New direct train between two of the most beautiful cities in Europe

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Following London-Germany, Poland-Croatia and even an unexpected connection between Switzerland and Denmark announced just weeks ago, Europe’s Railway Revival has unveiled another exciting route that will make cross-border city trips even easier:

Whether you’re looking for greener alternatives to travel, or just like to hop on the train when crossing the pond, you’ll soon be able to travel from Paris all the way to Munich, in southern Germany. now without changes.

‘How soon?’ you may ask? How does 2026 sound to you?

Paris to Munich without changes!

A collaboration project between France’s SNCF and Germany’s Deutsche Bahn, the new high-speed train from Paris to Munich will be launched sometime next year and will strengthen ties between two of Europe’s most beautiful cultural hotspots.

From the sparkling Eiffel Tower to the Haussmann-designed cityscape and all the world-class museums in between, Paris is the elegant, timeless lady who never quite loses her shine, despite all the naysayers and detractors she has collected over the years.

On the other hand, Munich is the vibrant regional capital of the culturally distinctive German state of Bavaria. It’s a place you go for lively beer halls, meaty food and the once-a-year… legendary Oktoberfestwhich attracts tens of millions of visitors who like to party the ‘Bavarian way’.

At the moment you can already travel from Paris to Munich, but not directly: normally you have to change in another major German city, such as Stuttgart or Mannheim.

Nothing serious, especially if the changes happen quickly, but it can be a bit of a hassle if there are several platforms involved and having to load and unload your heavy luggage back onto the train.

The current average travel time is 6 to 7 hours, including changes, but once the direct connection is launched it will be shaved until just 4:40 am. This is due to the huge investments in high-speed lines across Europe, especially for routes less than 1000 kilometers long.

How much do tickets cost?

At least five fast direct trains are planned per day, and both French TGV high-speed trains and German ICE are expected to operate on the route.

In the run-up to the launch, infrastructure projects are already underway, including the opening of a new station in Stuttgart, a major transit hub, and the extension of the high-speed line to Ulm, where trains can easily continue to the Bavarian capital.

The rates haven’t been announced yet, but we can speculate:

This isn’t a night service, so tickets won’t be anywhere as expensive as those on the Paris-Berlin or Paris-Vienna lines, but medium-distance train journeys in Europe aren’t exactly the cheapest either (unless you book early).

With this in mind, we can theorize that the cheapest tickets, those booked weeks in advance, can cost a lot of money as cheap as $40-50while last minute options should average $150-180.

Why take the train at all?

You might be wondering what exactly is the problem here, since you can easily get a very short 1h30 flight to Munich from the French capital?

That’s a valid point, but dare we say: a short-sighted one.

Again, how many hours in advance do you usually leave for the airport? Or how many deep breaths have you had to take while waiting at security for minutes, if not hours, to have your bags checked?

And then of course, how stressful is it usually at your destination to find the easiest shuttle to the city center, especially in Europe where airports are typically located miles away from the cities they serve?

Even if you’re not really into the environmental argument, avoiding European airports is a good reason to choose rail over flights, but have you done the math?

In short, that 1An h30 flight can easily be a 4 to 5 hour journey once you factor in the commute to and from airports and all the usual delays. The Paris-Munich train takes only 4h40, so in reality you might choose the fastestleast stressful route:

• Train stations are right in the city center, so you don’t have to leave home 3 to 4 hours earlier, like with a flight.
• There are no annoying queues at train stations, nor security checks that lead to bottlenecks
• You can take away maximum 2 pieces of checked baggage on most European trains at no extra cost
• Trains in Europe are not like trains in America: the seats are nice and soft, WiFi is available and there is plenty of room to move, unlike airplanes
• Travel times are often the same: taking the train takes the same time as flying if you add the hours of commuting, and after to fly.

What’s not to like, right?

Vinicius Costa

Vini, our senior head writer at Travel Off Path, has over 60 countries to his name (and is currently weaving stories from Paris!), and a knack for turning off-the-beaten-path experiences into informative stories that will have you packing your bags.