Munich to Venice by Train

When you land at the Munich airport you will have to take the S-Bahn to Munich’s main train station to take any long distance trains. The airport is only connected to the regional light rail line.

There are trains leaving every hour to Innsbruck. The next day you can catch a train over the Brenner Pass to Venice.

There are also night trains from Munich directly to Venice if you wanted to stay and explore Munich for a day or two.

sharon,

That trip is very easy via direct train (no changes) from Munich to Venice, which travels through the beautiful Brenner Pass. There are only a few direct trains each day (others with changes) and the one I'd use departs Munich at 11:38, arriving Venice at 18:10. It's not necessary to stay in Innsbruck, however if you wanted to do that it's certainly possible (I try to avoid one night stops whenever possible).

I assume you'll be staying in Munich for a few days prior to this trip, and not travelling direct from the airport?

If you wish to stay one night in Innsbruck, there are a few direct trains from Munich Hbf to Innsbruck Hbf, with a travel time of 1H:45M. For the trip from Innsbruck to Venice, there is one direct train departing 13:27, arriving 18:10 (that's the same train as the direct departure from Munich). If you'd prefer a different departure time there are numerous other trains, usually with one change at Verona Porta Nuova. Note that your destination station will be Venezia Santa Lucia.

Happy travels!

Thanks for the responses. We have just the one night to spend somewhere between Munich and Venice (flight already scheduled and Venice hotels booked), and we wanted to go the 'scenic' route thru Brenner Pass via train. However I'm open to suggestions about where to stay for one night that first night. I thought Innsbruck looked interesting, with views of mountains and on the train route so not requiring extra travel time. The rest of our trip is in Italy and Switzerland, with multiple days at each destination, so this one stop is an exception. We got better flight to Munich, plus an opportunity to see a tiny bit of Germany and Austria, perhaps scoping out for the next adventure. Given all that, does one night in Innsbruck make sense?

Look up schedules on the German Rail website's query page

Use "Venice Santa Lucia" for Venice or "Innsbruck Hbf" for the main station in Innsbruck, depending on whether want the entire trip to Venice or just the segment to Innsbruck.

For Munich, you can use "Munich airport T" if you want to see a schedule including the S-Bahn from the airport. Or you can use "Munich Hbf" for the main station (Hauptbahnhof), from which most trains to Innsbruck leave.

If you look at the entire trip from the airport, it will probably show you a route with a change to the long distance train at Muenchen Ost (Munich's east station). That will be the fastest connection, but the EC only stops for a few minutes at Ostbahnhof, so you you have to get right on, and you'll only have twelve minutes to figure out the station and find the next train. (The S8 goes from the airport to Ost every 20 min, so if you can catch an earlier on, you'll have more time to find the connecting train). If you change at the Hbf, the train originates there, so you could have time to find and board it. To see the schedule with the change at the Hbf, put in "Munich Hbf" as the stopover.

Actually, why not spend the first day and night in Munich? There is plenty to see there. Then take the direct train the next day all the way to Venice. That way you can take advantage of an advance purchase, train specific Saving Fare ticket (not recommended for use the same day as you land) for as little as 49€ per person from Munich Hbf to Venice.

There are five Eurocity trains per day directly to Verona. Usually, only one of those continues on to Venice. The rest either terminate in Verona or go on to another Italian city. Unless you take the train that continues on to Venice, you'll need to change there to an Italian train to Venice.

Thanks - that's helpful info about the trains. Will consider staying first night in Munich since that would allow us to prebook whole trip to Venice with more certainty of schedule. Haven't been to Germany before. Any suggestions on what we should see if in Munich for one night? Any other comments about Munich versus a night in Innsbruck?

I would normally suggest the Deutsches Museum, but that would be an all day affair. It might be pretty hard to do if you have just arrived on a trans-Atlantic flight. You'll probably want to just rest. If you get a hotel somewhere along the Hauptbahnhof-Marienplatz zone, just explore the shops, check out the Frauenkirche, have a cup of coffee in Marienplatz, visit the Hofbräuhaus.

If you buy a Gesamtnetz Partner Tageskarte (entire network day ticket for up to 5 people), for 21,30€, it will cover your trip into town on the S-Bahn plus any other travel that day on conveyance (S-Bahn, U-Bahn, trams, and buses) of the MVV (Munich metro). Take the tram (#17) from the north side of the Hbf out to Nymphenburg, the park-like summer palace of the Wittelsbachers.