Munich to Salzburg--train or drive

We always preferred the train. You can sit back and watch the scenery. You won't have to buy the vignette in order to drive on the Austrian highway, and you won't run into problems with parking. The ticket is very inexpensive.

And you can us a Bayern Ticket. 25 EUR plus 6 EUR for each additional person (up to 5 total). Covers to and from plus any transport in Munich until 3 am the next day. Just remember to leave after 9 am weekdays on regional trains only.

If you make the round trip in a day, like you seem to be proposing, it's 25€ + 6€ for all your travel that day, in other words, round trip, not just each way.

You can leave as early in the morning as you want on a weekend day or holiday. On a work day, you can leave on the 9:05 Meridian train from the Ostbahnhof and arrive in Salzburg at 10:42. You can also leave on the same train, at 8:56, from the Hauptbahnhof, if you buy an additional "Kurzstrecke" (short trip") ticket for 1,50€/P along with the Bayern-Ticket. The Kurzstrecke ticket is good only on the regional train (not the S-Bahn) from the Hauptbahnhof to the Ostbahnhof; the Bayern-Ticket is good from there (after 9 AM) to Salzburg.

The Munich-Salzburg motorway is stau-prone and you will get an unhealthy dose of stress between Rosenheim and Salzburg. Parking in Salzburg is expensive. And you need an Austrian motorway vignette for the last 10 km if you don't want to waste time with stop and go traffic on back routes.

Yup - all of the above.

Train:

Positives:
Fast, frequent, (sometimes fullish leaving Munich Hbf, get on the train when it is posted, not 2 minutes prior to departure), inexpensive, comfortable, big picture windows, plenty of buses and trolley-buses linking the station and the old town.

negatives: if you want to stop along the way that isn't easy, but with only a day in Salzburg you don't have time anyway

Drive:

Positives:
Few. You can leave exactly when you want to. You could drive to the Red Bull Museum at the airport on the way out. You could drive to the Augustiner brewery/biergarten but you couldn't drink, and there are plenty of easy buses there.

Negatives:
Many. Driving in Munich is not easy. Parking in central Munich is impossible on the street and very expensive in parking silos. Traffic is diabolical on the Autobahn towards Salzburg. Plenty of speed cameras in Munich, most hidden. Parking in Salzburg is very expensive. Park and Ride is €15 flat rate. Parking under the mountain can be cheap if you know the trick, but you must be gone within 2 hours or it becomes €15. Then the cost of the rental, the fuel, and the Vignette. There are often slowdowns and sometimes chicanes and car inspection at the border driving back from Salzburg.

So it really your choice depending on your needs wants and desires.

Thank you all for the wonderful advice. We are choosing to take the train based on careful consideration of your comments.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but we are doing the same thing. After reading the replies here, I think we will do as you're doing, katborch, and take the train vs driving.

We will be doing this on a Saturday, and it looks like Rick recommends getting a schönes wochenende ticket, which I think is the weekend version of the Bayern ticket. This will be the one and only time we travel by train there, so I know nothing about buying these. Can/should we get them down there(where), or in advance? Are they refundable?

Thanks very much and apologies again for butting in.

and it looks like Rick recommends getting a schönes wochenende ticket, which I think is the weekend version of the Bayern ticket.

A "Schönes Wochenende Ticket" is a baby of DB, while a Bayern Ticket ist a bastard of the BEG (Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft). The price of the latter is, indiscriminate for working days and weekends, always €25/1, €31/2 etc., while the SWT ist €44/1, €50/2 etc. If you generously want to help the DB out of its debts, buy a SWT (but don't expect a letter of thanks), if you selfishly look at your budget, buy a Bayern ticket. ;)

Buy on the spot on the day of travelling from a vending machine (can be set to English) - no refunds.

Thanks very much sla!