5 hours in Munich
 

We will have a five hour lay over in Munich. Is it feasible to visit a museum or be downtown in that length of time? If so, what is the best transportation? What is the approximate cost? What would be the contemporary art museum you would suggest?

Is the layover at the airport or trainstation? it makes a big difference... and is it morning or midday or evening or night?

Assuming your layover is at the airport, it is about a 45 minute ride on the S-Bahn to the city center. S-Bahn station is right at the airport - both the S-1 and S-8 go into the city center, so it is very easy.

Assuming it takes an hour to get out of the airport, plus 90 minutes travel to and from the city center, plus 90 minutes at the airport before your connecting flight - this will leave you 1 hour in Munich itself.

That would be a quick trip - not really enough time to visit a museum - but it is enough time to get lunch and/or have a beer.

I had a 6hr layover and was able to spend 3hrs in Marienplatz to meet a friend for a coffee. My plane landed at 3pm and I was in Marienplatz by 4pm using S1. I then took a ~7pm S1 from Marienplatz back to the airport. The airport was pretty much deserted by 8pm so going thru the security was a snap. I even had a snack at the airport before boarding the 9pm plane.

In order to accomplish this, I studied the S-Bahn thoroughly before getting to MUC. I knew which S-bahn lines went to the Marienplatz, what type of ticket I needed to buy, how much they costed so I had the exact cash on hand before getting off the plane, I knew that the S-bahn ticket machines were on the concourse, what color was the validating machine and where they would be located. After getting off the plane, I immediately located the ticket machine, spent perhaps less than 20 secs to buy the ticket, walked to the plaza, crossed over to the s-bahn entrance on the other size of the plaza, validated the ticket and hopped on a S1 about a minute before it closed its doors.