The cheapest, easiest and quickest way to travel to the Balkans from Germany involves passing through Austria. Train connections between Germany and Austria are among the best and most reliable in the world using ICE high-speed trains. They have a maximum speed of 300 kilometers an hour, which is 186 miles per hour. Used frequently by business travelers these are trains kept in the best of conditions with plenty of amenities on board.
An alternative high speed train traveling in the direction of the Balkans is the Railjet. It offers direct connections between Munich in Germany and Budapest in Hungary with only brief stops in Austria on the way. It completes the journey in under seven hours.
If you choose to stop in Vienna in Austria you can connect to Ljubljana in Slovenia.
This will not be a direct journey on an international route but rather it will involve multiple domestic connections over a number of different lines.
This route involves changing trains at Wiener Neustadt, Graz and Spielfeld in Austria and then Maribor in Slovenia.
From Vienna directly to Budapest is the easier option. From Hungary you have direct connections to almost all of the Balkans.
Trains connect daily and directly to Croatia, Bulgaria and Greece. To Serbia and Montenegro there are indirect options. Every major city in the Balkans has connections to neighboring countries.
In Germany and Austria people speak German but in the Balkans they speak numerous languages. On the train you might hear Balkan people speaking Albanian, Armenian, Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Greek, Slovenian, Serbian and Bulgarian as well as other languages. There is great cultural diversity in the region and people tend to be multilingual.
In terms of scenery the highlight of the journey between Germany and the Balkans is the Austrian Alps which you pass when traveling between Munich and Budapest.
Traveling by train from Munich in Germany to Zagreb in the Balkans means commuting almost 425 kilometers, which is 264 miles.
Many countries in the Balkans like Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia are not in the European Union. You need a separate visa to the one used in the European Union to travel there. To guarantee your entry to these countries provide your passport for inspection at the border and complete the necessary documentation.
Traveling between Germany, Austria and Hungary in the initial part of the journey means traveling through European Union member states and therefore involves no extra documentation as there are no border controls.
