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Munich to Bolzano

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I booked a trip which ultimately goes Munich -> Bolzano -> Verona -> Venice -> Innsbruck -> Munich

At first, I didn't think this was going to be that difficult to manage since the trains from Munich to just about anywhere are frequent. But then as I'm looking at booking tickets in what I thought was well in advance, I'm seeing that the best options are 5+ transfers and 6 hours minimum just to get from Munich to Bolzano by train. EDIT: Some of the comments mentioned that I should include the travel date - which I added in a comment to this post, but adding it here as well. I'd be traveling on August 14 from Munich to Bolzano.

I'm traveling with a party of 4 adults and 2 children (1 and 3 years old), so that many transfers is less than ideal to put it simply. We have a friend who did a very similar trip (by coincidence) a few weeks ago and she mentioned that they got to Bolzano in maybe 4 hours with one transfer in Innsbruck, but after searching just about every train booking site (OBB, DB, RailEurope, thetrainline, Trenitalia, Omio), I'm starting to think she was lying, got very lucky with timing, or I'm being completely dense about how I'm searching for train options.

I also checked Apple Maps, which does claim that there's an easy trip with only 1 transfer, but I find this hard to believe if none of the previously listed options aren't showing anything remotely convenient.

There is a bus which is more or less direct from Munich to Bolzano which has a reasonable travel time of about 4.5 hours, but then we need to bring a carseat for the 3 year old, which would essentially be useless after the trip to Bolzano and is just something we have to lug around as we continue the journey.

Any tips on how to make this work? Any other train booking options I haven't checked?

Posted by
2460 posts

Take your search to bahn.de - I see a trip from 13:33 - 17:27 (approx. 4 hrs., no changes)

Posted by
22546 posts

Tell us your exact travel date so we can confirm. Right now, I see a direct train every 2 hours from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm.

Posted by
2861 posts

You don’t mention a date, so maybe there is construction happening on your date that causes the connections? I looked on the DB Navigator app for 12/4, and I see 4 direct trains, each just under 4 hours. Departing at 9:33, 11:32, 1:33 and 3:33. Later trains have multiple connections.

If you’re looking past mid-December, the schedules probably are not available yet for all trains. They will be released in October.

Posted by
2 posts

It's gotta be a travel date issue if everyone here is finding journeys. I'd be leaving from Munich to Bolzano on August 14.

Might be peak travel times here in Germany / Italy or something, or maybe planned construction on the normal rail line? Not sure how I'd confirm if there's planned work being done on that date, though.

Posted by
22546 posts

You are right, All through trains cancelled from Mon Aug 18 to thru Sun Aug 24. Looks like it is a series of replacements buses all along the way from Salzburg to Brixen.

Does not the bus you are looking at have rental car seats?

It part of the problem with booking train travel in the summer when all the rail repair projects get scheduled.

Posted by
6 posts

We traveled Bolzano to Frankfurt in May. Our train left two hours late from Bolzano, we were stopped on the tracks near Innsbruck for about one hour and finally got to Frankfurt six hours late. Passengers on the train told us that German trains are often late. So I would plan as few transfers as possible and allow plenty of time to get to your destination.

Posted by
22546 posts

The date of the OP's travel makes that suggestion impossible. .

Posted by
3348 posts

What is happening is that the Brenner Railway is closed for a week for maintenance. At the same time the Salzburg - Worgl via Germany corridor is also impacted by engineering works. (That the railways of Europe need to coordinate those works better is a huge issue...)

So the direct two hourly Munich - Italy RJ/EC services are routed via the Tauern Railway and Tarvisio, so as a result do not come anywhere near Bolzano.

So the only trains left on the route are local ones, and the ones over the mountain pass are replaced by busses/

So yes, you will unavoidably have to take a series of trains and busses. Transfers are a normal and expected feature of train travel, and most people would not think a lot of it. It will break up the journey, but the journey is still possible.

What I would do is:

  • Leave early. Leave on the NJ421 as that is the only direct train to Innsbruck that day. This is a night train, but it has seating cars as well.
  • Then in Innsbruck you continue on local trains to Bolzano, and some of those locals will be part substituted by busses. But these service frequent, so if you miss one you just take the next.

Are you on an Eurail Pass (since you are booking so late?)

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