Departing from Berlin:
These trains depart from the lower level (tief) in Berlin Hbf.
Final Destination: Munchen; Frankfurt (Main); Augsburg or Wien
All trains also call at: Berlin Sudkreuz - which is to the south of the city centre
Connections are available at Berlin Sudkreuz from S-Bahn trains from the eastern and western edges of the city centre, as well as S-Bahn (local) trains from Brandenburger Tor and Postdamer Platz and Anhalter stations.
Check your connections in Berlin on this public transport map.
The train journey from Berlin to Erfurt:
The trains with a journey time of around 1hr 40/45 mins take the direct route, but those with a journey time of around 2hrs travel via Leipzig - where they reverse direction.
Since the opening of the high speed line between Halle and Bamberg, Erfurt Hbf has become a major interchange station on the German rail network.
Primarily because the express trains from Berlin now inevitably take the high speed line, so other towns in Thuringia including Jena, Eisenach, Gotha and Weimar have lost most or all of their direct trains from Berlin.
1 or 2 x connections per hour
The relatively new high speed line used by the ICE trains which travel between Berlin and Erfurt, by-passes Weimar, so as a consequence Weimar lost its direct trains from the German capital.
As a result the best option for making this journey is to take those ICE trains from Berlin to Erfurt and connect there into other trains for the relatively short hop by Regio trains to Weimar.
The fastest end-to-end journeys are dependent on making a connection in Erfurt of under 10 mins, but tickets will be valid on any train between Erfurt and Weimar.
On the DB booking site look for journeys that have 1 in the Chg. column and 'ICE, RE' in the 'Products' column.
Connections departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares.
Reservations:
Book 1st class ticket journey tickets and your seat reservation is included on the ICE train between Berlin and Erfurt, but they're optional when booking 2nd class tickets, or if you will be travelling with a 1st or 2nd class rail pass.
Opting to reserve is particularly recommended if you will be travelling at business hours and/or during the day on Fridays and Sundays.
Seats can't be reserved on the Regio train between Erfurt and Weimar.
Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
---|---|---|
DB | from 19.90 |
Scenically this is a dull journey, but shortly after the trains on the direct route depart from Halle, they accelerate to more than 280 km/h as the remainder of the journey is on a high speed line.
Trains which divert off the direct route to travel via Leipzig, reach the high speed line around 10 minutes after they depart from there.
No matter which route the trains take, they will spend the final 40 minutes of the journey travelling at high speed.
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