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München / Munich to Berlin by train
How to travel from Munich to Berlin by train
Thanks to a relatively new high speed line in Germany the train journey from Munchen / Munich to Berlin has never been faster and it's more frequent too!
What won't be obvious when looking up a journey by train from München / Munich to Berlin is that the ICE trains between the two cities now take four different routes:
- München - Nurnberg - Erfurt - - Halle - Berlin (the fastest services on this route with the fewest station calls are known as 'Sprinter' services)
- München - Nurnberg - Erfurt - Leipzig - Halle - Berlin (diverting off the direct route to serve Leipzig only adds around 40 mins to the journey time)
- Trains which follow the two routes above after Nurnberg but divert off the direct route in order to serve Augsburg; this adds around 30 mins to the journey time.
- Other trains take a route via Stuttgart and Frankfurt (Main) which is much longer, so it has been excluded from the options below.
Take care to avoid these trains if you will be travelling with a rail pass.
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Routes
Option 1: the faster 'Sprinter' services
Journey Summary
3hr 58 min - 4hr 34min
Daily
Travel Information
Arriving in Berlin:
Final Destination: Berlin Gesundbrunnen or Hamburg
Berlin Hbf is shown as 'Berlin Hbf (tief) on the DB online timetable and this indicates that these trains will arrive at the lowest level in the station.
All trains also call at: Berlin Südkreuz and Berlin Hbf
Berlin Hbf is the main station in the city so take care not to leave the train at Südkreuz if you're heading to to the city centre.
Check the location of your final destination in Berlin, as Berlin-Sudkreuz station is connected by local S-Bahn trains to the eastern and western edges of the city centre,
It also has direct S-Bahn trains on lines S2 and S25 and S26 which head north into the city centre and call at Anhalter and Brandenburger Tor and Postdamer Platz and FriedrichstraBe stations - amongst others.
Check your connections in Berlin on this public transport map.
Sprinter services:
Mon - Fri = 3 x trains per day
Saturday = 1 x train
Sunday = 2 x trains
Other services:
5 x trains per day
Tickets
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date
If you're not booking months ahead then the ICE- Sprinter services can be more expensive than the alternative slower services - the discounted tickets inevitably sell out faster on these quicker trains.
Reservations are now included when booking 1st class tickets, but they're optional when travelling 2nd class - OR if you have a rail pass.
Reservations are almost essential for these journeys if you want to sit in one seat all the way from Munchen/Munich to Berlin; rail pass users take note!
Where to book
| Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| DB | from €27.90 | |
| Omio | from €27.90 | |
| Happyrail | from €27.90 | |
| Saveatrain | from €27.90 |
On this journey
Travelling On
Journey Features
Good to Know
Some of the trains on this route are designed 'Sprinter Services' and they have a journey time of under 4hr 10 mins.
The only make three station calls and also travel at more than 285 km/h on the high speed line, between Erfurt and Halle they're scheduled to travel faster than any other train in Germany!
Note that ICE 3 trains are used for these ICE Sprinter departures; Sprinter is the name that DB gives to a service and not the train.
Despite being faster, a premium ticket price is not applied to these 'Sprinter' services; though the limited numbers of discounted 'Sparpreis' tickets will inevitably sell out quickly.
Other, more frequent trains on this direct route, which doesn't involve reversing direction in Leipzig, have a journey time of around 4hr 30mins, primarily because they make more station calls
This is a scenically uninteresting journey, so what gives this journey its wow factor is its speed.
The train will travel on a high speed line for the 40 minute journey between Ingolstadt and Nurnberg.
Then after travelling through Bamberg it will then spend around 80 minutes travelling at speeds of up to 290 km/h until it switches back to the conventional railway on arrival at Halle.
Option 2: the more frequent, but slower trains
Journey Summary
4hr 35min (approx)
Daily
Travel Information
Final Destination: Hamburg-Altona or Berlin Gesundbrunnen
All trains also call at: Berlin Südkreuz and Berlin Hbf
Arriving in Berlin:
Berlin Hbf is shown as 'Berlin Hbf (tief) on the DB online timetable and this indicates that these trains will arrive at the lowest level in the station.
Berlin Hbf is the main station in the city so take care not to leave the train at Südkreuz if you're heading to to the city centre.
Check the location of your final destination in Berlin, as Berlin-Sudkreuz station is connected by local S-Bahn trains to the eastern and western edges of the city centre,
It also has direct S-Bahn trains on lines S2 and S25 and S26 which head north into the city centre and call at Anhalter and Brandenburger Tor and Postdamer Platz and FriedrichstraBe stations - amongst others.
Check your connections in Berlin on this public transport map.
Mon - Thurs = 8 x trains per day
Friday - Sunday = 9 x trains per day
Tickets
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date
Trains departing at different hours 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 on your travel date.
Those €19.90 inevitably sell out very fast on this route, so when looking up this journey even a couple of months ahead, typical prices can be around €49.
Reservations are now included when booking 1st class tickets, but they're optional when travelling 2nd class - OR if you have a rail pass.
Reservations are almost essential for these journeys if you want to sit in one seat all the way from Munchen/Munich and Berlin – rail pass users take note!
.
Where to book
| Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| DB | from €17.90 | |
| Omio | from €17.90 | |
| Saveatrain | from €17.90 | |
| Happyrail | from €17.90 |
On this journey
Travelling On
Journey Features
Good to Know
These are the most frequent service of ICE trains between the two cities, but they divert off of what is now the direct route in order to call at Leipzig - where they reverse direction.
If you want to travel from Munchen to Berlin with a bicycle you need to travel on these ICE 4 trains.
This is a scenically uninteresting journey, so what gives this journey its wow factor is its speed.
The train will travel on a high speed line for the 40 minute journey between Ingolstadt and Nurnberg.
Then after travelling through Bamberg it will then spend around 80 minutes travelling at speeds of up to 290 km/h until around 20 minutes before arriving in Leipzig, where the train will reverse direction on departure.
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