We will be ending our Rick Steves Eastern European trip in Lake Bled and then travel on to Munich for 2 nights to take advantage of visiting Oktoberfest in September, then flying home out of Munich. We are staying in a town close to the Munich airport called Erding. I'm trying to figure out which saves more time, renting a car or taking the train.from Lake Bled. From what I have gathered, we can take a train fro Lake Bled to the center of Munich, take another train to our hotel in Erding, drop off our bags then take the train back to the center of Munich for Oktoberfest. Or I was thinking of renting a car in Lake Bled (or Ljubljana) driving straight to Munich airport to drop off the car, cab to hotel (very close to airport), check-in and then take the train to the center of Munich.
Not sure how hard it would be to get a rental car in Lake Bled?
Can you catch a train in Lake Bled or Ljubljana?
If anyone has any tips or ideas, I would sure appreciate your input.
Posted by
Green Bay
20085 posts
A one way rental from Slovenia would be expensive if they would even let you do it. Since they can't rent a car with Slovenian plates in Germany, it would have to be transported back to Slovenia. Guess who pays for that?
You can get a train from Bled Jezero to Erding taking 7 hours with train changes at Jesenice and Munich Ost. Leaves at 9:21 and gets you to Erding at 4:22 pm. Time enough for a last hurrah at Oktoberfest.
Posted by
OP
California
25 posts
Thank you Sam for your response. Looks like taking the train is the way to go. What's the best site to book the train?
Posted by
Green Bay
20085 posts
www.bahn.com
I just looked and it can't be booked until until 6 months before your travel date, which is not too long from now.
Looks like it it is going for 39 EUR per person as a Sparpreis Europa Slowenien. That is changeable up to 1 day before departure for a 19 EUR fee plus the fare difference of the new ticket.
Posted by
Slovenia
470 posts
There are direct trains from Bled and Ljubljana to Munich. From Bled, you would have to use the mainline Lesce Bled station instead of Bled Jezero to eliminate the change in Jesenice.
Trains originating in Slovenia cannot be booked online, I'm afraid. You may be able to do it through Deutsche Bahn or OBB but the website might instruct you to pick up the tickets at a DB or OBB ticket machine, of which there are none in Slovenia. SZ offers tickets to Munich from €29.
Edit: Please disregard my comment regarding online booking, it appears it now can be done through DB with the tickets being mailed to you.
Posted by
Washington DC
27109 posts
You could save a bit of time by taking Flixbus rather than the train. You'd need to get back to Ljubljana to pick up the Munich bus. Even a taxi from Bled to Ljubljana was not exorbitant in 2015--and you might be able to share with a tourmate--but you might get lucky with the timing of the Bled-Ljubljana bus; just be prepared to summon a taxi if the bus doesn't show up on time.
The schedule currently shows a 10:25 AM Flixbus departure that arrives in Munich at 3:45 PM.
Posted by
Green Bay
20085 posts
Note that the OP still has to get from the Hackerbruecke bus station to their hotel in Erding. If the bus arrives at 3:45 pm, they still have to get to the S-Bahn station 10 minutes away and the train to Erding which takes about an hour, so they arrive just a bit later than using the train.
Posted by
OP
California
25 posts
Thank you all for your input!