Munich to Stuttgart - Car or Train?

"I've suggested we take the train, and both come up to approximately the same cost, seeing as how we plan to take a decent, budget car on rent."

Huh?

Will the car really cost you only €8? Gas alone for that trip is €30. By train, the price available right now is €38 (fare for 2 adults) at the DB website for your travel date at 9:28, 9:46, 10:28, and 11:29.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

@Russ
We were looking at a few options on raileurope.com, and we saw a minimum fare of 50-60€ per head. Compared to this, the rental of an older model Golf/ Polo would come up to the same price. Granted, we didn't take fuel into account, and as shown above, it does make a difference.
If it isn't too much to ask, could you please help me a little with information regarding trains? Chiefly, what are the norms to be followed while booking a ticket, what sort of atmosphere is to be expected within, and the ease of getting on and off the trains with our luggage?

"...what are the norms to be followed while booking a ticket, what sort of atmosphere is to be expected within, and the ease of getting on and off the trains with our luggage?"

Here's a photo of the 9:28 ICE 610 train from Munich to Stuttgart
The interior might look something like this.

Booking: The "saver fare" ticket I refer to above can be booked online and printed at home. Fares rise as tickets sell - so buy asap. The cheap fare means you travel only on the specific train you schedule upon booking. Refunds are possible in advance for a fee. No refund on the day of travel.

Luggage: I don't know how much luggage you are carrying or the physical shape you're in. I've seen lots of elderly ladies get help from fellow passengers lifting their luggage onto trains. But if you're under 70 and have "normal" physical abilities you can probably manage getting a 20-30-pound bag up the 2-3 steps from the platform to the train vestibule floor level.

The above trains are direct so you have no change of trains to deal with.

If you feel insecure about train travel just arrange to arrive at the station maybe 30 minutes prior to departure so that you have time to locate your platform and just look around and get comfortable.

Platforms have signs like this one that indicate platform # (10 in this case,) train departure time and number, final destination (Dresden in this case) and major stops on the way.

Occasionally the platform # gets changed... check the main electronic board in the main hall for such changes.

If you get confused about something, just ask someone. English is widely spoken. Or go to the DB information counter.

As Russ suggested, get the tix on the DB website. Second class is safe and comfortable and getting on and off trains is easy. Since train travel is so prevalent in Europe, luggage shouldn't be a problem. Add the time it takes to rent, return and refuel the car and you can add another hour to your trip. Also, check out the Trains and Rail Passes section in the Travel Tips section of this site for a primer on euro rail travel.

@Russ
Thanks a ton buddy, you've been really helpful with my question. And yes, we're young lads, 22 years of age, but my friend has a more adventurous streak, wanting to drive around everywhere in Germany, even though we've decided on experiencing the Autobahn from Berlin to Munich. Will surely discuss with him and try to book tickets asap. One more request though; could you please tell me the approximate price of travel on a saver ticket without the use of the special train passes, from Munich to Stuttgart? Just so I have a form of reference.

@ Philip Thanks Philip. I've tried going through the different rail passes, but many of them are difficult to understand, and we wouldn't have the patience to go through all that hassle for a few euros. We're trying to save up on pounds and not pennies, but I really appreciate the suggestion, cheers!

I second Russ' suggestion of booking on the web ahead of time. If you don't have access to a printer the DB app works great for booking tickets as well. I used it this year with no problems.

DJ

"...could you please tell me the approximate price of travel on a saver ticket without the use of the special train passes, from Munich to Stuttgart?"

The price I gave you (€38) is the saver fare price at 9:28 on 20/11. You will find the same price yourself at the DB site - go to the DB site right now, enter your travel data and a departure time of 9:00, and look at the 9:28 departure option that appears in the search results...

Start station: enter "Munich (München)"
Destination station: Enter "Stuttgart Hbf"

The price is NOT dependent on the use of "special train passes" - whatever you mean by that phrase. Go to the DB itinerary page link - http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en - and buy the ticket with a credit card. Anyone can do it from home with a credit card and a working printer. As long as you can commit to the travel date and time, there should be no problem getting the €38/2 fare (as long as you don't dilly-dally.) Normally you will have to have the same card with you when you board the train - your printed ticket must be presented with that credit card to train personnel.

I'll comment on driving on A8- from Salzburg all the way to Karlsruhe, this is consistently most congested route on the entire Autobahn network. There was a particularly large amount of construction around Stuttgart as of last year. I don't know if it's finished yet, but even without construction, this road is usually very congested merely because of high traffic volume.

The only justification I can think of for a car along this route is if you wanted to make several stops along the way. The countryside of Swabia (roughly, a historical region that encompasses part of western Bavaria and most of Baden-Württemberg east of the Black Forest) contains some of the best examples of Baroque churches and monasteries in Germany. You can also find some particularly scenic castles, like Burg Hohenzollern, Burg Teck, Burg Lichtenstein and Schloss Sigmaringen, and interesting landscapes, like the Schwäbische Alb mountain range the the Kornbühl (large hill topped by a chapel).

However, if you just need to get from Munich to Stuttgart as efficiently and cheaply as possible, take the train. Even if you want to experience the speed of the Autobahn network, you won't get much of a chance to burn rubber on A8 Now, Berlin to Munich, that's a different story...

Simply using the genuine prices at DB instead of the limited choice inflated ones at RailEurope will save a ton of money.

No you can't drive for anywhere near the price of planned train trip. Not even close. As you have seen the tickets can get really cheap. The price of car rental never goes down, only up.

I was on the A8 a couple of months ago. It is its old usual creaky slow exceedingly busy self.

Thanks a million guys, you've been very informative. Rest assured, we're taking a train from Munich to Stuttgart. Thanks again @Russ for the train booking info. Will provide feedback regarding this decision once it's done. Cheers!

mac,

It's good to hear that you've decided to take the train. It seems ludicrous to rent a car on that particular route as the trip by train will be much more comfortable and the trip will only be slightly more than two hours, with no changes. The train will be much faster than a car, especially if you choose an ICE which travel at up to 330 km/h (205 mp/h). Also no hassles with traffic or parking and you'll disembark in the centre of the city.

If you want to pre-purchase tickets, you can also use www.capitainetrain.com which has a very user friendly website, and the same prices as buying from the bahn.de website.

This case illustrates why most of us here on this forum don't recommend buying tickets from RailEurope or even using them for comparisons.

For an ICE from Munich to Stuttgart, the Bahn charges 123€, $132.06, for two people, full fare with seat reservations. With advance purchase, you can get tickets for the same train (11/20) today, with seat reservations, for 47€, $50.46. RailEurope has a price for two youths on the same train, $148 and $67, respectively. And, RailEurope has more restrictions for exchange or refund of both full fare (flexible) and discount (non-flexible) tickets vs the Bahn.

I included the reservation cost with the Bahn ticket to compare straight across, because RailEurope requires them. But the Bahn does not recommend or require reservations for this train. Only once have I been on an ICE that was SRO, and in that case half the seats were not reserved. Those train originate in Munich, so if you get there a little early, you can find an unreserved seat. By not reserving seats you can save even more vs RailEurope.

Here are the basics of researching rail travel and prices in Europe. Before you consider renting a car for a trip, always follow these steps.

1) Forget you ever heard the words "Rail Europe." They are a reseller, they do not list all tickets, and they usually mark up the tickets they sell, sometimes substantially. Unless you have a VERY specific reason to use them, don't.

2) To find train routes schedules for almost all of Europe, use the Bahn (German Rail) website http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en, following Rick's tutorial: http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/online-schedules

3) That site will only have prices for trains that start or end in Germany (such as yours). To get the best possible prices for other trains, you almost always want to buy from the website of the country where the train originates, although there are exceptions. Here's a great list, from the rail guru The Man In Seat 61: http://tinyurl.com/bo8x6o6

4) Most international trains, and faster domestic trains in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and England (among others) have discounts (often massive) for advance purchase, if you can work with non-refundable and non-exchangeable tickets (or with significant restrictiond on those actions). Domestic tickets in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Belgium (with a few exceptions) do not have discounts for advance purchase.

5) For some places like France and Spain, it can be a bit complicated to book train tickets online (if you need these post your route here, and we'll help with the tricks). But the Bahn website is easy to navigate. You book the ticket with a credit card, get it in your e-mail as a PDF, and print it at home (it says you need A4 paper, but 8.5 x 11 works fine). On the train, you show the printout along with the credit card you used to book the ticket. The conductor scans your ticket, swipes your credit card, and you're set. For two or more traveling together on advance discount tickets in Germany, the discounts are even greater than for solo travelers. When my mother and I went from Berlin to Dresden in 2012, the one way full fare was €38 per person, but the one way advance purchase was €19 for one person and €29 for two. So, with advance tickets we saved €94 on that one round-trip alone!

6) A quick trick to find out whether or not a particular train has a big price difference for advance purchase: look at prices for your dates, then for later today or tomorrow. If you can live with the last minute prices, no need to pre-book. If you want the discounts and can live with the restrictions, book ASAP (once the cheap tickets are gone for a particular route, they're gone).