Vogtlandbahn, an izzy bizzy competitor to Deutsche Bahn, started offering rides from Berlin to Chemnitz on 12/10/2006 (yesterday).

The pricing is outrageously cheap and starts at 22.00 EUR per ride (if you are 26 and younger, you only pay 15.40 EUR) and double the price for a roundtrip.

Now since I am sure not everyone will all of the sudden wants to go to Chemnitz (except for maybe a little Christmas fair and some Erzgebirgs-flavoured Christmas experience), here are the stops on the way:

• (Chemnitz)
• Mittweida
• Döbeln
• Riesa
• Schönefeld Airport
• Ostbahnhof
• Friedrichstraße

Exciting, huh? Except for the stops in Berlin (last three), those are places most people have never heard about – if you are not really from the area.
As far as for Döbeln, I can not remember what is going on there and I think I have never been there myself. In Riesa, they got a huge arena and concerts take place pretty often (saw AC/DC myself a couple years back). Mittweida has a well known University of applied sciences but not much more than that. If you make the trip on a week, you can spare yourself the experience of a literally dead city since most students leave for home on Friday.

As for Chemnitz, well I think there’s plenty to do, art (Kunstsammlungen), culture (Opera, theatre), cafes, party (on the weekend), a trip around town for the infamous “Marx Knischel” (a relict from Communist times) or maybe a bit of Wanderslust in the surrounding nature.

Deutsche Bahn does not offer a direct connection at all, and I think the prices start at 30 EUR – if you book on a full moon and two years advance. ;-)

And maybe it’s time to use a weekend, get out of the city and explore the neighbouring states of Germany.

Tags: berlin, railroad, competition