How to travel from München / Munich to Firenze / Florence by train

Due to construction works in Austria, this service will be suspended until July 13th
During the time, the typical alternative route will be:

1. Depart Munchen Hbf at around 13:30 on a Railjet service heading to Budapest
2. Arrive Wien Hbf at around 17:30.
3. Depart Wien Hbf at around 19:15 on the Nightjet train to Firenze / Florence.
4. Arrive in Firenze S.M.Novella station at around 06:45.

From July 14th the station call will be at Firenze Campo Di Marte station
From Sept 29th to Dec 13th 2025, the train will be diverted to operate Munich / Munchen ↔ Milano
Check here to check whether the route will be affected by construction work

The usual service

Final Destination: Roma

The train also calls at: Bologna Centrale (arrives at 05:19).

This train will call at Munchen Ost station after it has departed from Munchen Hbf.

If the starting point of journey is in central Munich/Munchen (around Marienplatz), you'll have a quicker trip if you join the train at Munchen Ost.

Check here whether the route will be affected by construction work

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open:

6 months ahead of the travel date on OBB*
3 months ahead of the travel date on DB Bahn

These trains are provided by Austria's national rail operator, OBB, they travel through Austria on this journey between Germany and Italy.

The train conveys:

• Compartment Seats (Sitzwagen)
• Couchettes (Liegewagen); 4 berths AND 6 berths
• Standard sleeping cars (Schlafwagen) with 3 bed, 2 bed and 1 cabins
• Deluxe sleeping cars with showers (Schlafwagen) with 3 bed, 2 bed and 1 cabins

Click the train button above for more info including the rail pass reservation fees:

Rail pass users:

Rail pass users must reserve before boarding this train.

However, these rail pass reservations can NO longer be booked online the DB website, but you can now book rail pass reservations without paying booking fees on the OBB website (OBB operates these trains).
Though the process for doing so isn't particularly obvious, hence this step-by-step guide.

Or you can avoid the booking fees by arranging the reservations when you arrive in Germany, by purchasing them at a Reisezentrum travel desk, which you will find in any hauptbahnhof.
Though it's best to do this at the first hauptbahnhof (city centre station) that you will arrive at, the later you leave booking your accommodation, the more likely it is that your preferences will be sold out.

There are no direct daytime trains from München / Munich to Firenze / Florence, but the two or three EC trains per day from München to Bologna offer connections there into high speed trains on to Firenze S.M. Novella, the city's main rail station.

There are typically at least two high speed trains per hour on from Bologna to Firenze, including both the Frecce services operated by Trenitalia and the Italo trains - it is a comparatively short journey in terms of time on board, so it doesn't particularly matter which of these two services are taken.

However, because of the frequency of the trains on to Firenze / Florence, the ticket agents can offer multiple options which have the same departure time from München Hbf.
The longer journey times allow more time to make the connection between trains in Bologna.

Making the connection in Bologna Centrale

The train from München will arrive in the part of Bologna Centrale that is above ground, but the high speed trains use part of the station which is under ground and is also known as Bologna Centrale AV.

So when arriving at Bologna Centrale, you can use escalators, elevators or stairs, to descend into one of the passage ways beneath the tracks
The access to the AV station is at the opposite end of these passage ways to the main station buildings, further escalators and elevators are available, which lead down to the AV station concourse.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date - but this period of time is shorter when looking up journeys in August to October.

When looking up the journey on the DB website, you can use the tool which increases the minimum transfer time between trains, in order to see additional options.

A choice of tickets

Three types of tickets are available:
Two types of discounted tickets, which will be cheaper the further ahead you book - Sparpreis Europa and Super Sparpreis Europa
One type of non-discounted ticket - Flexpreis Europa.

A key difference between these types of tickets is refunds:

• Super Sparpreis tickets are cheapest, but they can't be refunded at all.
• Sparpreis tickets can be refunded for a fee, but the refund will be in the form of travel vouchers to be used for alternative / future journeys.
• Flexpreis Europa tickets can be refunded at no additional charge.

Travelling from Munchen Ost station:

When making a booking online on DB it uses ‘Munich (München)’ as a default for looking up journeys from the city in the ‘From’ box.

But it is possible to select München Ost as the ‘From’ station (you need to use the German spelling with the character (the umlaut) over the ‘u’).
You won’t save any money by booking from München Ost, but the departure time of your train from Munchen Ost will be on your ticket.

Booking agents, when looking up Munchen to Bologna journeys, will see that the fastest journey from Munchen is from Munchen Ost, so can assume that this is where you want to join the train.
So if you're using an agent confirm whether your ticket has been booked from Munchen Hbf or Munchen Ost; particularly if you do want to join the train at Munchen Hbf.

Making the connection:

In the very unlikely event of a delay to the EC train from Milano causing the booked connection on to Firenze /Florence to be missed, it should be possible to go the ticket desk at Bologna Centrale and have tickets re-issued for the onward train.

There is relatively new E.U. legislation which protects travellers against financial loss in the event of missed connections due to train delays, but it only applies to 'through tickets'.

Though the operators of the EC and Frecce trains have also signed up to Agreement on Journey Continuation (AJC) policy for when a traveller holds separate transport 'contracts' for an end-to-end journey involving more than one train.
So this agreement applies both when 'a bundle' of tickets / contracts is issued as the result of a single transaction - and if travellers have bought several different tickets for their journey, even from different sales channels/ticket providers.
As long as the passenger had planned enough connecting time to change trains (called “reasonable connecting time”), the AJC will apply.

So in usual* circumstances, if a delay to the EC train causes the booked connection to be missed, replacement tickets/reservations will be issued at Bologna Centrale.
*= But that new E.U legislation specifically states that in exceptional circumstances, the train operators do not need to issue replacement tickets - and the terms and conditions on the Trenitalia website reiterate this.
These exceptional circumstances specifically stated in Regulation (EU) 2021/782 of the European Parliament include:

• extraordinary circumstances not connected with the operation of the railway, such as extreme weather conditions, major natural disasters or major public health crises...
• ...the behaviour of a third party... such as persons on the track, cable theft, on-board emergencies, law enforcement activities or sabotage.