Minich Airport to Hofbrauhaus
 

What would be the easiest and least expensive way to get from the airport to the Hofbrauhaus -- train, bus, taxi? We are staying in a hotel right in front of the Hofbrauhaus. We will be lugging a lot of baggage and concerned about walking a long distance with it and going on multiple transports.

Thanks in advance for your help.

If you are lugging a lot of luggage, this may be a no-brainer; bite the bullet and pay a taxi to get you door to door.

BTW, why "lugging a lot of baggage"?

Go to www.frommers.com and follow the prompts to Europe/Munich. It will describe all the various transportation modes/prices from the airport to the main train station. Have a nice trip!!! Mike

Go to the Munich Metro website (www.mvv-muenchen.de) and click the British flag. Over on the right it says "Timetable Information". Put in
From
1. Muenchen
2. Stop
3. Flughafen terminal 1
To
1. Muenchen
2. Important points
3. Hofbraeuhaus
Put in the date and time and select Search.

It will come back with several connections for that time. They probably say the same thing. Take the S8 from the airport and get off at Isartor. It is a 0,3 km (about 400 yds) walk from there. Under details, after Hofbräuhas, is a little symbol of a green H in a yellow field. Click there for a map of the walk. If you click on one of the € symbols you get a list of fare options. If you buy the €16 Partner Tageskarte at the airport, you can use it not only to get to the hotel, but on all the means of transport in Munich the rest of the day.

I would agree with a previous post . . . this is one time that a taxi is in order. I know the area around the Hofbrauhaus well and the closest you'll get on the Ubahn is the Matienplatz stop, and you'll still have to schlepp about 4 blocks to get near the Hofbrauhaus. Where are you staying . . . at the Platzl? If you've just gotten off a plane after a long journey you'll not be prepared to stress yourself further by taking public transportation and then having to find the hotel. If it's near the Hofbrauhaus you had best leave it to a taxi driver to locate it for you! I assure you that it will be the most prudent splurge you could make. The last time we took a taxi from Franz Josef Strauss to the Platzl it cost about $26. I don't know what that would be in 2006 $'s.

Another option would be to take the S-1 or S-8 to the main train station (Hauptbahnhof) and catch a taxi.

A taxi from the airport to your hotel will probably cost you $60. ((b))

From the airport, take the S-Bahn to Hauptbahnhof (main station). You will get a ticket from a machine. From the Hauptbahnhof it is about 1 km to the Hofbräuhaus (pedestrian zone), so, if you have luggage, it is advisable to take a taxi from there. It will cost about 5 to 6 Euros. A taxi from the airport will be 60 Euros.

Viajero2, the reason we will have a lot of luggage is this is only 4 days in Germany before we fly to Athens to board the Crystal Symphony for a 7 night cruise of the Greek Isles. We will be packed with warm weather clothes, cool weather clothes and formal clothes. I may look into shipping the formal clothes directly to the port in Athens if it's not too expensive and complicated. This is turning into a much more expensive trip than we originally thought.

Again, thanks for everyone's help.

Budman, I think you probably have the smartest suggestion if we decide not to rent a car when we arrive. Taking a taxi from the train station would save a lot. I found the price on Frommers from the airport to city center and they said $58. We are staying at the Mandarin Oriental which apparently is in front of the Hofbrauhaus. This is for only the first night. The next day we head to Berchtesgarden and Salzburg then on to Garmish for the last couple of days before we fly to Athens on May 17th. We may have to just rent a car and drive into Munich since we arrive on Saturday, May 13 and I understand only rental agencies at the airport are open on Sunday. Being tired from the trip we were trying to avoid diving in Munich the first day.

I can't remember if there are car rentals close to the airport but off the airport grounds like in the US. If any of you know if any rentals places that have van or bus service to their offices from the airport, I would appreciate the information so we could avoid the 19% airport rental car tax. Also some people have mentioned a company called Sixt which Gemut.com represents, along with Avis, Herts, Europcar. I had never heard of Sixt or Gemut before and if anyone has had experience using them, please chime in.

Also, anyone that has done the Salzburg to Garmish route, I'm looking at an old map of the area shows route 472 off the E52 (E52 being the autobaun from Salzburg to Munich) through the mountains that connects with the E533 north/south autobaun to Garmish. I was wondering if that would be faster than going all the way back to Munich and then taking the E533 south. Not knowing the condition of the roads though the mountains, although scenic, might be shorter or longer, suggestions appreciated.

Thanks again for your help.

Pef, you apparently haven't been to Munich in some time, or the last time there you shared a cab and $26 was your half. According to taxi-munich-online.de, the average fare for 1-4 persons from the airport to downtown is €55 ($66). That agrees with the 40 km distance I got from ViaMichelin times the km rate given on the taxi site and also on meunchen.de. There is also a charge of €0,50 per bag.

Karen, Hofbräuhaus is only 1.6 km from the Hbf via the pedestrian zone, but the taxi can't go that way. Via streets it is 3.5 km, about €7,50, plus €0,50 per bag. The other problem is that the taxi can't meet you in the S-Bahn station. By the time you get out of the underground station and find a taxi, the distance might not be much less than from Marienplatz to the hotel.

This might actually be a good use of the Lufthansa bus. It costs more than the S-bahn (€20 for 2 adults), and you don't have a Tageskarte to use the rest of the day, but it comes into the NE corner of the Hbf at street level. There should be taxis right there. If your bags are really such a problem, it might be the solution.

Larry, thanks for the bus idea. We've been checking car rental websites and it looks like they all close at noon on Saturday. We don't even arrive until 10:35, that would be cutting it close to get to a rental agency when we have no idea of the area. This is turning into a real pain. It looks like they got you locked in to renting from the airport if you arrive on a weekend.

Where do you find the Lufthansa bus? Are their signs in the airport telling you where to go? Do you need to have a ticket in advance from a ticket counter or do you pay on the bus?

Yes, there are signs all over the airport pointing the way to the Lufthansa bus. You can buy tickets from the driver. He will stow your bags in the compartment underneath, and you will have a comfortable trip. I like this bus even tho' it costs more than the S-Bahn

Karen -

Since you're only spending one night in Munich, you might consider leaving your luggage at the airport or at the main train station in a luggage locker overnight, and only taking what you need for the night with you to the hotel. You can then take a train to a stop near your hotel and walk the rest of the way without dealing with your luggage.

Are you returning to Munich before departing on your trip to Greece? If so, you might want to just leave your luggage at the airport for the entire four days, then collect it upon your departure. This would work especially well if you're planning to travel by train. You can easily pack four days of clothing into a small bag and ride the rails almost luggage free.

This link provides some info on luggage storage:

http://www.mvv-muenchen.de/en/home/f...g/text.html#13

The link above is for the main train station - here's the link for the airport:

http://www.munich-airport.de/DE/Area...ung/index.html

Karen, try autoeurope.com. They are an excellent rental car broker. There are several rental car places in Munich open on Sunday, including the Hauptbahnhof (main train station).

From what I can see, the least amount of pain would be to take the Bus into Munich main train station. Let them handle the luggage for you. Taxi to your hotel.

The following morning, pick up rental car, drive back to hotel, check out, pick up luggage, and head off to BG/Salzburg.

I know you are staying near the Hofbrauhaus, but skip that place and head to the Augustiner Keller beer garden (near the Hauptbahnhof) for lunch/dinner and a litre of some of the best beer in Germany. ((b))

Melnq8, funny you mention that because we were talking about that earlier. We thought the airports stopped doing that because of the security risk, 9/11, etc. That would definitely be a good option. The airport website though is impossible to figure out all in German. Too bad they don't have a button to review it in English. I guess we'll assume the most expensive option is probably what we'll end up with if we go that direction. Although if it costs us 35 Euros for one piece of luggage and 20+ Euros to get to the hotel with train and taxi, it's beginning to look like the taxi from the airport isn't all that more expensive.

Thanks for the idea.

Budman, I read that the Augustiner Keller beer garden is excellent. I also know that the food at the Hofbrauhaus isn't that good. It's just such a hoot to see everyone chugging those huge glasses of beer. We'll stop by for a look since it's so close and move on. I ate there years ago and thought it was not memorable.

I have a quote request in for Gemut.com. They aren't open for quotes on Sunday so I'll wait to see what they come up with tomorrow. I will also check the Auto Europe site you posted, thanks. We would love to rent a car with a GPS in it. We have a Garmin in one of our cars now and it's great. However, it looks like you have to rent a luxury model car to get one in Europe. We even considered buying the maps for our GPS to take along but they cost $350, yikes. This trip is costing a fortune.

Karen, We also went thru Gemut.com for our rental car to pick up near the Munich train station, but it is on a Friday. Our voucher from them was thru Auto Europe, and they were a few bucks less than AutoEurope. Call and check with Bob or Andy Bestor to see if they can fix you up.

We have a Garmin 330C and ordered the City Navigator Europe software. It retails for $350, but shopping on the net I got it for $280 thru provantage which included shipping. You'll also need to get an SD card for another $45. I know it's a little pricy, but I plan to use it for future trips. ((b))

Karen,
actually, if you take melnq8's link and change the DE to EN, you will get the information in English.

You guys are amazing. Thanks Larry, that makes sense.