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Are there any cheap bus lines inside Germany? Something like Orangeways?

I've checked Deutsche Bahn cost for transport from Berlin to München and I was shocked with the price about 100 Euro. By Orangeways similar distance costs about 20 Euro... Is there any operator that allows to travel in Germany with so attractive prices?

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    Good question. German intercity train prices really are high (even Finnish VR seems cheap in comparison), and in my experience (2010-2011) there aren't many buses, for some reason.
    – Jonik
    Oct 23, 2012 at 14:39
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    Deutsche Bahn prices are confusing, and you can get at least to 3 different prices for the same route, depending on which ticket you choose. You could try either the weekend ticket for EUR 44 or the saver fare for EUR 29 (up to 250km) if you don't find a bus. Oct 6, 2014 at 23:43

8 Answers 8

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You could try BerlinLinienBus. It's a company for cheap bus lines operated by DB. Eurolines also have domestic lines.

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update4: new bus companies and bus search engine

Flixbus, Fernbusse and Aldi-Fernbuslinien are new to me, so I'll share this here. bus search engine: busliniensuche

DeinBus.de is a another alternative. Bus transport is going to get bigger in Germany since there is no more monopoly to long-distance travel from Deutsche Bahn. I read they even want to start their own Bus connections.

Though that's not bus-related but I'll post it anyway. Ltur offers one way tickets prior 7 days to the departure from 25€. Also every week is a special European destination from 35€ one way. That takes effect on the high speed trains (ICE).

If time isn't your problem or you are in a bigger group you can travel cheaply to the whole country by using the regional trains everything explained on their homepage.

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    just saw takri mentioned "busliniensuche" in his answer but I still keep it in mine.
    – greg121
    Apr 6, 2013 at 21:44
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The cheapest way to travel in Germany is actually to get a ride. Take a look at mitfahrgelegenheit.de or mitfahrzentrale.de/. The trip will cost about 30€ - you just share the fuel costs

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At the moment, the best way to find a cheap bus service is the Busliniensuche search service. It currently offers a search function across 57 companies running one or more bus lines, and all the ones that greg121 and gerrit mentioned are included there.

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  • Interesting. Deserves to be added to this CW answer!
    – gerrit
    Apr 6, 2013 at 14:17
  • @gerrit Done ...
    – takrl
    Apr 6, 2013 at 22:22
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Germany is not Hungary. Labour Costs in Germany are higher than in Hungary. So don't expect that the bus tickets are the same price. Hungary is not a good benchmark for Germany.

It is definitely possible to find train tickets for less than 100 EUR between Munich and Berlin. I can point you to what I have written elsewhere:

The strategy to find a "cheap" ticket, for IC or ICE trains, is the same as if you are looking for "cheap" flight tickets. The earlier you book the more chances you have to make a good deal. Moreover, avoid peak times, like Friday evening or Sunday evening. In the past I have made some good deals on Wednesdays ... Flexibility pays off. Also check the DB's search engine for saver fares.

If you travel frequently, you might consider to buy a Bahncard. This entitles you to discounted fares, as well as other advantages.

But it is possible to travel cheaper by train. From Monday to Friday you can travel on a so-called "Quer durchs Land Ticket". And on the weekends you can use a "Schönes Wochenende Ticket". These tickets costs 44 EUR and 42 EUR for one person. If you are more than one person, the price per person is highly digressive. In the most extreme case, if you are 5 and you travel on a weekend, you end up by paying 8.40 EUR per person!

With these tickets you can travel all over Germany in regional and local trains. You cannot use IC, EC, or ICE trains. From Berlin to Munich will take you 10 to 11 hours. That's almost the double of the travel time of an ICE train. But, it's pretty close to the duration of a bus trip.

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www.klickbus.de offers cheap tickets from Munich to Berlin. I booked there my trip to the Oktoberfest last week. Price was something like 20€

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  • fyi: klickbus is search engine and doesn't offer own bus rides
    – greg121
    Oct 9, 2014 at 13:25
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I found a website where you can compare the respective providers of bus connections.

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  • the link is broken
    – Dirty-flow
    Aug 22, 2013 at 8:43
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    @Dirty-flow Works fine for me. Aug 22, 2013 at 11:34
  • hm... maybe it was just offline for a while.
    – Dirty-flow
    Aug 22, 2013 at 12:50
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If train travel is still an option, apparently if your destination (and perhaps also where you start from) is not in Germany then the train tickets costs a lot less. It was mentioned on the news and we tried out such a search on the Deutsche Bahn website and it was the case.

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    Hi Jane and welcome to Travel SE. The OP is asking for domestic travel option, so your post doesn't answer the question.
    – Dirty-flow
    Aug 22, 2013 at 7:35
  • I think this is mostly the case if your trip starts in Switzerland or Austria, not in any country. But mostly, the question is for travelling from Berlin to München, not abroad, so this does not really answer the question.
    – Vince
    Aug 22, 2013 at 7:37

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