I like the location… but not necessarily the place/cost. Also checking back on a VRBO rental not for from Deutsches museum.
This weekend we will be within the 3 month window to make train ticket reservations from Venice to Munich. We are hoping to get a direct train / sleeper.
A sleeper train can’t be cheap. Have u considered flying one-way on a low-cost airline, like one of these:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_low-cost_airlines
It might be a better deal.
The sleeper train (9pm-6am) seemed a decent deal when I did original checks, especially since we could skip a hotel. I’ll let you know what we find out this weekend.
Time is definitely worth money when the number of vacation days are limited.
Yep… .agreed… time is important. That’s why we like this plan of doing the Venice/Munich overnight travel. Preliminary check looks to be about 400 euro for a sleeper car for 4. It would be much less if we opt for 4 person couchette (less comfy bunk option). Still thinking on that, but leaning toward the sleeper. Both kids really liked the train idea.
I may post more questions tomorrow on sleeper vs couchette, but in my original United Frequent Flier mile thread.
Thanks for all the great input. Much appreciated!
We’ve had trouble booking our Venice-Munich tickets online. DB Bahn (German rail) has a good price, but we keep getting error message. The DB Bahn help email sends us to RailEurope, but it costs more and I can’t be sure we’ll have the 6-person berth dedicated to our family of 4.
Originally we assume the schedules were still in flux for our late may trip, but same problems today. Per google search, maybe the problem is because we are trying to book for a trip that does not start in Germany. Thoughts?
I found these 2 contacts for DB Bahn help in the USA. Hopefully they might offer you some guidance.
United States of America:
EurAide, Inc.
Tel.: +1 781 828 2488
Email: info@euraide.com
Rail Europe Group
Tel: +1 800 438 7245
Email: service@raileurope.com
Have you tried posting your question on www.tripadvisor.com possibly under Germany or Munich and Venice specifically… Someone there can prob walk you through the process.
Thanks for the email address. I will try it. I had tried one from DB Bahn website Contacts…but reply came back from RailEurope.
To this point I’ve only read postings on trip advisor… maybe it’s time to learn how to do a post there;)
C Mom - this is a 4 year old thread, but as you can see by looking at all 20 replies that they can be quite helpful. (interesting take on booking venice to verona separately as it is a different rail line and then verona to Munich…)
@colorado_mom I would strongly advise against taking a night train from Venice to Munich. The trip is only six hours, and it’s a nice, scenic ride in the daytime, over the Brenner Pass. I doubt you will sleep very well on a night train, and the sleeping cars can be expensive.
You don’t mention children’s ages, but on tickets purchased through bahn.com children aged 14 and under ride free with one paid parental ticket. The cost of an advance purchase ticket starts at 49 euros second class and 69 euros first class. I think the latter comes with a free seat reservation, making it a good option for this trip.
Since you mention traveling on points, do you have access to Choice Hotel points? The Choice Hotel Italy properties are perpetually on sale for 10,000 a night. You can buy these points for about a nickel a point during the annual dailygetaways promotion, so that you will be paying $50 a night for a hotel room that can cost as much as $400. Once or twice a year Choice will have a “flash” sale where they sell points at a big discount as well.
Example, the Hotel Diana for one date I checked has rooms for 10,000 points or 8,000 points plus $15. Choice Hotels routinely offers bonuses of 8,000 for two stays. So two one-night stays at a $59 Quality Inn plus $15 gets you a $400 hotel room just steps from St. Mark’s Square. Even if you miss the discount offerings of points, you can buy 20,000 points a year for $11 per thousand. So the Venice hotel room I’ve mentioned would cost $110, which is still a good deal. Note, that Choice Hotels only allows you to book these rooms about 50 days in advance.
Also, if you have access to Club Carlson points, they are really good in Germany.
As a final note, I am not a big fan of Munich, and if I had anything to do with your trip planning I would spend at least two nights in Venice.
I actually like taking trains during the daytime so I can see the countryside between my departing city and destination. DH usually sleeps the whole way.
Thanks for the input! There are definitely tradeoffs for the night train. We will miss the Alps scenery. But it does allow us the efficiency of travel/sleep at night. Once in Munich we will probably drop our bags at hotel (or check at the train station) and use the early start for one of our daytrips.
Due to train ticket difficulties, I have considered car rental. A friend advised that my initial $1600 one-way, 2-country estimate was probably wrong … Checking again, it is around e 560euro (including 350euro drop fee). Then we’d need to book another night somewhere. It seemed a reasonable backup plan.
At this point, I have the 4 rail tickets on 24 hour hold. The $700 rate is higher than other online options, but I can’t make the cheaper ways work.
The suggestion to spend more time in Venice is understandable. We do know from DH’s research that we did NOT want to do it as a one day stop (like cruise ships). DS daytrip with a hs music trip … ha, except grueling with 5 hour bus ride before and after. DH made it a requirement that we stay over to have evening and early morn time. So we made plans to arrive in Venice early afternoon on a Sunday and then depart on train Monday 9pm. Two night could be nicer, but there’s a lot we want to see in and around Munich.
@colorado_mom Just be aware that for most days the daytime train trip from Venice to Munich has an advance-purchase fare of 49 second class, 69 euros first class, kids 14 and under free. But everyone has their own preferences.
Thanks Earl. Good thought,…
Update - Tickets bought on Sunday. I think this is unusual, but I got a better rate on RailEurope phone service than internet. The tickets were $500 instead of $700. (They don’t have the 75% refund policy that the more expensive one has, but that is not a huge issue. Still I paid the $50 for the cancellation insurance, even though we rarely do that.)
The Audi museum is in Ingolstadt which is about a 45 minute train ride from Munich. There are several tours each day and some are conducted in English. Audi’s main production facility is located across the courtyard from the museum. I know it’s possible to arrange a tour but I’m not sure how it’s done. I have a relative who works in their development facility so he arranged ours. The facility and the museum tours will take the entire day…bring good walking shoes.
Thanks! DH is in charge of the Audi tour research. (I learned German in hs… but I want the English tour!). Then he’ll just have to plead his case as we juggle priorities. We may decided to split up that day.
The Audi museum tour was great! DH had done research and knew the factory was shut down, so no factory tours. He didn’t realize we’d have the tourguide to ourselves. (Another couple joined part way through).
Hotel Amba worked out well for us. It was across from the train station - very handy for transportation. We used the S-Bahn and U-Bahn, but the tram was right there too.