Europe Trains Guide Forum
General discussion => Train fares and tariffs => Topic started by: danjoe211 on May 07, 2011, 02:58:40 pm
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I am planning a train journey from Prague to Munich airport. I found the following itinerary, which would allow me to get to the airport in good time (with at least 2 hours to spare before check-in). I would like to know what is the cheapest way to book this journey (e.g. using regional tickets if valid - not sure if valid on Express-Zug- or whatever is cheapest). The standard fare one-way is 58.40 euro:
Station/Stop Date Time Platform Products
Praha hl.n. Tu, 31.05.11 dep 05:10 EX 350 ALX 350 Express-Zug
Runs as EX 350 up to Furth i Wald, then as ALX 350 Schwandorf Tu, 31.05.11 arr 08:53 2 Schwandorf Tu, 31.05.11 dep 09:08 4 ALX84109
Freising Tu, 31.05.11 arr 10:46 2
Freising Tu, 31.05.11 dep 11:05 Bus 635 Bus Direction: München Flughafen Terminal 2
München Flughafen Terminal 1 Tu, 31.05.11 arr 11:22
I note also that the transfer times are very short and my experience with the ALX is that it runs late. Here is an alternative itinerary, which would still get me there on time. I would need the flexibility to take this transfer if I do not make the earlier connection. This itinerary also has 2 short connection times within Germany, but I can still tolerate a further delay of 1 hour.
Station/Stop Date Time Platform Products
Praha hl.n. Tu, 31.05.11 dep 05:10 EX 350
ALX 350 Express-Zug
Runs as EX 350 up to Furth i Wald, then as ALX 350
Schwandorf Tu, 31.05.11 arr 08:53 2
Transfer time 1:09 h
Schwandorf Tu, 31.05.11 dep 10:02 4 VBG81111 Vogtlandbahn
Regensburg Hbf Tu, 31.05.11 arr 10:34 1
Transfer time 10 min.
Regensburg Hbf Tu, 31.05.11 dep 10:44 9 RE 4257 Regional-Express
Freising Tu, 31.05.11 arr 11:48 2
Transfer time 17 min.
Freising Tu, 31.05.11 dep 12:05 Bus 635 Bus Direction: München Flughafen Terminal 2
München Flughafen Terminal 1 Tu, 31.05.11 arr 12:22
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If we are talking about Prague-Munich(Bavaria) travel, then there is three major options to save money on rail travel:
1) use discounted ticket sold by Czech Railways eShop. In you case for EX/ALX 350 train it cost 650 CZK (roughly 26 EUR). Such ticket is till Nurnberg, but nobody forbids you to get off earlier, for instance in Schwandorf. From there you just get Bayern-Ticket Single (valid from 9am) for 21 EUR and it allows you to travel on any regional train in Bavaria all day long. This one you will use for your Schwandorf-Freising part.
2) cheaper option is Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket, which is basically Bayern-Ticket Single but valid for neighboring Czech regions. It cost 24 EUR for one passenger or 34 EUR for up to 5. It is valid from Czech Plzen. So your task is just to buy Czech domestic Prague-Plzen ticket (143 CZK or 6 EUR), while for the rest Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket can be used. Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket can be bought in Prague, so you won't actually need to get off train in Plzen. But the only inconvenience is that it goes under 9am rule, thus on weekdays you can use it only from 9am. Guess, it will be to late arrival to the airport in case you wait till 9am in order to use it.
3) use discounted ticket bought from DB website. For you date there are tickets from Prague to Munich for as low as 29 EUR, but only for 8:38am departure from Prague (13:39 in Munich), which is again probably too late.
So at the end in case of rail you have not that many options. But maybe here you should also look at bus options. For instance, student agency bus departing Prague 7:30am and arriving to Munich airport at 12:40.
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Please help me. Understand the best and least expensive way to go from Prague to Munich There are 4 of us traveling together Thank you
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Please help me. Understand the best and least expensive way to go from Prague to Munich There are 4 of us traveling together.
Obviously option #2 from the above discussion seems to suite your needs as "least expensive", since allows all 4 to travel from Plzen to Munich for the fare of Bavaria-Bohemia Ticket (cost 34 EUR for up to 5 passengers, http://www.bahn.de/regional/view/regionen/bayern/freizeit/bayern_boehmen_ticket.shtml). While ticket for 4 Praha-Plzen will cost you only 359 CZK (app.14.5 EUR). So in total the whole trip for all 4 from Prague to Munich can cost you less than 50 EUR, which is extremely great option in case.
Other options basically will be quite essentially more expensive (like 29 EUR per person discounted tickets for the same direct train), but take pretty similar time. Thus in case you don't mind doing such small trick with separate tickets till Plzen and Bavaria-Bohemia Ticket from there till Munich, then we would advice you that.