We plan to travel to Nuremberg this December for the Christmas Markets and are unsure of whether it is more sensible/cost effective to fly into Munich and take the train to Nuremberg or to fly directly into Nuremberg. It seems that as Munich is a larger city might have more economical airfares, but I%26#39;m unsure. In our group, three of us are flying out of Phoenix, AZ and another three out of Charlotte, NC.
Also, has anyone heard any predictions on airfare to Europe this winter? I had heard a month or so to go to hold off on purchasing tickets for now as prices would likely go down, but since then I%26#39;ve seen them creep up a bit. Just curious on everyone%26#39;s thoughts on whether to buy now or risk it in the hopes of a price decrease.
Thanks in advance!
Leah
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Can%26#39;t help you on the airfare predictions, but I would definitely not fly into Nuernberg. This is a small airport and you would have to change planes to get there.
I would suggest that either you fly out of PHX to Frankfurt and have your Charlotte party meet you there. They can fly Delta to Frankfurt. Spending my winter in TUS we have taken the Lufthansa/United flight out of PHX.
Or, fly Delta/Northwest to Amsterdam, and meet there, and connect to Munich or Frankfurt. Nuernberg is about equidistant from Frankfurt or Munich by train (check www.bahn.de). The one advantage leaving from Munich would be that up to 5 of you can travel on one EUR28 ticket, called the Bayernkarte. You can%26#39;t use express trains, though. Again check the website for the time differences. The Bayernkarte permits Regio trains, not IC, ICE or EC trains. You can buy the ticket at the Munich airport, take the shuttle to the main station and change to the Nuernberg train.
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%26quot;Or, fly Delta/Northwest to Amsterdam, and meet there, and connect to Munich or Frankfurt.%26quot;
If you are going to be in Amsterdam, it%26#39;s silly then not to fly directly to where you want to be in Nuremberg. You can also make connections at airports in London and Paris. That gives you a lot of carriers, Air France, BA, KLM and their alliance partners, and for Germany Lufthansa and its partners.
It is also possible to have a rail trip within Germany inexpensively oncluded on your airline ticket. If you fly into any German city, inquire with the airlines about that. The rail journey will be included on your airline ticket and is treated as an actual flight, so just don%26#39;t invalidate the rest of your ticket by omitting a required train journey. These work in two ways, with Airail you have quiter a leeway with which trains that can be used and are not committed to a specific train. The other option will commit you to one particular train at one particular time.
Also, when it comes to buying tickets, check with all the airlines including their alliance partners. I know that many are happy to sell you the cheapest tickets because you are using them for a few short legs, and their partner airline provides the real travel, but they%26#39;re more than happy to split that profit with only providing minimal service. The last time I flew to the US it was on KLM through Amsterdam which had by far the best rates. However, I flew them only Stuttgart to Amsterdam and back. The four other flights were on Northwest, and the KLM ticket was much cheaper than a Northwest one.
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%26gt;The one advantage leaving from Munich would be that up to 5 of you can travel on one EUR28 ticket, called the Bayernkarte. You can%26#39;t use express trains, though.
This doesn´t make a lot of difference as the Munich-Nuremberg relation features the fastest regional trains in Germany (200 km/h)
%26gt; Again check the website for the time differences. The Bayernkarte permits Regio trains, not IC, ICE or EC trains. You can buy the ticket at the Munich airport, take the shuttle to the main station and change to the Nuernberg train.
What shuttle?
If you are in the airport, take the 10 min bus ride to Freising (which is on one of the Munich-Nuremberg routes) and save yourself 40 min train ride into Munich and 30 min train ride out to Freising
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No direct flights to Nuremberg. Of course if you%26#39;re there it%26#39;s fast to get into the city centre. 10-15 minutes by U-Bahn (metro). Single ticket to anywhere in Nuremberg is EUR 1,90.
Munich airport and Frankfurt airport are roughly in the same distance from Nuremberg. From Frankfurt Airport (FRA) you have direct trains to Nuremberg. From Munich Airport (MUC) you can use the cheap Bavaria Ticket to get to Nuremberg. Munich is also the nicer airport.
DB timetable
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
From: MUC
To: Nuremberg
and select as means of transport %26quot;only local transport%26quot;. Bavaria ticket covers the bus to Freising, the regional trains to Nuremberg and the S-Bahn, U-Bahn, trams and buses in Nuremberg.
DB timetable
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
From: FRA
To: Nuremberg
Best deal are the Rail%26amp;Fly tickets.
bahn.de/international/…rail_fly.shtml
The discounted specials shown by the DB timetable are only valid for the connection bought for. No change. No refund. That%26#39;s not without risk if your plane arrives late. Standard fare tickets are flexible and you can use any later train.
Prices are shown at earliest 89 days in advance. Mid of December is the yearly timetable change. The new timetable will be online end of October.
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