Paris to Munich advice needed

If you rent a car and drive that's going to use a couple of your days, then a couple more getting back to Paris - unless you drop the car in Munich which will be extremely expensive. Your other options are train or fly from Paris to Munich and back or you could take the train one way and fly the other. Train is a little over 6 hrs. Flight time is much shorter, especially if you're already at the airport in Paris. Depending on how far out you get the tickets they could be about equal in cost.

My thought would be to fly directly from Paris to Munich when you arrive, if you can get a decent flight. You're at the airport anyway. Then take the train from Munich back to Paris since you'll be going into Paris proper to stay for a couple of days and train will get you right into town, rather than having to get from the airport to your hotel in Paris.

Just a thought.

With only 9 days, I would not try to drive, especially after an overnight flight from the US. Take a look at skyscanner.net to find a flight from Paris to Munich. You don't indicate when you are going, but I see airfares for $55 on Air France on a 1 and 1/2 hour flight. You could also take a direct train between Paris and Munich but that requires a transfer to the train station in Paris for the 6+ hour train ride. I would try the flight option to Munich. For the return to Paris, you could make your way from Munich to the Rhine valley for a night or two and then return to Paris by train. Bahn.de is the best site for train schedules and tickets.

It is generally not advised to get off an International flight and rent a car the first day as you will be very tired, have to deal with rush hour traffic around Paris, navigating, etc.

You could also do Paris on your arrival. Then you could get cheap advanced purchase train or airline tickets to Munich, and return to Paris airport. You could also get cheap flights the night before to Paris CDG and spend the night in one of the airport hotels before leaving the next morning.

If you want to head to Germany straight away, your easiest option is to take the TGV from the airport to Strasbourg and spend the night enjoying Strasbourg and do some jet lag recovery. Next morning take the train to Munich with a change at Stuttgart.
The Strasbourg train leaves the airport at 10:29. That sounds late, but you do not know if your flight will be delayed or how long it will take to get your bags and clear immigration etc. There are other options to get to Strasbourg, like taking the RER train into Paris and walking from Gare du Nord to Gare de l'Est, which is about a half mile, there are also options of taking the Metro, bus, or taxi. Trains going to central and southern Germany use Gare de l'Est, but there are trains early in the morning, too early for you to make, then late morning trains. You could continue on from Strasbourg all the way to Munich on your arrival day as well, getting you to Munich by 5:30 pm. Your choice.

When you want to go out in the country, you could rent a car in Munich, and drop it after you are done touring south Germany, then get a train back to Paris for a couple of days before you leave.

Thanks for all the great advice. Stephen...where do you see those good rates? Never mind, I see it on their site

A word of caution on booking the Paris to Munich flight - make sure you have plenty of time to get through immigration and to your next flight. I would make sure that I have 3 hours or more to get to the second flight. That way, if your incoming flight is delayed a little, you can still get the second one.

Thanks so much. Our flight we picked leaves at 1:25, so I think we are safe.

bp,

While you could take a flight from Paris to Munich, when all is considered it might be just as fast (or even faster) to take the train. Do NOT consider driving after a long international flight, a practice which has been compared to driving while impaired.

A few thoughts......

If you were going to take a connecting flight, you'd first have to go through Passport control, collect your checked luggage, find your next terminal (CDG is not the easiest airport for connections), check-in, go through security and then wait for your flight to board. When you get to Munich, you'll have to wait for your checked luggage and then take the S-Bahn into the city (which takes about an hour as I recall). All of that will take time, which will probably be at least six hours.

An alternative would be to travel by train, which will likely be at least as fast and will most certainly be more pleasant and relaxing. In the same situation, I might do something like this.....

• After Passport control and collecting luggage, take a Taxi to Paris Est station. Although I don't normally suggest buying rail tickets to connect with an inbound flight, in this case it might work if you buy tickets for a departure at 11:25 (there are earlier trains but you'd be better to buy the more expensive "walk-up" tickets if using those). They have Saver Fares currently advertised at €89 PP.
• When in the station, pick up some sandwiches or whatever for lunch (or you can buy food on the train).
• The first segment of that trip is via TGV which travels at up to 300 km/h, and you'll have some time to have a nap during the trip and enjoy the scenery (but keep an eye on your luggage).
• The TGV arrives in Stuttgart at 15:04 where you'll have to change trains. The next segment will be via ICE which is also a fast train.
• In a bit more than two hours after the change in Stuttgart, you'll be arriving at Munch Hbf at 17:27. Total travel time from Paris with that train will be 6H:02M.
• If you decide to take that route and buy advance train tickets, I'd suggest the www.captaintrain.com website, which sells tickets for both France and Germany (as well as Italy).

As you can see, the "great rate into Paris* is not the only factor to consider. Flying direct to Munich would have been a much easier and less stressful solution.

Gute Reise!