If you’ve made it to this page, you’ve been reading my Rothenburg post. Thanks for your support and for your interest in learning some more about the logistics behind our trip to Germany. I hope this will be a helpful resource if you’re planning on traveling there in the future.

This page will specifically cover how we made our way across Germany. As a reminder, we started our three-part trip in Munich and traveled to both Rothenburg and Berlin. While we traveled locally on subways and via Uber, we traveled from city to city on the Deutsche Bahn train line.

The tickets are rather affordable. For context, the tickets from Munich to Rothenburg were $35 each, and the tickets from Rothenburg to Berlin were $40 each. Those prices (while they vary based on day and time) are the shocking equivalent of taking the LIRR out to the Hamptons. Sigh.

You can both book your trip and reserve your seats online.

Being that the train route from Munich to Rothenburg is indirect, I’ve broken it down for you here. This will also cover how to get from Rothenburg to Berlin.

. . .

Getting from Munich to Rothenburg ob der Tauber:

Here is our route. It’s a popular one that you can still book to date.

Our train time:

• Departing Munich at  8:20 AM local time
• Arriving at Rothenburg at 10:50 AM local time
• Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes
• 4 trains, 3 changes
• $35

Line and transfer steps:

• Step 1: München Hbf > Nuirinberg Hbf – 1:20 (10-minute layover)
• Step 2: Nürnberg Hbf  >  Ansbach – :36 (4-minute layover)
• Step 3: Ansbach > Steinach (b Rothenburg ob der Tauber) – :22 (4-minute layover)
• Step 4: Steinach (b Rothenburg ob der Tauber) > Rothenburg ob der Tauber – 0:14

The last train operates more like a local tram. It clearly takes people to and from Rothenburg specifically. We were joined by tons of school students on the way out of the city the morning we left. The walk to the historic walled city is about 10 minutes from the train station. 

. . .

Getting from Rothenburg ob der Tauber to Berlin

There are a few ways to navigate this route. Our version covered the same route to Rothenburg, but backwards. It brought us through Ansbach and eventually back to Nürnberg, where we boarded the train to Berlin. The leg from Nürnberg to Berlin Hauptbahnhof  is direct, and takes around 3 and a half hours.

Other variations of this route (as per my research) can take you through Neustadt, Würzburg, or Dombühl. Going through Dombühl will require a bus, though.

Our train time:

• Departing Rothenburg at 6:57 AM local time
• Arriving in Berlin at 10:50 AM local time
• Duration: 5 hours 27 minutes
• 4 trains, 3 changes
• $40.00 

Line and transfer steps:

• Step 1: Rothenburg ob der Tauber > Steinach (b Rothenburg ob der Tauber) – :14 (4-minute layover)
• Step 2: Steinach (b Rothenburg ob der Tauber)  >  Ansbach – :22 (5-minute layover)
• Step 3: Ansbach > Nuirinberg Hbf  – :36 (47-minute layover)
• Step 4: Nuirinberg Hbf > Berlin Hbf – 3:25