Early flight from Munich airport -- where spend the night...
 

I now have an early (6:50AM) flight out of Munich in October and will be arriving by train from Venice. I'm thinking about spending the night in a hotel near the Hauptbahnhof (any suggestions?)and taking the S-bahn early the next morning, or staying close to the airport at maybe the Holiday Inn Express and taking a shuttle to the airport. Any thoughts on the two options? It looks like hotels near the airport cost more, but is it worth it to have less of a hassle in the morning? I'll have to check S-bahn early morning times.

We stayed at the Kastanienhof Hotel in Erding. Very nice and great staff. The S-bahn is less than 1/2 block away. Took about 15 min to get to MUC.

You'r right, everything right at or near the airport is pretty airport is very expensive, but sometimes you can get good deals. The Moevenpick-Hotel in Hallbergmoos would be an option for instance.

We stayed at the Kempinski Hotel at the airport, we had an early flight also. They had a special for 1 night and flying out early.
Last year it was 119E for the night (including contl breakfast), but worth it since we just had to walk to the gate after breakfast.

Unfortunately I don't remember the name; Gary Mc has stayed there, he'll know.

There is a hotel (many, actually) in Freising, a short (17 min) bus trip from the airport, and they are far more economical than at the airport or Erding. You can see a listing of all the hotels in Freising at www.freising.de/pdf/tourismus/ukv_08_en.pdf.

As for Erding, Kastanienhof (www.kastanienhof-erding.de) is a short distance from the S-Bahn station, but taking the S-Bahn from there means going into Munich (Leuchtenbergring), 37 min, then transfering to the S-8 to the airport, 28 min. MVV shows the time, with transfer at Leuchtenbergring, as 1:18. The fastest way, per MVV, and the way recommended by Kastanienhof, is Bus 512. Maybe they have changed the route since dfr was there, but MVV now shows 32 minutes from the Erding Bahnhof to the airport by bus 512.

Now I see that you have a 6:50 flight out of Munich.

If you stay in Erding, the first public transportation (Bus 512) leaves Erding Bahnhof at 3:53, arriving at MUC at 4:32.

If you stay in Freising, the first bus of the morning leaves at 3:24, arr MUC 3:41. There is another one at 4:04, arr 4:21.

As for downtown, there is no reason to stay near the Hbf. The S-Bahn to the airport stops at all the stations on the Munich S-Bahn trunk line, Hbf to Leutenbergring. Stay anywhere near on of those stations (see http://www.mvv-muenchen.de/web4archi...nnetz_2008.pdf). The first S-Bahn to the airport takes approx. 40 min from downtown and arrives at MUC at 3:57.

If you decide to stay near the Hauptbahnhof, the Royal Hotel is only a block away, non-smoking, clean and comfortable, and inexpensive. Stayed there for a week last year. Took about two minutes to walk to the main station, and then about 30-45 minutes to get to the airport by train.

The night before our flight, we stayed at the Kings Hotel on Dachauer Strasse, about a block from the Hauptbahnhof. The hotel was good and had a nice rate - I think it was around 85 euro a couple years back.

I like the recommendation for Freising as well - it is a nice town and convinient to the airport.

Thank you all so much for the information and options. I will check the hotels in Freising and also the two near the Hauptbahnhof. The flight is from Munich to Amsterdam, so is an hour enough time for security, etc., or should I plan more than that? This is my first time through the Munich airport.

a second vote for the Kempinski - it's actually attached to the airport so all you have to do is walk on over. very convenient.

I have stayed at both the Kempinski at the airport and at the Marriott in Freising.

The Kempinski could not be easy but it always cost more...guess it depends on what that extra sleep is worth.... :-)

The Marriott in Freising is very nice and they have a shuttle to the airport that costs 10Euros. Going back there in 2 weeks!

I think the point of staying in Freising is to avoid the over-priced, over-rated chain hotels, in which category I would include the Marriot. Freising has a brochure at www.freising.de/pdf/tourismus/ukv_08_en.pdf, where you can see a lot of less expensive, traditional German hotels. I'd stay at one of those before I would stay at a Marriot.

Thanks again for all your help! The Freising options look darn good!

You are right, Larry. There are many other hotels in Freising. I am staying at the Marriott for free, so that is why I choose it. I did notice that they have specials starting at 99E which isn't bad!

As to your question of when to arrive at MUC, I'd give yourself more than an hour. It's a very modern, efficient airport but I'd plan on 1.5 hrs. We had a 6:30 am flight, got there at 5 and felt like that was just about right.

dfr - Thanks for your response about what time to get to the airport. I'll try to be there an hour and a half before flight time.

I really appreciate all the good options I've had from you'all, and now I'm feeling a bit abashed because I won't need a hotel after all. I can spend the night at a friend's house south of Munich and she will take me to the Ost Bahnhof to catch the 4:17 or 4:47 S-bahn to the airport (a 30 minute trip). So... I guess I'm all set. Again, thanks for all your responses!