One advantage to living in Munich is that the city's large central station serves as a major transit hub with direct train connections to cities in the surrounding region of Bavaria as well as major European cities and travel destinations around central Europe.
Passing through Munich's Hauptbahnhof during daylight hours, you'd be excused for being a bit overwhelmed by the number of trains constantly coming and going from the station's 36 platforms.
But even late into the night, the station here doesn't sleep, as a number of sleeper train routes depart from or pass through Munich.
If you're currently staying in or around Munich, and would like to wake up in another city, here's some of the destinations you can reach on a direct overnight train.
Overnight within Germany
Germany's only domestic night train runs daily (or nightly rather) between Munich and Hamburg.
Deutsche Bahn's ICE trains connect Munich to Hamburg (on various routes) several times daily, with trips usually taking between five and six hours. The overnight trains, however, take seven to 10 hours. But the late night departures tend to be cheaper, and if you can sleep through the journey you've effectively saved the cost of one night's accommodation as well.Â
These trains depart Munich around 11pm and typically arrive in Hamburg before 7am.
The downside to an overnight ride on a Deutsche Bahn ICE train, is that it's not a proper sleeper train - meaning you'll be stuck in a normal seat (which reclines only slightly) in a fully lit passenger car. For a sense of what it's like, check out this video review by a traveller who caught an overnight ride from Berlin to Munich.
For a more comfortable journey, you could catch a Nightjet sleeper train to either Hamburg or Cologne and DĂĽsseldorf.
These connections run on similar timetables - usually departing after 11pm and arriving before 8am, but allow you to choose couchettes or sleeper cars so you can lay down and get a better nights sleep.Â
Current times and ticket prices can be checked on the Austrian Railway's (Ă–BB) website or at trainline.com.
Wake-up in Paris
You can virtually teleport to the French capital from Bavaria (in just one night's sleep) with a sleeper train ticket from Munich.
Similar to most journeys with Nightjet, you'll have a number of seat or bunk choices when you purchase this ticket: from a second class seat to sleeper cars that accommodate one, two, three, four or six passengers.
READ ALSO: 'New era' - Berlin-Paris sleeper train completes maiden trip
Note that some of the sleeper cabins come with a private shower and WC, so depending on the price you are willing to pay, your accommodation for the trip can range from something comparable to a private hotel room to something more like a night at a crowded hostel.
Trains to Paris depart from the Munich East (MĂĽnchen Ost) station shortly after midnight, and arrive at Paris Est at 9:43am on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The route also connects to Karlsruhe and Strasbourg.
Trains back to Munich depart on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday evening just before 7pm and arrive at the Munich East station at 5:46am.
This train continues on to Salzburg and then Vienna from there.
Options to Italy
Usually rail passengers can catch a Nightjet train from Munich to Venice (that starts in Stuttgart), and also passes through stops in Austria. However this connection is scheduled to be paused for construction from November 17th, 2024 until July 13th, 2025.
But from February 5th of next year, a new Brussels to Venice line being introduced by European Sleeper will also connect to Munich.Â
Heading south, the European Sleeper will pass through Munich at 7am, so it's perhaps not a proper sleeper train experience for passengers travelling from the Bavarian capital to Venice. Heading in the other direction, however, you can board a train headed to Brussels from Munich at 10pm and arrive in Belgium by 11am the next day.
READ ALSO: What to know about new night train connecting Belgium, Germany, Austria and Italy
Another Nightjet route currently connects Munich directly to Rome - starting in Munich Central Station at 6:47pm and arriving at Rome Tiburtina by 11:05am, with stops in Bologna and Florence on the way. But this route is also due to be paused from November 17th, 2024 until July 13th, 2025 for construction.
Gateway to the Balkans
A daily train, operated by Croatia's train operator (HZ), runs from Stuttgart to Zagreb and can pick you up from Munich East station at 9:30pm.
It passes through Austria in the night and then Slovenia. In the winter months this route could make for a convenient way to be the first to arrive at the ski slopes early in the morning.Â
READ ALSO: The ski destinations you can reach by train from Germany
Popular destinations in Slovenia include Bohinj and Bled lakes in the Julian Alps, for which you could disembark at Jesenice (SL) at about 7am, and take a local bus on to one of the lakeside villages. Or stay on until 8:30am when the train reaches the capital city of Lubljana.
The train reaches northern Croatia around 10am near the town of Dobova and then ends at Zagreb by 10:40am.
As far west as Brussels, as far east as Budapest
Ă–BB's Nightjet train network covers central Europe quite extensively, and offers a number of additional connections that pass through Munich.
One such line runs from Vienna to Brussels, with a stop at Munich East right in the middle. Headed to Belgium, you'd catch the train in Munich just after midnight at 12:12am and arrive in Brussels just before 10am. Going toward Austria, the route wouldn't be a night train as it picks up in Munich at 5:46am.
However another route, from Stuttgart to Budapest, also works as an overnight connection from Munich to Vienna. On this route, you board at Munich East at 9:30pm and can disembark at Vienna Central Station at 8:42am, or stay on until Hungary, reaching Budapest by about 11:20am.
This Nightjet route is operated by the Hungarian Railway company MAV.
From Munich Central Station, you can also overnight to Poland, reaching Krakow at 6:21am or Warsaw Central station by 9:18am.
There are more night trains connecting to Munich than we could include here. To get a sense of other options, night-trains.com is a good resource, but make sure to double check schedules on the train operators' websites as these connections change frequently.
READ ALSO: The destinations you can reach by direct night train from Berlin
Comments