Flix Bus or Bayern Train Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen

I've used Flixbus without problems.

You must be traveling in June, then?... Are you traveling in the MORNING? I see nothing with 3 changes of train... the 2:45 journey time on June 7, for example, has only two changes (9:09, 10:10, 11:10 departures) and if you leave at 8:10 instead, the 2-change journey takes only 2:15.

If you are in a hurry, Flixbus should be fine, whatever that costs. But if you are traveling on the Deutschland-Ticket during your time in Germany, you'd pay nothing extra for the train journey.

Thanks Russ. Exactly. We are checking out and need to assure one family member can get to airport for a return flight while others of us head on to Garmisch. Perhaps just bad luck on Sunday as other days of the week is more direct an hour and a half but Sunday service on regional Bahn does involve 2 transfers and 2 hr 45 min as opposed to a Flix Bus which is 1.5 hrs (of course traffic could be an issue). Just trying to minimize travel schlepping time. But I have no experience with Flix Bus. It seems Sunday regional train service borders on what we used to call Bummelzug. LOL :)

Train on sunday is 1h21 direct from Munich Pasing, a bit from other places in Munich. But you can plan "Your starting address in Munich" to "your destination address in GaPa" on www.bahn.de
It may not even be needed to go to Hauptbahnhof.

You can do this on a Bayern ticket. Advantages: More space than on a flixbus, flexible, no need to buy in advance.

We can't double check the travel time without your travel date - not sure what Sunday date WengenK has used to come up with travel time of 1:21 from. M-Pasing.

The person going to MUC airport is going there alone, on his/her own train schedule, with his/her own ticket, using an entirely different railway of course, correct? I assume you have that person's journey all figured out.

None of the one-way journeys you are discussing needs to be purchased in advance.

The Bayern Ticket day pass - or the slightly cheaper Regioticket Werdenfels day pass - will cover the journey to G-P. Both are available at station ticket machines or using the app.

Hi yes June 7th.
Yes she will get herself to Munich airport. But I agree I only see an early 8:00 am ish HBF ICE and also faster train from Pasing around 8 ish. Everything after on Sunday seems 2 train changes and multiple stops.

A few thing to consider:

Between 6:15 am and 8:10 pm, there are only 4 Flix Buses to GaPa (at 10:00, 11:45, 2:00, and 4:20). During the same time there is a train almost every hour, 11 total, including a 1H25, 1 change, at 7:59. So the train is a lot more flexible.

Also, the trains are very big and, with one every hour, you should not have trouble finding seats, particularly if you get to the station a little early. Do the buses every sell out? Also, it looks like you buy a ticket for a particular bus. Is that true? If you miss that bus, can you use the same ticket for any other bus that day?

How close to the ZOB (bus station) will you be? Do you know where the ZOB is? It's not at the Hbf. Do you need to take public transportation to get to the ZOB? If you take the train with a Werdenfels-Ticket, the S-Bahn to the station is included.

Thanks Lee. I think the deal for me is while there are trains every hour the Sunday ones ( in comparison to trains during the week) all seem to involve at least 2 trains and switching and adding to the total travel time a lot
More than a 1.5 hr Flix Bus or ICE train. Maybe we should just take the early ICE and the family member can manage getting to the airport and checking out.
Maybe thats in keeping with Sonntag Ruhetag things are slower etc on Sundays.

I dont really know if buses sell out or where the main Bus station is. Or even if they are safe for that matter. But 14 Euro per ticket its not a deal breaker.

But I agree I only see an early 8:00 am ish HBF ICE and also faster train from Pasing around 8 ish. Everything after on Sunday seems 2 train changes and multiple stops.

The topic here is the trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, not the airport, correct? For June 7, the DB site does NOT show any ICE trains to G-P... Not from Munich Hbf, and not from Pasing either. REGIONAL trains are your only option there.

IN the time frame you want - around 8:00 am - I see two journey options which provide just ONE change for this date:

From Munich Hbf: 7:51 - 9:24, RB train + RE train, change of train in Weilheim... but the RB train is cancelled and a replacement bus will take it's place, according to the notifications.

From Munich - Pasing: 8:05 - 9:24, RB train + RE train, but the RB train is cancelled and a replacement bus will take it's place, according to the notifications.

Seating on the replacement buses will be unpredictable. Unlike trains, buses can only hold so many people, and I would not chose to depend on either of the options with replacement buses

Then there are the journeys with TWO changes of train, which you aren't so happy with:

From Munich Hbf: 8:10 - 10:24, RE train + RB train + RE train, with changes in Geltendorf and Weilheim
From Munich-Pasing: 8:17 - 10:24, RE train + RB train + RE train, with changes in Geltendorf and Weilheim

Again, these are the same journeys/same trains. But getting on the train at Munich Hbf EARLY, as Lee suggests, gives you better seating options. These are not ideal journey choices, but the train-only option would be my choice instead of the bus + train option.

If you prefer the direct Flixbus option, go with that. You can reserve seats on the Flixbuses, correct? That sounds like what you want, and you may not get to G-P quite as early that way, but that makes sense to me as an option as long as you know where to board and can get there.

BTW, this disturbance in the force is unusual. Usually, there are direct trains from Munich Hbf to GaPa, even on Sundays.

It's probably some kind of track work between Pasing and Weilheim. It's not just on Sundays, I see it on weekday before and after the 7th of June too.

In fact, I've taken direct trains from Munich to GaPa twice (well once, in 2007, I got off in Murnau to go to Oberammergau, but the train I was on to Murnau did continue on to GaPa).

It's just right when you are traveling. It looks like it ends on Monday the 15th of June; there should be a direct train to GaPa on the next Sunday, the 21st.

That explains it Lee thank you for adding that. So not just normal German slow down on Sundays. But therein lies my quandary For the June 7th, and hence why the Flix Bus or a driver is looking like a more palatable option. We will have to manage a return to Munich from Garmisch on Tuesday the 9th. I haven't checked that schedule out yet. But thank you for the heads up. I really appreciate the eyes on this. Vielen Dank!

You can reserve seats on the Flixbuses, correct?

According to the Flixbus website you can. Prices vary from $3-$4 per seat, depending on if it's a front seat or has a table. I would assume that, if you don't take the reserved seat, your ticket is still usable for any other Flixbus, but you lose the reservation. But the website never talks about that, so I would be a little worried. When you purchase a ticket you specify the bus (day and time). They don't say whether the ticket is only valid on that bus, or whether the fare is transferrable to any other bus, with a surcharge for a more expensive time. And I would also assume that using your ticket for another bus would only be on a space available basis. It looks like the buses hold about 63 people. How often are they full? Right now, with the trains taking more time and having more changes, what is the chance that a lot people are choosing the bus and that all Flixbuses will be booked?

The Flixbus ticketing is much like the DB saver fare ticketing - except that if you must cancel, you retain the value of your ticket for future use within a certain number of months. I think it might be 12. I cashed in some retained value on my most recent Flix Bus trip.

I'd go with Flix to avoid transfers. Comfortable enough for a trip of that distance/length. Downside would be possible traffic delays.

this is an impossible question to answer properly becaseu it doesnlt say WHERE in Munich the journey begins. Are they all spending Saturday night at the bus station, or at the main railway station - or possibly in a hotel some distance from both???

Three things are certain:

Currently there is a capacity reductionn on Sundays to allow for track work - so the regional trains to Garmisch start at Pasing. Also note the S1 to the airport begins at München-Feldmoching (so no stations in the central area) and the S8 to the airport starts at München Donnersbergerbrücke so serves central area including the one next to the bus station but not the south west side suburbs.

The ICE is running from the main station (and begins HOURS earlier in Saarbrücken). But only ICE valid tickets are accepted, none of the regional specials or even normal rate regional tickets.

Flixbus is a LONG distance operator, you always have to find out where it actually begins. If that is Munich you have a reasonable chance of it being on time. Their booking system may restrict short rides like this.

All in a hotel not too far from HBF. Again the wish was to time departures closer to check out. To get that one departing family member on her way to airport and three remaining on to Garmisch.