You may find that the train is as cheap as the bus at least for your inbound trip.  There are special fares from Berlin to Prague for as low as 29 euros. http://reiseauskunft…   For Prague to Munich, the lowest train fare I see is around 54 euros.  You could use a day of the railpass for the German portion of the trip, but that appears to be 19 to 34 euros, so probably not worth a day of railpass. 

Should we book these tickets before we leave or could we book a few days before while we are in europe? How do you think this would affect the price?  Thanks for your help.

You won’t have any trouble getting seats a few days in advance, but most of the cheap fares seem to require advance purchase of at least 3 days to a week.  This might help you figure out some of the special pricing —savings fare 25 and 50 are probably your best bet. http://www.bahn.de/i…

You can buy tickets 60 days in advance, I think, so you can use the link in my other post to check and see if cheap seats appear to sell out for the trains you’re likely to take.

The regular basic price for Berlin-Prague segment is €50.40 or CZK 1286. This can be bought right before the departure. If you use your railpass for the German part of the trip, you just need to buy a ticket for a segment Bad Schandau Gr.-Prague, since the Eurail pass will not be valid on Czech territory. That ticket should cost €11.20.

The trains for Prague leave Berlin Hauptbahnhof (the new main station) at 6:46 and then every two hours until 16:46 and arrive to Prague Holešovice station 4 and 3/4 hours later.

The regular price for Prague-Munich (via Plzen-Furth im Wald-Schwandorf-Regensburg) segment is €53.50 or CZK 1360. If you like the idea of “cheaper is better” then you may try to do this trip on Saturday or Sunday. The Czech railways offer, on these weekend days, a railpass called SONE+ and SONE+DB. The SONE+ allows you to travel without limit until midnight on the territory of Czech republic and to the first station beyond Czech border in any direction. The SONE+DB is the same, except it extends to German railways lines close to Czech border as well. In direction to Munich, the closest stations to Munich where SONE+DB is still valid, are Regensburg and Plattling on the Nuremberg-Passau line. From there you can travel to Munich for a basic fare or buy some kind of German discount weekend ticket (Wochenende ticket).

Information on SONE+ in English can be found here: http://www.cd.cz/sta… , unfortunately, the Czech railways forgot to translate the page about SONE+DB.

The price for SONE+ is CZK 130 for slow trains, CZK 390 for all trains.
The price of SONE+DB is CZK 230 for slow and CZK 490 for all trains.
(1 US dollar is about CZK 16. 1 euro is about CZK 25.)

This SONE+ ticket can be used by up to two adults accompanied by up to three children, all on one single ticket for the price above. It can be bought only on the day of its validity, which must be a Saturday or Sunday and expires at midnight the same day.

For your trip to Munich I suggest you use the SONE+ (Czech-only, all train variant for 390 crowns) until the first German stop and use one day of your Eurail pass for the rest of the trip. Usually you have to change at least once (in Schwandorf) on the way from Prague to Munich, but there is one direct fast train No. 456 “Albert Einstein” leaving Prague main station at 17:16 and arriving to Munich main station at 23:21.

You can use the Czech railways search engine to find all the connections or use www.bahn.de .

If you’re satisfied with Regensburg instead of Munich (Regensburg is also a cute Bavarian city on the Danube with a nice cathedral), don’t use up the day of your Eurail and buy SONE+DB all train version for CZK 490 and it will take you right there.

Hope I made it comprehensible If not, or if you have any further questions regarding travel in Czech republic and its vicinity, just ask.

P.S. There is also a night bus from Prague to Munich, leaving Prague Florenc bus terminal at 23:55 and arriving to Munich the next day at 5:30. The price is 750 CZK or 29 EUR per person.

Thanks Papyr, I’m sure this information will prove useful to lots of folks.

Any train trip over 7 hours – I always tell folks to take the night train between those cities.  You save on a hotel that night, and wake-up at your destination early in the a.m.  It’s only a few Euro’s more for a sleeper/couchette car.

Wow!! Thank you everyone for your help.  This helps alot.  I know I do not want to miss out on seeing Prague, i’ve just heard way too many good things about it.  I also found a Prague excursion pass from eurail but it seems as if it is only good from the border of Czech republic so I’m not so sure it would save me anything.  What do you guys think?

http://www.raileurop…

Thanks again!

90 US dollars is way too much for this thing, I consider this a rip-off. Count again: The trip from the Czech borderpoint on the Berlin line to Prague is €11.20 ($17.85). The Czech domestic ticket from Prague to the Bavarian borderpoints in direction to Munich is:
to Železná Ruda Alžbetín / Bayerisch Eisenstein: CZK 197 ($12.30)
to Furth im Wald (Gr): CZK 176 ($11)

So, if you want to make just these two train trips while in Czech republic, why bother buying a $90 pass that will entitle you to do the same trip you can do for under $30 using one-time tickets? Note that this $90 pass is not good on the municipal public transport in Prague (buses, trams, metro, funicular).

I emailed my friend in Prague who knows all the railway price discounts by heart, and I found an even cheaper way to get to Munich than I described in previous posts. I will describe it in a following post

In a land far, far away, nested in a cute hilly land among the forests, there is a railway station that is located right on the border. So actually it is in two lands, far far away. The building, the tracks, and the platforms are divided by a white line that marks the national border. One part of the building is in the Czech republic, and the other is in Germany.

For long forty years of the Communist rule, that station was divided not only by a border of two nations, but also a border of two enemy social systems – democratic and capitalist West Germany on one side, communist Czechoslovakia on the other. Barbed wire ran through the tracks and while on one side, folks were getting on and off the trains and drinking soda on the platform, on the other side stood a bunch of heavily armed soldiers, observing the border with the capitalist pigs, and guarding a three-mile zone of no man’s land. Naturally no trains came from Czech side. All of them ended 5 km further inland.

Now tables have turned, and the station is again open to public from both sides. Since both countries are in Schengen area now, no-one bothers to stop you to check your travel documents. But it is still a memorable place, documenting the once-impenetrable Iron Curtain that descended across the continent. The station has two names: Železná Ruda-Alžbetín in Czech, and Bayerisch Eisenstein in German. Strangely enough, it means “Iron Ore” in both languages (Iron Ore-Elisabethville and Bavarian Iron Ore).

Through this station runs the shortest way from Pragueto Munich, even though you need to change trains twice. The advantage of this station is, that you can reach it in both ways using cheaper domestic tickets instead of more expensive international ones.

Let’s take a virtual trip through this station. At 7 in the morning, we enter Prague’s Main station (Praha-hlavní nádraží), go to the domestic ticket office and buy a single ticket to Železná Ruda-Alžbetín. It will cost 197 crowns ($12.30) in second class, but if we detest drab leatherette seats in 2nd class Czech cars, we might buy the first-class ticket for 294 crowns ($18.40) and enjoy better seats, better legroom and fewer passengers.

The fast train No. 850 leaves at 7:16 every morning. We board it, find a seat and watch the country (and the engines) change. The hills begin to be higher, and finally we pass a tunnel under Spicak mountain, which separates the Baltic sea basin from the Black sea basin, the highest point on the track. Moments later, at 11:15, the train stops at its end station, Železná Ruda-Alžbetín.

We descend to a platform and walk across the white line, crossing the national border. On the German side of the building, we walk up to a vending machine that sells tickets and press the button marked “Bayern-Ticket-Single”. The sum of €19 lights up on the display. We throw 19 euros ($30) into the machine and the ticket comes out. (See English info on this Bayern Ticket here http://www.bahn.de/p… ). This thing is valid within the territory of the federal land of Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital. It is also valid on public transportation (buses, trams, subway, S-bahn) of Munich itself, so we’ll be able to get to our very hotel with this. Expires at 3 in the night tomorrow. Or we can use a day of our Eurail and not buy anything.

On the German end of the platform, we can see a modern, low-floor diesel train unit, leaving to Plattling. This is our train. But it leaves at 11:43, so we have half-an-hour to waste. If we have any Czech crowns left, we might visit a shop on the Czech side of the station and spend them there, like on a beer or great spa waffles.

The name “regional train” in Germany is somewhat confusing. The second class is as comfy as Czech first class, and even though we arrived on the Czech “fast” train, this “regional” German thing goes faster. At 12:52, we reach Plattling, the end-station.

Just minutes later, a RegionalExpress train from Passau arrives to Platform 4, which, at 12:58, continues further to Munich main station (München Hauptbahnhof). It will reach Munich at 14:36. Now it’s time to visit the Reisezentrum (Travel Centre) and ask the clerk what public transport line to use to get to our hotel. The journey is safely over

Wow! I’ll be the first to say: incredibly useful! I have no qualms about train transfers (call me a glutton for punishment, but I think they can be rather fun ) so little local tricks like this are indispensable. Granted, I plan on hitting my Prague—Munich leg by hitchhiking, but should that pan out as a rainy day, I’ll either extend my stay in Prague or take this train route and feel exceedingly clever! Haha

If you want to hitch hike, then let me reveal the best place to stand to you. It’s where the D5 highway from Prague to Bavaria begins with a dead end (or a dead beginning — is there such a word?). Take metro A to Hradcanska station and then bus 174 to “K Vidouli” bus stop. Or take metro B to Nove Butovice station and then buses 179 or 184 to “K Vidouli” bus stop. That stop is located right beside the first possible entry point to the D5 highway. Step to the on-ramp with a sign that says Munich. Everyone goes slow there, there’s plenty of space for them to stop safely and it’s technically not on a highway so it’s not illegal to hitch hike there. I often used this spot to hitch hike to Pilsen and I never waited more than 15 minutes.

Stellar, much appreciated papyr. Is this a really popular spot for hitchers? Sounds semi hard-to-reach, which is excellent.

There are actually just two spots for hitchhiking on the D5 (D5 being the only highway leading to former West Germany). Both of them are quite popular. One of them is the one I described (K Vidouli), harder to get to by public transport, but much easier to get a ride, since most people from central Prague get on the D5 here. And there is this other one, conveniently reachable by taking metro B to the end station Zlicin, but there is usually more hitchhikers, it’s further from the centre (so cars willing to take hitchhikers are already full), and it’s on perfectly straight segment, where everyone rides so fast that they don’t want to slow down.

I suggest you stand on the first one, K Vidouli. I made you a pic where to stand. People there have to go slow because it’s on a turn. Carry a sign MÜNCHEN. Unfortunately, German drivers don’t like to take hitchhikers in a foreign land, so probably you’ll have to wait a little for a Czech driver heading to Germany.

Thanks! Everything I might need to know

Since leaving Prague on train can’t be covered on Eurail, and since other people might be planning to head to other cities besides Munich, can you list any other good hitchhiking spots for Berlin, Vienna, Bratislava, etc.? If you know of any nice little train tricks to those places, that would be pretty great to hear too!

There are no good spots for hitchhiking on the D1 highway (to Bratislava and Vienna). One often used spot is located about 100 meters away from metro C stop Chodov. But a six-lane highway with a high speed limit and lots of local traffic makes that place extremely unpleasant for hitchhikers, especially long-distance ones. The most likely car you’ll manage to stop there will be a police car with unpleasant men-in-black, ignorant of any foreign language, who will give you a fine for hitchhiking on a motorway, which will be more expensive than a bus ticket to Bratislava or Vienna. And you won’t outrun the cops with a backpack. I strongly advice NOT to hitchhike on the D1 motorway.

On the northbound D8 highway that leads to Saxonia (and Berlin) there is only one popular spot for hitchhiking. It is located next to the newly opened station Strizkov on metro line C. I had to unskillfully draw the location of the station with red color, since it opened just last week and was not yet presented on the map. Just walk along Vysocanska street on the same side where the metro station is, when you come to the bridge above the motorway, there is a surprising half-abandoned staircase that leads down to the hitchhiking spot – and nowhere else!

To Bratislava and Vienna, it’s cheapest, fastest and most comfortable to take a bus. Just go to the Prague Florenc bus terminal (station Florenc on metro lines B and C) and ask when the nearest bus for these cities leaves. Adult ticket to Bratislava, or to Vienna, costs about 300 Kc ($18.50) depending on carrier. The duration of journey is the same as on the train, 4-5 hours, unless there is a jam or maintenance works on the damn D1 motorway. There’s about 10 direct buses to Bratislava every day (first one at 5:30 AM, last one at 10 PM) and about 4-5 direct buses to Vienna.

To Berlin, take a train, there’s a two-hour interval from station Praha Holesovice (metro station Nadrazi Holesovice on line C). Buy a domestic ticket from Prague to Bad Schandau Grenze (borderpoint) and an InterCity supplement, and use the day of your Eurail for the German part of the trip. Should be under 200 Kc ($12.50).

As always papyr, indispensible. Thanks a million! So basically, hitchhiking into Germany isn’t so bad, but Austria/Slovakia are quite a bit more difficult?

Looking on a basic map, it appears that Cesky Krumlov might be right on the D1, which would be unfortunate since I’d love to make a stop there. It’s every bit as likely that I’ll be entering Prague from the south as any other direction (really open itinerary haha), and while I imagine hitching out of Cesky toward Prague would be a much easier feat, are they indeed connected by the D1? If not, any decent spots to hitchhike on that route? I’m sure buses would be quite cheap, but hitching adds a certain je ne sais quoi to my travel experiences—I love it

I think questions about travel in and out of Prague can be directed to this thread for about the rest of time haha.

Basically it’s like this: Look at the overview map of Czech republic’s main roads (thin grey or light blue – just number), rapid highways (green – R letter) and long-distance motorways (dark blue – D letter) here:

http://www.rsd.cz/sd…

R and D roads have at least four lanes and hitchhiking on them is forbidden. You can only hitchhike on the connecting roads, on-ramps, or roadside gas stations, but not on an open highway.

You can clearly see that the D1, leading southeastbound from Prague, is the way to reach

- Bratislava (D1 – Brno – D2 – Breclav border crossing – continues as Slovak D2 – Bratislava),

- Vienna (D1 – Brno – R52 – 52 – Mikulov border crossing – continues as Austrian B7 – Vienna)

- and also Cesky Krumlov (D1 – 3 – Ceske Budejovice – 39 – Cesky Krumlov).

In Prague, there is a perfect hitchhiking spot at the beginning of D5, R10 and D11, a bit worse at R4, R7, D8, and it’s horrible at D1. This division doesn’t have much to do with where the roads lead, it’s more about where in Prague they begin or are accessible.

But you can always take a cheap and frequent suburban train from Prague to Benesov (runs every half hour or every hour off-peak), and try to hitchhike from Benesov on a simple two-lane road No. 3. If you want to reach Cesky Krumlov, just have a cardboard with capital letters CK, that’s the old license plate abbreviation of Cesky Krumlov and people still recognize it.

From Prague to Munich Airport:

I am going to be taking the night bus from Prague to Munich this Saturday night. I do not know where it drops me off. I need to get to the airport for a flight home. How would I get from the bus station to the airport?

Thanks!

First post
What would be the best way to go from berlin to prague and then from prague to budapest? I have a 15 days in 2 months flexipass but i dont think it would be worth it to use up days on my pass for this trip…i think. Am i right?

This is probably true — especially if you can take advantage of any special fares. Check the fares for the German portion of the trip at http://reiseauskunft…

hey guys, im heading off from australia to begin my trip in 2weeks time. my itinery is as follows:
-uk – england/scotland
-holland – amsterdam/den haag
-germany – hannover/berlin
-czech republic – prague
-germany – munich
-france – paris

now i have booked almost all of my intercontinental travel on the bus and rail system (the info for which i picked up here from another post ), however from munich i seem to be stuck. does anyone have any suggestions for the best/cheapest route to get from munich to paris? i have tried bahn.de and eurolines.com, but i seem to have hit a brick wall… any suggestions for this, or trip must-dos would be greatly appreciated

Not quite sure why you’d post a question about Munich to Paris on this thread????

There’s a overnight train with prices as low as 29 euros…. check bahn.de again.

sorry…it was just because i read this thread due to its relevance to my trip so i posted my question on it, didnt realise it was a big deal.

thanks for ur help

Thanks for the great tip on train service Prague to Munich! Could you give me the information in reverse? ie, we are leaving Munich and going to Prague. I understand that I can find schedules for German train (I hope) at www.bahn.de/prague(?)..but how do I determine the schedule for the Czech train through Zelezna Ruda Alzbetin? Please advise…You are great on detail!
Thanks

Use www.bahn.de (I bookmark http://reiseauskunft… because I think it’s the easiest place to start in English) for schedules anywhere in Europe. It’s the most complete and easiest to use in English. The English page for the Czech rail website is http://www.cd.cz/sta…

Czech train search engine

There are 3 direct trains currently, leaving the joint border station B.Eisenstein/Z.Ruda-Alzbetin at 8:42, 12:42 and 16:42, the journey to Prague takes 4 hrs.

Hi there,

I am in Prague on tourist Visa. I want to go to Berlin on week end( saturday and sunday ). Please guide me on,
1) where I can get Train / Bus Tickets for Berlin?( I am staying at Bilkova, close to Old town square, Prague 1) and how to book the tickets?( can i get tickets on bus stop/ train stop itself?)
2) Do i need to book return ticket in advanced?
3) Which will be the cheapest place in Berlin for 1 night stay?(Please suggest safe n good place, as I am travelling with my family)
4) Which all places are there in Berlin to visit in such short trip?
5) What is a mode of transport within Berlin.

Please suggest cheapest fare.
Please advice me, as I am newer in European country.

Thanks in advanced.

~Husnise

Bus: Florenc Bus Station, use bus 133 from Staromestska and get out at Florenc stop.
Train: Prague Main Station (Praha Hlavni nadrazi) – use metro A to Muzeum, then change to metro C to Hlavni nadrazi.

No.

As anywhere in Europe, public transportation is the mode. The Berlin’s bus, tram, S-bahn and U-bahn operator is called BVG, Berliner Verkehrsgesselschaft, www.bvg.de .
Please suggest cheapest fare.
Please advice me, as I am newer in European country.

Thanks in advanced.

~Husnise[/quote]

A very detail and useful directions. i am traveling from Prague to Munich on 17 March 2010. i wonder if the information given you gave in 2008 is still valid?

The information will be close to accurate. The schedules may change by a few minutes and the price may change by a couple of euros. Check updated schedules using the links in Papyr’s signature block.

Last year I went from Prague to Berlin. I went to the main train station in Prague, then up one flight of stairs to the office that sells international tickets and paid €50/CZK1432 for a one way ticket to Berlin. It was an open ticket that could be used anytime within a couple of months. They had several per day to Berlin starting from around 6.30am.

Which all places are there in Berlin to visit in such short trip?

If you’re only there for a day or two you might as well get the hop on hop off bus at the main train station in Berlin. You can buy tickets at the tourist information office. That way you’ll see the main sites in the city centre area and have some time to walk around. Berlin is so big and spread out I think that is the best way to see a lot in a short trip.

There are 5 direct connections daily:
Bus, Prague Florenc 8:00, Muenchen Froetmannring 13:00 (carrier: Veolia Eurolines CZ)
Fast train No. 354 “Franz Kafka”, Prague Main sta. 9:04, Munich Main sta. 15:02
Bus, Prague Florenc 15:00, Muenchen Arnulfstrasse 20:15 (carrier: Autobus Oberbayern GmBH)
Fast train No. 356 “Albert Einstein”, Prague Main sta. 17:04, Munich Main sta. 23:06
Bus, Prague Florenc 23:55, Muenchen Froetmannring 5:30 (carrier: Student Agency)

If you want to travel through Bayerisch Eisenstein/Zelezna Ruda (the station divided by the border, as I mentioned above), these are the direct trains from Prague to Zelezna Ruda:

Fast train No. 962, Prague Main sta. 7:04, Zelezna Ruda-Alzbetin 11:15
Fast train No. 964, Prague Main sta. 11:04, Zelezna Ruda-Alzbetin 15:15
Trains further inland Germany (to Plattling) leave Bayerisch Eisenstein every hour, with a few minutes in Plattling for transfer to Munich train, which also leaves every hour.

Hi,

I will be travelling from Prague to Munich. We have a 1st class 5 country eurail pass. We won’t be able to use in Czech Rep but we will in Germany.

We are travelling on June 7 and want to catch the 0904 – R354 / ALX 354. We believe it’s the same train. How do we go about buying a ticket just for Praha – Furth leg and then use our Eurail pass for the rest to Munich?

How do we reserve 1st class seats for this trip? Do we need to? Is 1st class usually full?

Another question. For our Europe holiday there are quite a few trains that require prior reservation. How do we reserve seats on these trains? Our other countries we are travelling to are Germnay, Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain.

Many thanks

You can do this at the train station without much trouble. Write out the destinations and times and show the ticket agent your railpass in case you have a language problem. The agent will sell you the ticket and also the reservation if one is required. Show the conductor on the train the ticket you bought and your railpass. If a reservation is required, the ticket agent should cover that when you buy the ticket. 1st class is seldom (never?) overly crowded. I wouldn’t buy a reservation unless the specific train you want to take requires one. Buy them at the train station in Europe — any other source will more than double the cost. While you can usually get a reservation up to 1 hour before train time it’s best to buy reservations about a day in advance for day trains, about 3 days in advance for overnight trains — longer if it involves a weekend. Look for a pictogram of a train seat with an “R.” Most major train stations sell reservations for anywhere in Europe and you can buy reservations up to 60 days in advance, so if you have a set itinerary you can buy all of your reservations at once. If your plans are more flexible, buy the reservation for the train you intend to take when you leave a city before you leave the train station when you arrive in that city. Buying a reservation in Italy usually requires waiting in line, sometimes a very long line, so buy as many as you can before you get to Italy or when you make it to the front of the line.

It is the same train.
To buy the ticket from Prague to Furth i.W., just go to any train station in Czech republic and ask for a ticket (or show them a paper stating:
Z/From: Praha hl.n.
Do/To: Furth im Wald (GR)
Trida/Class: 1
Datum/Date: (date)
Osob/Persons: (number of persons)
and they will give it out. But, be prepared, they WILL want to see some kind of document that entitles you to travel BEHIND the Furth im Wald borderpoint, so show them your Eurails when purchasing this ticket. Otherwise they might make troubles and even not give you a ticket to the borderpoint.
The standard 2nd class ticket for this leg costs CZK 177 (US$ 9.25), 1st class ticket costs CZK 266 (US$ 13.90).

You don’t have to, 1st class should have plenty of empty seats. But if you want a reservation, you can buy it for some 60 CZK or so, just write one more line to a paper, +MISTENKA PRAHA-MUNCHEN. (plus seat reservation Prague to Munich). Usually even the 2nd class is doable without reservation.

Try international cash desks (in Prague, four stations have it: Main, Masaryk, Holesovice, Smichov). The best place, though, is Wasteels travel agency inside the Prague Main station building. They speak good English and have great knowledge about most European train categories, fees and timetables.

I’ve travelled from Munich to Prague on the Albert Einstein using the Bavaria Bohemia regional ticket. Next week I arrive at Munich airport and need to get to Prague. I will not make the Albert Einstein and I see that most trains from Munich to Prague go via Nuremburg with the last leg by a DB bus and that the regional tickets do not work on the bus (Is that true?). I realise that I could wait until around 5 pm and get a direct train, but that gets in a little late for me. Are there other train options in the middle of the day?

Why do you think the DB bus isn’t covered by your ticket? I would think a DB bus would be run “in lieu of a train” and would be covered by your ticket, however I have no personal experience to back up that opinion. From the bahn.de webste, I find the Bavaria Lauder ticket is good on “the entire transport system in Bavaria”