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Getting from Luzern to Munich

Posted by (Napa Valley, Ca) on

Hello All!
We will be traveling from Luzern to Munich after our stay in Switzerland. Would like to buy train or bus tickets early for this trip in Sept. My husband and I will each have a half-fare card for Switzerland. I know that you can save some real cash by purchasing train/bus tickets ahead of time for Germany. Would it make sense to use the Swiss half fare card to get to border town of Germany? If that is the case, I would buy tickets now for the other leg to Munich.

If so, what border town would we leave from?
Another question: would it make sense to go instead from Luzern to Zurich by train and then catch a train or bus from there to Munich instead? (by the way I am seeing that the bus is actually quicker than the train trip).
Has anyone taken the bus instead of train and how was it?

Hope I haven't made this too confusing, thanks for any input.
Karen

Posted by
20067 posts

If you buy a nonrefundable now, www.sbb.ch/en says 36 CHF for mid September day. It is exactly the same price with a Swiss Half Fare card. If you went by rail to Lindau, Germany, with a Half Fare card it is 35 CHF. So it is clearly best price to buy the nonrefundable ticket now.

The 36 CHF price is very discounted already, so the Half Fare Card saves nothing. The price at Deutsche Bahn is 29.90 EUR which is 35 CHF equivalent, so buying at DB saves a buck (sorry, CHF).

This is for the bus routing. The bus station at Zurich is at Sihlquai station out side the main Zurich station. The bus takes you to Munich ZOB (central bus station) which is 1 stop on the S-Bahn from Munich main station.

Posted by
5581 posts

I don't know how much this will help, but I went from Salzburg to Luzern. We prepurchased a ticket from Salzburg to Buchs and from there used our swiss travel pass. We did have to go Buchs to Zurich to Luzern. I would check Munich to Buchs or Basel.

Posted by
20067 posts

Munich via Buchs or Basel would be a very long way around. The route or train to Zurich, then the bus to Munich is indeed the fastest route. They are upgrading the railway line between Munich and Lindau, so there are delays on the EC train route. After the upgrade is complete, I think the plan is to have the travel time on the EC train to be faster than the bus, but that will be some time in the future.

Take care that you know exactly how to get from Zurich Hbf to Sihlquai bus depot. Here is the google map.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Z%C3%BCrich,+Switzerland/@47.3791351,8.5385744,18z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x47900b9749bea219:0xe66e8df1e71fdc03!8m2!3d47.3768866!4d8.541694

You can walk inside the station along the north most track (Track 18) to the elevator shown on the map and the exit to the street and Sihlquai is across the street.

Posted by
61 posts

Thank you for the replies! We will take the train to Zurich and then the bus, buying tics soon.

Posted by
61 posts

Another question Sam:
Which station in Zurich do I want to catch the bus from to Munich? There are so many stations listed for Zurich.
Thanks!

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