Munich to Salzburg
Bavaria to Austria in Ninety Minutes

Munich's main station is Europe's busiest terminus for regional traffic, and it is also - be warned - a long-running construction site as the station is rebuilt. Signage stays good, but platforms can be further apart than the concourse suggests: allow a few extra minutes, and check the departure boards rather than assuming last week's platform. Salzburg trains appear under their long-distance (RJ/EC) or BRB branding, and both leave from the main trainshed.

The station sits two S-Bahn stops from Marienplatz, with every S-Bahn line, three U-Bahn lines and the airport service converging beneath it. One operational footnote: some long-distance services also call at München Ost - if you are staying east of the river, boarding there can save crossing the city, but Hauptbahnhof has the full choice of departures.

The first half hour runs south-east across the Upper Bavarian plateau - meadows, maize and onion-domed village churches, with the Alps rising slowly from a blue smudge to an actual wall along the right-hand windows. Sit on the right for the whole journey: the mountains stay on that side from here to Salzburg.

Rosenheim, in the broad valley of the Inn, is the corridor's junction town: the lines to Innsbruck and Italy peel off south here (your Munich–Venice train takes that fork), while Salzburg trains bend east. Fast services pause briefly if at all; the BRB regionals call properly, and from here onward the stops come every few minutes on the slow trains.

Watch the right-hand windows: somewhere before Rosenheim the Alps stop being weather and start being geography.

East of Rosenheim comes the prettiest running of the trip: the line skirts the Chiemsee - the "Bavarian Sea", Bavaria's largest lake - with the water glinting to the left near Prien and the Chiemgau Alps stacked to the right. On clear days the whole stretch from here to Traunstein is foothill scenery of the postcard sort: steep meadows, white chapels, and mountains that seem to keep pace with the train.

Prien is worth remembering for another day - it is the boat connection to Herrenchiemsee, King Ludwig II's island palace - and it is exactly the kind of stop that shows the regional trains' quiet advantage: the BRB calls at these towns, the Railjet flies through. If your goal is the lakes rather than Salzburg itself, the slow train is the right tool.

Freilassing is the last German station, a railway town that exists because the border does: Salzburg's German suburb, one bridge short of Austria. Moments after leaving it, the train crosses the Saalach river - and that river is the border. There is no stop, no announcement beyond the next-station chime, and usually nothing to see except your phone switching networks.

Both countries are in the Schengen area, so there is no systematic passport control and no airport-style check-in at either end. Honesty requires one caveat: this corridor has seen temporary border measures in recent years, and police do board trains for spot checks from time to time. Carry your passport or ID card where you can reach it, and the worst case is a thirty-second glance.

The border is a river you cross at line speed - the only reliable witness is your phone's network banner.

Salzburg Hbf is a bright, modern through-station north of the centre - rebuilt around its listed steel platform canopies - and refreshingly simple to navigate: escalators from every platform drop to a single passage, and the city exit faces the bus forecourt. The old town is about a twenty-minute walk down Rainerstraße, or a few minutes on the frequent trolleybuses toward the centre; either way you cross the Salzach with the fortress rising ahead.

The station is also western Austria's great interchange. From the same platforms, Railjets continue east to Linz and Vienna and west to Innsbruck; regional trains serve the Salzkammergut lake district, with the classic Hallstatt journey made via a change at Attnang-Puchheim. Arriving from Munich, the whole Austrian network fans out in front of you.

The fast option: Railjet and EuroCity trains, run by ÖBB and DB, cover the trip in about an hour and a half, roughly hourly through the day. They are proper long-distance trains - quiet cars, catering, first class, luggage space - and they use ordinary dynamic pricing: cheap when booked ahead, more expensive on the day. Reservations are optional, sensible on summer weekends, never compulsory.

The slow option: BRB regional trains take around two hours, stop everywhere from Rosenheim eastward, and accept the Bayern Ticket - which changes the economics completely for groups and day-trippers travelling after 9:00 on a weekday (or any time at weekends). The trade is thirty minutes of your day and a bit of long-distance comfort against a flat, often much lower price. Neither answer is wrong; know which one you are buying.

The Bayern Ticket deserves its fame, and its fine print. It is a regional day ticket for Bavaria that - by explicit exception - remains valid across the border as far as Salzburg Hauptbahnhof. The limits: regional trains only (BRB here - never Railjet, EuroCity or ICE); weekdays from 9:00 in the morning until 3:00 the next day, with the time restriction lifted on weekends and public holidays; up to five people on one ticket at a per-person scaled price; and Salzburg's own city buses are not included. Rules and prices change - treat Deutsche Bahn's current conditions as the authority.

Everything else is simple. Point-to-point tickets for the fast trains are sold by both DB and ÖBB - same trains, occasionally different prices, so compare. Interrail and Eurail passes cover the entire route with no compulsory reservations, making this one of the friendliest pass journeys in Europe. And luggage is unregulated in practice: bring what you can carry, stow it on the racks, and note that bicycles need their own ticket and, on the fast trains, usually a reservation.

Is Salzburg a realistic day trip from Munich? Emphatically yes - it may be the best international day trip in Europe. Ninety minutes each way, direct trains all day, and a compact old town where the essentials - the Getreidegasse, Mozart's birthplace, the cathedral quarter, a terrace under the fortress - fit comfortably between a morning arrival and an evening return. Take an early fast train out; decide on the way home whether the Bayern Ticket regional suits your budget better for the return leg. An overnight stay earns you the fortress interior, a proper museum, and the old town after the day-trippers leave - a different, quieter city.

And Salzburg is as much a beginning as a destination. It is the natural first stop of an Austrian rail itinerary: Railjets continue to Vienna, the Salzkammergut lakes and Hallstatt are a regional connection away, and Innsbruck opens the western Alps. From Munich, this ninety-minute hop is the cheapest way to turn a German trip into an Austrian one.

Ninety minutes out, ninety minutes back, and Mozart in the middle - the day trip other day trips are measured against.