I'll be spending a few days in Munich in early November. I'm going to Transylvania in a couple of weeks to spend ten days with some members of my church choir in the Transylvanian town where we have a partner congregation - my third time to visit there. On our return, we change planes in Munich - since I've never been there, I thought I should take advantage of the situation, and do a trip extension to spend a few days there. I'll be doing this solo, but I will be staying with a family friend of my sister-in-law, someone I barely know, who has graciously invited me to stay with her while I'm there. She won't be able to pick me up at the airport, and won't be home to greet me when I arrive - her teenage son may be there, or she'll leave me a key and let me know where to find it.

She suggested that I should take a taxi from the airport to her house, and then she'll explain me how to use the subways - she lives very close to the Westpark UBahn station. She said it would probably cost about 60 euro to take a taxi from the airport to her house. Now, being the frugal person that I am, it seems to me that I might be better off taking a train from the airport to the Hauptbahnhof station, then getting a taxi from there to my host's house. For those who know Munich, does this sound like a good idea, and will it save me enough money to make it worthwhile?

If I do this, I assume that it's not difficult to get a taxi at the Hauptbahnhof station. Is there a problem with getting tricked into taking non-licensed taxis there? How can I make sure to get a legitimate taxi? I don't speak German, am I likely to be able to communicate well enough with my driver to tell him/her where I need to go?

Lastly, what about tipping the taxi driver - what is the custom in Germany? Is tipping taxi drivers expected? If it is, when the meter shows - or the driver tells me - what I owe, how much extra should I add for a tip?

I've never traveled on my own in a foreign country before where I don't speak the language, so I have a bit of trepidation, but I'm feeling excited and brave. However, I do want to make sure I can make my way to my host's house, with my luggage, with no difficulties.

Thank for any help anyone can give me.

It's very easy to get around Munich on public transportation.
Here's a website. Just go to the MVV part and go to the journey finder. Put in the airport and the address you'll be going to, it's easy.

I hope this helps.

http://www.mvv-muenchen.de/en/home/index.html

BTW, you do have some time to get some basic German down. I like the audio book Speak German by Michel Thomas or any simple beginners book.

How much luggage are you taking? You could do a search here for packing light. Highly recommended.

There is no need to waste money on a taxi.
There are two S-Bahn lines (#1 and #8) connecting the airport with downtown Munich.
You can take any S-Bahn train of either line leaving the airport station until you get to "Marienplatz" (appr. 45min).
Follow signs to "U"-Bahn (underground) and take escalators one level down.
On subway level, follow signs to platform for U6 "Klinikum Großhadern" direction.
Take next U6 train from that platform to "Westpark" station.

Hi Sara,

If it were me, I would separate out the clothing for this quick trip and put it in my boarding bag. Then just leave your big bag at the airport's left luggage service:

http://www.munich-airport.de/en/cons...aeck/index.jsp

Have fun!

s

I think it might be a good idea to take a taxi from the main station since you save yourself the trouble of finding the exact address.

I've never experienced such a thing as an unlicensed taxi in Germany. You'll find them in front of the main station, with a yellow taxi sign on top of the car. In most cases they have a distinctive cream colour. For tipping it's customary to round off to the full Euro. But depending how much that'd be and especially for short fares, I tend to give more (i.e. for 6.90 I give 7.50 or 8 Euro).

As for communication, best write the address on a piece of paper and hand it to the driver. That way you save yourself the trouble with pronounciation.

Anyway, you'll find a lot of people in Munich who speak at least some English, so don't worry. The city is used to tourists and there's no reason why things shouldn't go smoothly.

Thanks for the advice, everyone, I appreciate it. The reason that I want to take a taxi from the Hauptbahnhof station on my arrival is that I've never been to my host's house, and I'm not sure exactly where it is - so I figure it would be easiest to let the taxi driver find it for me. The suggestion of writing down the address to give to the driver is a good idea. The luggage really isn't that big an issue- I'll have one check-in rolling bag plus a carry-on, which is a backpack with wheels. I can manage those pretty well, I've had a fair amount of experience doing so, using public transportation, but I don't want to drag them for several blocks looking for an address that I'm not quite sure the location of. Once I have my bearings, I'll be fine using the subway, and I'll use it on my return trip to the airport. I'm glad to hear that there's not a problem with unlicensed taxis (sometimes called gypsy cabs, but I didn't want to use that term, because it might be offensive to the Roma people). I know they can be a problem in some American cities - I've been reading recently about them in Boston and New York - so I didn't know if I should be wary of them in Munich. I also wondered why my host recommended the expensive option of taking a taxi all the way from the airport - I wasn't sure if there might be a difficulty with my plan of taking the train into Munich, then a taxi, that I wasn't aware of. I assume I'll be able to figure out how to buy a ticket for the train without too much trouble.