Munich to Bavaria

Munich is in Bavaria. Where exactly do you want to go besides Munich?

Schloss Neuchwanstein, garmisch-partenkirchen, prien am chiemsee, Berchtesgaden national park.

Munich is the capital of Bavaria, a large German Land (equivalent of a US state). One way to see Bavaria by train is to use the Bavaria Ticket, Travel anywhere in Bavaria on regional and local trains for a day, after 9 am weekdays, all day weekends, for 23 euro for the first person and 4 euros for the next 4 persons.
http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/prices/germany-regional/bavaria-ticket.shtml
There are lots of places accessible by train. Even out-of-the-way places have trains every hour.

All those you mentioned have rail service from Munich. Neuschwanstein is outside of Fuessen and you will need to take a local bus from the train station. A train will get you to Berchtesgaden town, but you'll need local buses to travel the area.

Thanks. Is it best to make munich the home base and travel from there each day or stay somewhere along the line? Seems like staying in one place makes most sense

Given the somewhat hub-and-spoke rail system surrounding Munich, yes. Munich also has lots of rainy-day activities for days when visiting the mountains and lakes is not optimal.

With a car, Garmisch-Partenkirchen would be the best base. By rail, Munich. The only deciding factor for me would be if you wanted to base yourself in a city or in a more scenic small town.

So I would use this train, http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/prices/germany-regional/bavaria-ticket.shtml, if I want to go to and from Munich to southern Bavaria; and the euro rail to see any other major cites such as Prague?

Eurail will probably not save you money. The fastest way to Prague from Munich is a bus for 29 euro each way.

The only reason to consult Eurail is if you want to pay more money than necessary.

Awesome! Thanks so much. Do you have the name of the bus service or site? Is it just at the main station in Munich airport?

Also, what's the best way to get from Prague to other cities in the Czech Republic, bus?

Also, is the bus scenic at all? I'm sure the train is more scenic but for the price difference it may be ok

The 29€ price for the bus to Prague is the starting price for advance purchase (at least 3 days), bus (date and time) specific, non-refundable tickets. There are a limited number of 29€ tickets available. After that the price goes up for the next tickets. Full fare is 66,20€.

The bus is faster. It takes 3¾ hr. There are also 3 direct trains per day (9:01, 12:44, and 17:02). They take a little longer - 5¾ to 6 hrs.

The train is considered a local train so you can use regional passes on it. There is a pass similar to the Bayern-Ticket, called the Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket for 26€ for one person, 30,50€ for two people. There are an unlimited number of tickets and the price never goes up. You can purchase the ticket just before travel time. The train goes direct to Prague; the Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket takes you as far as Pilsen. Once in the Czech Republic, you can purchase a Czech Rail ticket to Prague for the Czech Koruna equivalent of about 4€ per person.

So, if it doesn't bother you to buy a non-refundable ticket, and you can get one for 29€, the bus is the way to go. If you are not sure about the date and time, or if the low priced discount tickets are sold out, take the train.

The Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket can be used to Prageu from anywhere in Bavaria, not just from Munich.

The best way to get to other cities from Prague in the Czech Republic?: It could be bus or train, it depends which city you want to get to. Once you know which cities you want to go to you can place your question under Czech Republic.

I took the bus-train combo from Prague to Munich about 8 years ago. It wasn't all that scenic, but not bad either. For this route, I would use whatever transit method makes most sense for your trip, not for the scenery.

Look into staying in Mittenwald rather than G-P. It's a fascinating place. I've driven through Bavaria a few times and found the price reasonable and very convenient for obvious reasons, especially if you're pressed for time. Try to get to Kelstein (one of Hitler's tea houses) if weather permits. Don't drive up the mountain. Take the bus.

It's Kehlsteinhaus (K-e-H-l). Might help to spell it right if you are trying to look up information.

The road up to Kehlsteinhaus is a private road, only used by the special buses that take you up. It's a one lane road- no place to pass. Buses go up together, then go down together.

"and the euro rail to see any other major cites such as Prague?"

I have seen this common misconception on this site before. There is no such thing as a "euro rail" train in Europe. Trains in Europe are operated through the governments of each country (Deutsche Bahn for Germany; OeBB for Austria, etc) and there is a handful of privatized rail carrier scattered in various places (Westbahn from Salzburg to Vienna, for example).

Euro rail, Rail Europe, Eurail and the like are train ticket resellers that sell tickets to unsuspecting people at inflated prices. They also specialize in selling passes, which are completely unnecessary in today's Europe.

It also doesn't help that they seem to be imbedded with Rick Steves on this site as well as the first option that pops up on Google when you query train travel in Europe.

"Euro rail, Rail Europe, Eurail and the like are train ticket resellers that sell tickets to unsuspecting people at inflated prices."

Euro rail is another, unofficial name for Eurail.

Eurail is a consortium of European national rail companies (French Rail, German Rail, et al), along with some ship lines, organized to package and market rail passes. They are the creators of the rail passes. Other outlets, like RailEurope, resell Eurail passes. There is a profit margin built into the prices published by Eurail, so resellers can, and sometimes do, sell it at a lower price.

RailEurope is essentially a travel agency, the major owner of which is French Rail. They sell Eurail passes and resell full price point-to-point European rail tickets, usually at a markup, sometimes a BIG markup. Additionally, there are discounted tickets and regional passes offered by the individual European rail companies that have big savings and are not usually offered by RailEurope.

This July my wife and I are taking our 5th trip to Germany (and Austria and Switzerland) and it will be the first time we will not be buying a railpass. We travel together so we get a deal with the partnerpass. You can save money and maintain flexibility if you take long trips. We just figured out our trips from city to city and decided how many days we needed. We figured out how much the pass cost per day and planned accordingly. We paid less for a 1st class ticket than it would have cost to buy 2nd class tickets. But this year our trips will be shorter so we're going to buy tickets when we're there.