Drive or Train?

"...car rentals are relatively cheap vs. train."

Try the DB website. Dec. 12 Berlin to Vienna at 7:34 am. €49.90. The gas alone between these two cities costs more than that.

You will find similarly advantageous train pricing if you purchase 3 months in advance of your travel date (when train fares first go on sale.) The cheap price requires you to schedule your trains and to keep your schedule.

The Czech and Austrian Railways sites have similar deals for your other journey.

You'll see more riding in a window seat on a train, than navigating a car, but I hear ya. I love to drive in the States and Canada, but Europe, unless I need a car to get to a specific remote spot, I take the train.
Consider you will have to return the car to Germany or get hit with a huge drop fee. Don't forget to buy both Czech and Austrian vignettes or you get hit with very big fines.
Also, using Sparpreis tickets, nonrefundable without a fee, are pretty cheap if you buy a month or two in advance. Czech trains are really cheap. Some, like the Czech Supercities trains, almost resemble a rolling pub, with cheaper beer than you can find in Germany. And you can't watch the countryside roll by drinking a tall glass of Czech beer if you're driving a car.

Car rental is only cheaper when a group is involved. For a single person or even a couple a car is not cheaper. How did you determine that a car was potentially cheaper than the train?

For a trip I was going to take in April, but had to cancel because of my partner's health, I priced out all of my rail travel (mostly regional and local passes, one SparPreis ticket) at 429€. The best car rental estimate I got for the duration was 431€ (without any insurance); the gas cost from ViaMichelin was 262€, or 693€, total. The trip would have been about 2000 km, total.

Car rental is only cheaper when a group is involved.

Not sure I would agree. As soon as you get a more people, you need a bigger, more expensive car, and fuel prices go up. Rail passes, such as the Bayern-Ticket, are pretty cheap for extra people.

So far you have only mentioned cities. We lived in Germany for 6 years and had our own car. It was great for the countryside but never fun to drive in cities.

If you wanted to (for example) visit small pilgrimage churches in the Bavarian countryside, a car might be nice but I would never find it much value in cities or for going long distances. Driving from place to place, autobahns are quick by usually boring. Secondary roads can become tiresome for all the traffic stops.

We use the trains exclusively in Germany now that we are returning for visits. I can see us renting a car for a specific day trip some time in the future.

If you just want to see the big cities you listed a car doesn't make sense. In the cities it's just a expensive hindrance, and on the Autobahn between the cities you see as much of the countryside as on the train... not much.
A car makes sense if you plan a real road trip, with stops along the way which are difficult to reach by train. A road trip from Berlin to Vienna could look like this:
Berlin -Spreewald - Bad Muskau - Görlitz - Zittau Mountains (Oybin) - Bohemian Paradise (Kost castle) - Prague - Kutna Hora - Telc - Geras or Eggenburg - Wachau valley - Vienna

But a tour like this requires two weeks and a bit of planning.

Thanks everyone..it looks like a train is the way to go. It appears their are many option in trains. Are they that much different? I investigate the train options later but... Ultimately, we will have 10 days from the time we land in Berlin with intentions of seeing, Berlin of course, train to Prague...Vienna and perhaps Munich before going back to Berlin for our departing flight. Is this too ambitious leaving little time to enjoy these fine cities or should we skip Munich all together?

Steven, you can look up trains (times and prices) on the German Railways site: https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml

The different types of trains are just fast long distance or slower local trains with more stops. For the long distance trains you get discounts if you book in advance and choose a specific train.

• ICE = Intercity Express = Long distance high speed, stops in big cities only, IC = Intercity. Info here: https://www.bahn.com/en/view/trains/long-distance/ice-ice-sprinter.shtml
• RE = Regional Express = limited stop
• R = Regional = local train stopping at all stations
• S-Bahn = Urban Express train = suburban train with regular interval service. Numbered routes S1, S2 etc.
• U-Bahn = Underground/métro. City-owned, numbered routes U1, U2 etc.
• Stadtbahn = Light Rail = fast tram, may go underground in city centre.

"Is this too ambitious leaving little time to enjoy these fine cities or should we skip Munich all together?"

IMO, 10 days is barely enough time for Berlin, Prague and Vienna.

The DB Railways site Chris gave you is great for all scheduling questions for your two big train trips - and for purchasing tickets from Berlin to Prague. The train types he enumerated are for German trains.

This website will provide helpful information for your train trip between Prague and Vienna:
https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Prague.htm

And look at flying into Berlin and out of Vienna (or the reverse) to avoid wasting time by back-tracking. Airline tickets are often the same price as round trip tickets to one or the other.

Hi,

You also have the option of going by EN night train Prague to Vienna, likewise with Munich to Berlin for your return journey, depending on your travel style. Take a night train route , you'll squeeze out another day. If you skip Munich and want to return to Berlin from Vienna, that also can be done by the EN night train too. If you focus on the cities, take the train, day or night train. I focus mainly on the cities and towns.

If you want to include going to the countryside and see the villages, get a rental car but keep in mind you'll pay for gas by the liter.

Most people recommend to spend at least 4-5 days in Berlin, 3-4 in Prague, and 3-4 in Vienna. So, in 10 days you could see all three cities, but squeezing in Munich is too much. And you won't have the time for day trips to see the countryside, or a cute small town.
IMHO it would be more enjoyable to slow down, see only two cities, and do some day trips to nearby places. If you enjoy the countryside you would LOVE the Spreewald for example, just one hour away from Berlin, or the parks and palaces of Potsdam. To me Berlin and Prague sounds like a good mix. Berlin is a modern metropolis that never sleeps, Prague is the quintessential Central European city.