Rental Car in Munich
 

We are flying into Munich and will spend two nights there. We plan to rent a car because the rest of our trip around Germany, Austria, and Switzerland we will be driving. My question is, would it be wise (and save us some $$) to not pick the rental car until we are ready to leave Munich. I'm assuming we'll have to pay for parking and won't use it much while we are walking around the city, so we'd save money by not having the car.

Questions....is there easy public transportation from the airport into Munich center? This is our first trip to a non-English speaking country and I'm a bit daunted by jumping right into public transport.

We want to see Dachau. Can we access that via public transportation?

If we wait to pick up the rental car, are there other pick-up points besides going out to the airport? I guess the rental company will answer this question for me, but I wanted to check anyhow.

My husband and I are not big public transportation users, so we are a bit nervous about not having our own transportation for a few days. But, I know that we can function and see what we need to see while saving some money!

Thanks for your help and advice.

Jessica

Jessica:
There is great public transportation in and around Munich and all over Germany. You can catch the S-Bahn into Munich from the airport directly from the airport. Just go outside into the courtyard between the airport and the Kapinski Hotel, which is on the airport grounds, and the escalator down to the S-Bahn will be directly outside on your right as you exit the building. I forget how much it costs but I do remember that it was very reasonable. You will save a lot of money using the public transportation.

Don't worry about taking public transportation in and around Munich at all as it is very easy to understand the signage and you should not have a problem. If you do feel a bit lost there are plenty of people who will be more than happy to help you out. The German people are very helpful and accomodating.

Yes, you can catch the S-Bahn to Dachau and I highly recommend it. That was a very moving experience for DH and I and I hope you get as much out of the day as we did.

I can't answer your question as to whether or not there are other places to pick up the rental car as we picked up and delivered ours at the airport when we rented in Munich. Munich is a large metropolitan city so I would think that there would be other places. If your hotel does not offer free parking, as ours did, then I agree that picking the car up when you are ready to leave Munich would be best as the transportation in and around Munich will serve you just fine without the need to look for parking.

Enjoy your trip and take some great pics. J

When we went to Munich in Nov 07 we took the train from the airport to the city center. It was very easy to use, understand and quite affordable. A couple days later we picked up our car rental from Hertz at their Leopold Strasse location (inside Holiday Inn) which was the closest to the Marriott hotel we were staying at. After we picked up our car we drove all around Germany, Austria and Italy and then returned it to the airport. No problems, no drop off fees (since it was the same city) and it all worked out great. We drove to Dachau so I can't give you much information on public transporation to/from there, but I would highly recommend visiting it. One of the most sombering experiences of my life, but well worth it. We drove the car into Munich the last day to see some the Marienplatz one more time. After doing that, I would recommend using public transporation around Munich. The traffic can be a crazy and parking is expensive.

There are definitely places to pick up a car in the center of Munich - I remember seeing Sixt and Europ Car, I think it was. And perhaps a Hertz. Anyway, they are there. I would actually see if you could pick up a car at a location near an S-Bahn station outside the city center though - it will be easier getting in and out of town that way.

Oh - and public transportation in Munich is fabulous. We are completely jealous of their system. So no worries about using public transportation while you are there.

Hi Jessica,
New member here so please bear with me. We did a trip similar to yours in June of 07. We rented our car from Hertz and we were picked up from the airport by a representative and brought to their facility. We picked up our rental car (with GPS, which really came in handy when traveling to small towns) and drove to Salzburg where we started our travels. Parking was free at the hotel we stayed at. The rental car was very valuable when we visited Konigsee and Berchtesgaden. We drove through the Bavarian Alps to get to Reutte where we based ourselves for a few days and visited the towns of Mittenwald, Oberamagau, Wiskerche and of course the castles of King Ludwig. We left Reutte for Dachau very early in the morning to give us ample time to tour the facility and still return the car to Hertz. A representative drove us back to the airport where we took the S-Bahn to Munich. We spent 3 days in Munich without having to worry about parking. Hope this helps.

Rene

If you asked 100 people you would get back 99-1 (could we please hear from the "one") to not have the car while in Munich (or Rome, or Florence, or Paris, or Berlin, or, you get the idea)

>"one"
You need a car for basically anything here, from shopping at decent prices to getting out of town at the week end. From bringing rubbish to the "Wertstoffhof" to visit friends when you return after midnight.

You can't go to Salzburg or Füssen every week-end. This is deadly boring!! The interesting places in Bavaria are accessible only by car.

Downtown Munich is ultimately boring. It may have been interesting in the 1960s, when it was new (to me ;-) ).
More people in town every year... There must be a better place.

Still want to go to Munich?

Okay, snowcraig, if you intend to bring your rubbish to the recycling center, you need a car in München. Otherwise not.

Public transport is very good. Make yourself familiar with the system:

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

You will see, the S-Bahn from the airport into the City center departs every few minutes and takes about 45 minutes. Do not take a taxi - it will cost a fortune and it is not faster. Buy a ticket at one of the vending machines - they speak English too.

Public transport is good if the S-Bahn runs on time, fortunately the underground is more reliable. Outside the inner ring (look at he S-Bahn map), public transport is insufficient, where trains somtimes only run every 40min after 10pm. It depends where and when you want to go, you need to plan in advance using map and timetable.

Tourists, logos. Tourists staying in town for 2 days, not residents. You know tourists; they are the people jamming up the streets in "your" Deutschland.

Take a look at the title of the web page and the posters question before you begin your oppositional treatises.

But then again, people whose main purpose is to gain-say, usually can't contorl themselves.

Aramis, you explicitly asked for a reply and aren't brave enough to accept it. Shame on you!!! :D.

Yes, they are jamming downtown but not all the streets. Fotunately there's not much to see downtown anyway, so no big deal at all :D

Aramis, you explicitly asked for a reply and aren't brave enough to accept it. Shame on you!!! :D.

Yes, they are jamming downtown but not all the streets. Fotunately there's not much to see downtown anyway, so no big deal at all :D

We just came back and agree the public transportation is great. However, about the rental car I have a suggestion:
make sure you get one with GPS (or bring your own with Europe maps on it). Also, before you leave the rental car place make sure the GPS talks to you in English and also displays text in English. When we picked up our car in Germany, they gave us a portable GPS unit and it took 3 people behind the counter to get it programmed to speak & text in English. Once that was done we were on our way and everything was fine. Have a great trip!!

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question, but what the heck. I'll answer anyway:

You do not need a rental while touring the sights of Munich. Between the subway, buses, trams and trains you can go everywhere in town and beyond. But when you are ready to leave Munich and venture out into the countryside, then rent your vehicle. On my previous trips to Bavaria we spent the first 2-3 days in Downtown Munich after riding the S8 subway train to the Hauptbahnhof (central train station) we then hopped on a bus to get to our hotels.

When we were ready to leave town, I found my way by bus and tram back to the train station or elsewhere in town to pick up the rental which I then drove back to the hotel where I picked-up my crew and our luggage. Why lug everyone else and their luggage back to the car rental agency? There's no point in paying for days where the car just sits parked in town either nor should you pay the cost of parking which most hotels charge.

And if I might offer further advice, buy a GPS Before you leave for Europe or buy the European maps for your existing unit. For what they charge you to rent one, you could buy your own back in the States and use it again and again.