My 19 year old son is a first time traveler. He will be going solo to Wels, Austria to attend the YOUKI festival, later this month. He will be flying to Munich and taking the train to Wels. Before we book his train I would appreciate any advice on how to make this part of his trip easier.Thanks :)
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
If you book his ticket today on the German Rail site, you can get a discount fare as low as €39.00 for some departure times. The first leg may be on a bus. Discount fare tickets are for a specific departure date and time and are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. If you book such a ticket, allow lots of extra time between his scheduled arrival at the Munich airport and his scheduled departure from the airport.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19092 posts
The connection that Tim mentions, the one that uses a bus, goes from the airport (MUC) to Freising Bhf by bus, then to Plattling by regional train, and to Wels by ICE. He can purchase the ticket online for the Freising to Wels part of the trip as a Europa-Spezial Österreich fare for 39 € up; the 20 min trip from the airport to Freising would cost an additional 2,50€. He could also get an all rail ticket from MUC to Wels with a leg from MUC to Munich Hbf via S-Bahn for 39€ up, but that would require some backtracking. Unfortunately, the Plattling to Wels leg of that trip would be train specific, so if his flight to MUC was late, the ticket could be worthless. He could also buy a Bayern-Ticket for one person for 22€. That would allow him to take the bus to Freising and a regional train to Passau. He could then purchase Passau to Wels as a separate regional ticket for 19,20€. That connection would cost about the same but be 50 min slower. However, the ticket would not be train specific, so he could arrive in Munich airport at anytime and still use it (also buy it there; there is no advance purchase benefit).
Posted by
Ojai, CA
591 posts
Tim & Lee are 2 of the experts on this forum and their input is always right on. Since you wanted an Easy way for your son to travel, here's my suggestion: NOT book the travel in advance. At the Munich airport buy the Bayern Ticket, €22.
Instead of going to Passau via Freising, I'd take the S-bahn to the Munich Ost station, then transfer to a regional train to Salzburg. The Bayern Ticket is good all the way to Salzburg. At the Salzburg station buy a ticket to Wels (about an hour trip). This would also give him the option to check out Salzburg for a couple hours before continuing to Wels.