Train/bus? from Munich to Prague

The best site to see your options for both schedule and price is the Deutsche Bahn (German railway) link at Looking Up Train Schedules and Routes Online. There are both direct trains and buses, with route options depending on the time of day. Price will depend on how early you buy the ticket. Both special offers and full fares are displayed together when you search for any particular travel date within about the next 4 months.

We've looked at Goeuro and several other sites.

You obviously didn't look at the German Rail (Bahn) website. Why not?

The fastest way from Munich to Prague is the Bahn IC bus, which leaves from the Munich ZOB at Hackerbrücke. These buses leave every couple of hours and the trip takes 4H40min.

There are direct train from Munich to Prague in about 5¾ hours, but there are multiple places to board the train between Munich and the Czech border.

it looks like some of the trains only go part way and then you have to
bus the rest of the way

There are some connection that go by way of train (ICE) to Nürnberg where you catch the IC bus to Prague, but those are not the only connections.

As Laura and Lee stated, it's best to go to bahn.de for schedules and fares. (You can choose your language at the upper right.) Bus is fastest, train/bus combo next. We used the IC bus/ICE train to get from Prague to Munich earlier this month; it was a very easy and comfortable trip. If you choose a connection with the ICE train at Nuremburg, it is a short walk from the train to the bus--and the connection provided by Deutsche Bahn will allow ample time to get from one place to the other. (Helpful employees will guide you in the right direction!) Once in Prague, know that the "Wilsonova" arrival station is right at the main train station, upper level. Two marvelous cities--enjoy them both!

There is a reason why finding info about Munich to Prague is so difficult (apart from using a 3rd party agent who just trawls publicly available data sources). It's a complicated tale of competition and DBs failed attempts to stop it, the introduction of the IC Bus being (not for the first time) an attempt to maintain monopoly. Anyway, the outcome of all this is that you need to be dealing with Alex, a subsidiary of Trenitalia. And if you thought that was mad, the main station in Prague is run by a different part of Italian state railways, which explains a lot!

The german government require DB to include trains from other companies in their database but the system is sufficiently complicated to make them hard to find. And if you do find these the DB site will tell you there are no special offers.

so, the schedules as they stand http://www.laenderbahn.com/downloads/fahrplan/alex/ALX_Fahrplan062017_Prag_WEB.pdf
note they use the Czech name Praha in the schedule as it is also used there but may use the German name Prag within germany.

Unfortunately the Italians have decided the Alex website should only be in German but here is the ticket info.
http://www.laenderbahn.com/alex/tickets/prag-spezial/
flat fares, Munich -Prague of €36 one way and €65 return, these can be booked online or you can just board the train and buy the ticket off the staff straight away, usually in the cafe car. The direct IC Bus may have a cheaper price but they require advance reservation at any price.

The ironic thing is that lower down the page they give a comparison of their journey with other forms of travel - using data from Goeuro, although they don't guarantee accuracy!

Thanks for your feedback, looks like the bus is the most logical option. We're excited to be joining the Rick Steves Prague and Budapest tour!

Flexbus Munich to Regensburg (appx 2 hours). Regensburg is on the Danube river cruise stop, one ship in port. Do a search of Regensburg's sites. This town is a gem. Stay over 1 night. Flexbus to Prague (appx 3 1/2 hrs). Cost of 2 buses $12 per person. Pros: See the country side. Cons: Time. The route can be done in one day (appx 5 1/2 hrs). In general, CZ train costs can be less. Once at the German border the cost may go up. I made a mistake on the route from a small community north of Prague heading to Dresden. On the CZ side it cost me nothing, appx 2-3 dollars. Note: I have never been on a German Train without someone checking tickets.

SteveB,

methinks you are a bit negative about this. I've not had trouble finding the four direct ALX trains from Munich to Prague on the Bahn website. Just put in Muenchen Hbf and Prague, Prag, or Praha as the start and destination and you will find the trains leaving Munich at 4:55, 9:01, 12:44, and 17:02.

As for the 36€ and 65€ one-way and roundtrip fares, they are found on Bahn.de by searching under Prag Spezial. The fares can be found here (§ 4.1). It's only in German, but you will be in German; that's the language. I'm not sure how to buy the Prague Spezial tickets online¹, but they are available at automats or for 2€ more at counters.

1. Edit: They can be ordered at the DB Regio Shop (again, in German).

Finally, you can use a combination of Bayern- or Bayern-Böhmen-Tickets plus Czech Rail tickets. The Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket is valid on regional trains up to Plzen. Several of the ALX trains are classified as ECs (not regional) in Czechia, so you can't use the Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket. Others are classified as EX, so you can. If it's an EC, use a regular Bayern-Ticket to Furth im Wald and a Czech ticket from there. Czech Rail tickets from Plzen or Furth are the equivalent of 4,65€ or 16,-€ respectively. You can purchase Czech tickets on cd.cz. I'm not sure if you can buy the cheaper Czech tickets on an ALX train, particularly at Furth. For two or more people, it will be less expensive to use the Bayern/Böhmen-Ticket than to use the Prag Spezial. The Bayern/Böhmen tickets also have the advantage that they can be used from anywhere in Bavaria, not just Munich, Regensburg, and Nürnberg.

It's kind of ironic. The Czech fare from Furth to Plzen is the same for the EC or EX (and most other trains, too), but you can use the pass on the EX but not on the EC.

We used the Czech train and it was great. I get motion sick on busses sometimes, so I always prefer a train. It had a lot of stops so it took a little longer than the bus, but the train was clean, the views were great and it was no problem to get from Munich train station to Prague central train station with no bus involved. We had a 4 pod in 2nd class and there was a snack trolley that served Czech beer. We used a private shuttle to get to our hotel near the old town arriving in the evening, and it was about $30. The train booked well in advance was about $17 (350 crowns) pp.

This is the route and time we used.

https://www.cd.cz/vlak/351/9.11.2017/8000261/4.55/5457076/10.41/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/42009895@N07/36132106780/in/album-72157684046005152/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/42009895@N07/36132105420/in/album-72157684046005152/

The german government require DB to include trains from other companies in their database but the system is sufficiently complicated to make them hard to find. And if you do find these the DB site will tell you there are no special offers.

The German government has no influence whatsoever on the contents of the DB database. It's the conventions of the TBNE ("Tarifverband der Bundeseigenen und Nichtbundeseigenen Eisenbahnen in Deutschland") according to which the DB has to include all services of TNBE members including the ALEX trains. If those members offer cross-border services (as the Länderbahn does) the official international tariffs according to the TCV / SCIC ("Tarif commun international pour le transport des voyageurs") rules have to be shown. Special offers of those companies will not be included in the DB database unless they pay for it. So, while I agree that DB is a nasty company that constantly tries to trick its customers, in that point they behave correctly.

As for train travel from Germany to Czechia and vv, it's alway a good idea to start with the E-Shop (not: the web site) of Czech Rail to find the best prices. For selected destinations it offers extremly cheap tickets, e.g. Praha hl.n. - Nürnberg for czk 293 / €11.20.

For other destination in Bavaria (I don't know about trips into or from Saxony), considering that the Bayern - Bohemen Ticket is not valid on all trains, the most promising way is to use a Bayern Ticket to the Czech border and an regular czech ticket in Czechia. That's very easy for trips via Cheb and Bayrisch Eisenstein, which are common Czech/German tariff points. Its a bit more complicated for trips via Furth im Wald where you need (a) a Bayern Ticket valid as far as Furth, (b) a domestic Czech train ticket from Prague to the Czech border station Czeska Kubice and (c) an »international« ticket to cover the 3 km gap between Czeska Kubice to Furth im Wald (the cheapest international ticket from Praha hl.n. to Furth im Wald is czk 420 / €16.15 but from Praha to Ceska Kubice it's czk 254 / €9.50 only; the ticket for the "gap" is czk 85 / €3).

There's a fair chance that all the interoperating is at least partially as a result of the "Open Access" policies of the European Union. It is spreading all over the EU.

By the way, can anybody fill me in on Goeuro, a new name to me?

like Rome2rio - ie not very good because the techy who wrote the search engine algorithm doesn't understand travel or local offers.

Tom, beautiful pictures of Prague and Paris.