My husband and I will be flying to Munich in mid-May -- immediately taking the train to Salzburg for a few days. From Salzburg we travel back to Munich (Hauptbahnhof—Central Station) for 5 days. We will do day trips from Munich to Garmisch and to Dachau, etc. We will travel by train from Munich to Regensburg for a few nights and then from Regensburg to Prague. Lastly we will travel from Prague back to the Munich airport. We wish to do all of this by public transportation—by train, I believe. I was told that there is a Bavarian pass but I don’t know if you can use it at all of these venues and if you must purchase in advance. I find this very confusing…please help!
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
You are talking about the Bayern Ticket. It includes all the places you list (Salzburg is in Austria, but it is served by German trains)
Details here: https://www.bahn.com/en/view/offers/regional/regional-day-tickets.shtml
Validity
The ticket is valid from 09:00 until 03:00 on the following day. On weekends, public holidays and on 24 and 31 December you can use the ticked the whole day starting from midnight.
All local and regional trains, transport association services and almost all bus routes in Bavaria. (I.e. not IC or ICE trains).
Price
Price in 2nd class: EUR 25 plus EUR 6 per extra passenger (max. 4).
Map of the rail routes covered and stations: https://www.bahn.de/p/view/mdb/pv/deutschland_erleben/allgemein/tickets/pdfs_laender-tickets/2015/mdb_190311_streckenkarte_bay_2015.pdf
Leaflet (German only): https://www.bahn.de/p/view/mdb/bahnintern/angebotsberatung/regio/laender-tickets/pdfs/2017/mdb_249087_bayern-ticket-flyer-2017.pdf
Look up train times on the DB (German Railways) website: https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml
Dachau is a suburb of Munich. If that is all you are visiting that day (or other days you are staying in Munich), there are cheaper options for Munich.
P.S. you can buy the Bayern Ticket on the day from any ticket machine at any station in Bavaria.
Posted by
Germany
268 posts
For the trip outside Bavaria, or in general to look up connections and compare prices, check bahn.com (though, for the trips from/to Prague, also check the Czech railway company cd.cz - they might sell cheaper tickets for the same trains).
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
The exception is the trip to Prague and back which will not be covered by any day pass - there is a so-called Bayern-Boehmen Ticket which also covers the part of the Czech Republic that is closest to the border, but it doesn't extend as far as Prague. The Munich-Prague service is not operated by Deutsche Bahn but by a private company called Alex which has a cheaper and less restrictive fare policy - see https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/munich-to-prague-by-train.htm for details in English.
Posted by
Bavaria
2529 posts
Regensburg - Prague:
Take the ALEX train but look for tickets at the e-shop of the Czech Railways for cheap tickets ("Europa First, ca. €15, print at home). If sold out, there are two other options:
get a "Prag Spezial" ticket either from the operator's website (http://www.laenderbahn.com/alex/tickets/prag-spezial/ - German only, look for "Einfache Fahrt" and "online kaufen") or buy it simply from the conductor aboard the train *); €24 each.
get a "Bayern-Böhme-Ticket" from any DB vending machine (€26 + €6.60 each additional traveller), which covers you until Plzen and book (and print out) a standard one way ticket from there to Prague at the CD e-shop (ca €5 each).
Tickets under Nr. 1 and 2 don't sell out but are subject to the 9am rule.
Important: never buy a train ticket to Prague from the DB - they offer the international standard fare (€64) only (ALEX trains are run by a competitor, ultimately the Italian state railway)
Prague - Munich Airport:
Look up www.busliniensuche.de for buses that stop at Munich airport (DB buses don't, some Leo buses, aka Student Agency, do). If you cannot find a bus that stops at the airport you can either 1. take a direct bus Prague - Munich ZOB and take S1 or S8 from there ("München Hackerbrücke") to the airport, or 2. take the ALEX train from Prague to Freising and transfer from there by bus to the airport; timewise there isn't much difference provided you take the fastest bus; else the train/bus combo is a bit faster.
*) Never do that aboard a DB train - you will incure a hefty fine (€60).
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19423 posts
The Bahn Fernbus (formerly IC Bus) from Munich to Prague used to stop on one run per day an the Munich airport, but it now makes the stop on the first run of the morning in Regensburg from 9:15 to 9:20. It gets to Prague at 12:40. That's the fastest way (3h20m) from Regensburg to Prague; everthing else is about 5 hours. If you purchase the ticket in advance you can get a bus specific, non-refundable fare of 14,90€/P, which is also about the cheapest fare to Prague.
The direct ALX train from Munich to Prague doesn't run in May (until the 31st). It runs in June and most of July, then again starting Sept 11. For most of May, it runs from Munich only as far as Nyrany. You can pick it up in Regensburg at 10:06 and go as far as Domazlice, where you can catch an OS to Pilsen. The Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket will cover you to Pilsen. In Pilsen you will have 17 minutes to buy your ~5€ ticket to Prague. The stopover in Domazlice is 34 minutes; you'd have more time to buy a Pilsen to Prague ticket there.
You can find connections on the Bahn Query webpage. Some connections might not go through Pilsen. For those that don't, this map shows the area of validity for the Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket.