Dear Folks,

To have the use of a car in Munich, that is our concern.

My wife and I will be spending a couple days in Munich in August. We'll be flying home following this time. Our accommodation is situated near the Oktoberfest grounds. Our question is: Should we hold onto our rental car until the morning of our flight home, thus dropping it off at the airport? As a possible alternative, we could "ditch" the car upon arrival in Munich, use public transport to move about the city, and then a cab from our hotel to the airport. By dropping the car off early, we'd likely save a couple days rental cost.

Another question comes to mind: About how much does it cost to travel via cab from downtown Munich to the airport? Traveling via train or bus probably isn't practical, as we'll have a good deal of luggage to tote around.

Any feedback from experienced travelers would be much appreciated.

DavidD.

I personally think that it is very easy to drive around Munich, though there can be challenges finding parking around some popular tourist destinations (example: the Deutsches Museum).

And I passed through the city during Oktoberfest, driving right past the grounds. Packed with people, but I felt like there was little or no congested (vehicular) traffic right around it (in the middle of the day, if memory serves me correctly).

Best wishes,

Rex

Just got back from Munich in May and here's what I can offer.
I woudl not keep the car in Munich especially if you aren't adverse to using public transportation. The U-Bahn/S-Bahn/trams network in Munich is extensive and VERY easy to use and understand. And it goes everywhere. You might consider getting the Munich Welcome Card (I think it is called) which covers all forms of transport in most zones and as I recall covers your trip to the airport which you can do on the S-Bahn easily on the last morning. Your hotel or the tourist office can either sell it to you or at least give you more details.
The taxi: on our last morning we decided to take a taxi from the center to the airport rather than doing the S-Bahn thing. It cost us 46 Euros (at one point the cab was actually going 120 mph on the autobahn) so your cost may be a bit more.
Enjoy Munich...a great city.

PS..Yes, Munich is easy to drive in but frankly, why bother? Driving is WORK, parking can be even harder work...don't keep the car for mobility...you can have that without it!

I don't think a car in the city of Munich, particularly Schwabing and the city center, would be much help. The day before we drove to Neuschwanstein, we got a car from Sixt. A friend of ours who lives in Munich told us we could not park the car near her apartment because we did NOT have a zone permit for parking.
Instead we paid the hotel $7.00 to leave the car in the delivery drive way overnight. We had to have it out of there by 10 AM.

I get to the airport this way:
Ubahn from Marienplatz to the Nordfriedhof stop and then take the Lufthansa bus the rest of the way.
It is a little cheaper than a taxi.

David, You don't need a car in Munich. The underground transportation can get you just about anywhere within a couple of block.

Cab to the airport will cost you about 50-60 Euro. It is quite a distance out of town. We had a lot of luggage and took the S-bahn from the main train station to the airport.

Whatever you decide, enjoy Munich -- we loved it and can't wait to get back. Augustiner Keller is my favorite Munich Beer, and right now my mouth is salivating just thinking about it.

David:
Why not ditch the car and luggage @ the airport( they have a baggage hold ) and use mass transit to move about? When we had our car in Munich, all we did was pay $20/day to park it.

How much to the train tickets cost (S-bahn and U-bahn)? Is there an all-day pass or a 3-day pass?

What if you want to explore the cities outside of Munich? What are the best ways to get to them (Bodensee, the "Cinderella" castle, etc.).

Has anyone driven or taken the train from Munich to Berlin? How far and how much is it via a train?

Can anyone recommend an affordable car rental company in Germany?

The same places to start for an affordable car rental in Germany are where you will do best for most of Europe:

www.autoeurope.com
www.kemwel.com
www.its-cars-hotels.com

and

www.travelocity.com - - to check all the "majors" for the possibility of a deal, all at once.

Dear Folks,

Thanks to all those who've responded to my query. I really appreciate the information; it was most helpful.

As it turns out, handing in our rental car a couple days early doesn't provide us with any savings. That, along with free parking at our hotel, compels us to hold onto the car until our departure at Munich's airport.

Thanks again.

DavidD