How to travel from Paris to Munich by train

Final Destination: Munchen

This train also calls at: Stuttgart, Ulm and Augsburg

This is the only direct train between Paris and Munchen/Munich, the overnight train between the two cities was discontinued some years ago.

The train is scheduled to depart at 15:55 on Mon-Fri and Sundays, but on Saturdays it usually departs at 17:55.

If these timings don't suit the best alternative is to travel via Stuttgart.

The train departs Paris at around 15:55 on Mon-Fri and Sundays, but on Saturdays it departs at 17:55.

For this journey it can be worthwhile comparing prices across the agents, some may still have the cheapest discounted tickets available, when others have sold out.

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.

A choice of tickets

Four types of ticket are typically available:
Two types of discounted tickets, which will be cheaper the further ahead you book - Sparpreis Europa and Super Sparpreis Europa
Two types of non-discounted ticket - Flexpreis Europa and Flexpreis Plus 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 and Flexpreis Plus Europa tickets can be refunded at no additional charge.

The other key difference is that both types of Sparpreis tickets are only valid on the specific departures selected when booking, but both types of Flexpreis tickets live up to their name, as they can be used on any departure on your travel date.

Note that none of the tickets can be exchanged to a different departure.
There's no need for this to be available for Flexpreis Europa tickets, as they aren't train departure specific.
If you book a Sparpreis Europa ticket and want to travel by a different departure you can refund it and then use the travel voucher towards the cost of the new booking.
Super Sparpreis Europa tickets can't be exchanged or refunded.

The Sparpreis, Flexpreis and Flexpreis Plus tickets also include 'City tickets', which can be used on public transport between Frankfurt (Main) Hbf and locations in Frankfurt city centre.

Seat reservations

Reservations are mandatory on these trains from Paris, so will be included, when booking tickets, but if you will be using a rail pass you will need to make a reservation.

Seat reservations are optional on the ICE train on to Berlin.
They cost €4.90 when travelling in 2nd Class and €5.90 when travelling in 1st class -
Specific seats can be selected from seating plans - you don't have to accept the seat(s) that you will be automatically offered.

They are included within the cost of booking 1st class Flexpreis tickets and both 1st and 2nd class Flexpreis Plus tickets.

On this journey which involves two trains on which seat reservations are available, the fees cover all trains - if reservations are added when initially booking.

When booking Super Sparpreis, Sparpreis and 2nd class Flexpreis tickets, you have the option of purchasing seat reservations later.
It can be worth re-looking up a journey a week or two ahead of travel, because the DB website will indicate how busy a departure will be.
Though if you opt to add reservations later you will have pay the fees per train.

The alternative journey options:

There are three other direct DB-SNCF trains per day between Paris and Stuttgart, that have connections on from Stuttgart to Munchen/Munich(via Ulm and Augsburg).

So if you want to arrive earlier in Munchen/Munich DON'T tick the direct train box when making a booking; the journeys with connections can also be cheaper.

But DO select the direct train options if you specifically want to take this train.

The only direct train between Paris and Munchen/Munich isn't scheduled to arrive in Munchen until after 21:30.
If you want to arrive in Munchen/Munich earlier you will need to change trains.

The optimum 4 x connections per day are the journeys of less than 5hr 35min that involve changing trains at Stuttgart.

We say 'optimum' but the trains from Paris are scheduled to arrive in Stuttgart less than 15 mins before the departure of the ICE train on to Munchen/Munich.
There is 1 x ICE train per hour between Stuttgart and Munchen/Munich.
So ideal IF the train from Paris arrives on time.

If it arrives too late, then tickets/reservations can be transferred free of charge to a subsequent departure on from Stuttgart.
However, due to the reconstruction currently taking place at Stuttgart station, the Reisezentrum travel desk, where the tickets can be swapped, is some distance from where the trains will arrive and depart.

An option is to book with DB Bahn and increase the 'Duration of Transfer' between trains, but do that and you will be committing to arriving in Munchen/Munich an hour later.

There also alternative connections available at Mannheim or Karlsruhe, but they also have similarly tight connecting times between trains, so the journey will be longer, no cheaper and not any more convenient.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date

This is a journey on which it can pay off to compare prices across the agents.

Look for the connections that have 1 change and a journey time of under 5hr 40mins.

If you want to book with DB Bahn we recommend allowing a minimum of 30mins to make the connection at Stuttgart station; how to do so is explained here

Rail Pass Users:

You will need to pay a reservation fee boarding the DB-SNCF service to Stuttgart, but not on the connecting trains between Stuttgart and Munich/Munchen; though the availabilty of seats can't be 100% guaranteed on the ICE trains on from Stuttgart if you don't reserve.

What is unusual about the rail pass reservations on the DB-SNCF trains, is that rail pass fees are priced according to distance; so they may be cheaper than on the*alternative direct train from Paris to Munchen/Munich.