, and you will have to transfer at least once if not twice, and then there will be another hour or so train ride to Regensburg. So the total amount of time you'll spend is up to 8 or more hours (and that doesn't count time waiting to board).
Or you can fly. There are non-stops offered by Air France that take about an hour and a half and cost a few hundred dollars. Keep in mind that you will have to be at the airport two hours ahead of time, but it's still a lot less time than taking the train.
I like taking the train, but if it were me, I would fly, especially since you have to be there early on December 11. Flying gives you more options and definitely speeds things up for you.
Right now, you cannot buy train tickets beyond 6 months out, so you will have to wait until after June 10 to see prices, but they look to be around 80 EUR 2nd class. At 7:16 am it is 8 hours going through Frankfurt and Nuremberg.
My guess it that Viking will be offering transfers from either Prague or Munich to the ship. You might want to check with them. Then it is simply a matter of flying to whichever city they are doing transfers from on the 10th and catching the transfer bus on the 11th.
It is worth checking out what the cruise line does offer before making final arrangements.
Or you can fly.
And it might actually be more convenient to take one of the three daily Air France flights to Nuremberg. At this small airport, there aren’t long wait times for immigration, the subway ride to the main station takes only 15 minutes, and from there, a train departs every hour that you can use with the BayernTicket.
There is also an hourly direct train to Regensburg from Munich Airport.
The Bayern Ticket is valid on the metro all the way from from Nuremburg Airport and then on to Regensburg, when for some reason normal tickets are not valid on the airport end of the metro line, so that makes a lot of sense.
Rather annoyingly the direct Frankfurt-Regensburg-(Vienna) trains are suspended for 6 months due to replacement of the electricty supply - and they restart on 12th December!!! So the following week this would have been an easy one transfer journey from Paris.
But dare I ask where this cruise is going to because I can't see a departure from Regensburg on that date in 2026 (there is one in 2027 which is already on sale). Maybe there is a selection only available thorugh US IP addresses....
We did a Danube cruise from Regensburg (using Gate 1 Travel) last summer and transport was provided from the Munich Airport.
I am sure Viking offers the same service, they would be foolish not to do so.
We had no issues with our transfer, despite spending a few days in Augsburg prior to the transfer.
In any event, there are trains from the Munich Airport and Munich to Regensburg.
One thing I recommend visiting in Regensburg is a restaurant serving bratwurst, etc. near a 900 year old bridge in Regensburg, that is not real far from where the cruise ships dock. The restaurant is where the kitchen that fed the workers building the bridge was located, right near the bridge.
