Salzburg: travel logistics for day before flight home from Munich

Picking up a rental car in one country and dropping it in another can be quite costly, so that may throw a wrench in the rental plan. Your flight out of Munich is late enough that you could stay in Salzburg or Munich... many people on here like to stay close to the airport on the night prior to a flight out, but I have stayed in both Salzburg and Berchtesgaden the night before a flight out of Munich.

You need to drop the car off in Austria to avoid a large drop fee that you have to pay if dropping off car in another country.

I'm not comfortable being more than an hour or so from the airport when its an international flight, but perhaps your risk tolerance is higher. You could drop the car in Salzburg and take a late evening train back to Munich. That way you could sleep in and have a relaxing morning before heading to the airport.

I think I would drop the car in Salzburg and take the BRB train to Munich (get of at Ostbahnhof and take the S8 to the Freising). There are a number of nice places to stay in Freising. If you get there early enough you can have a nice dinner at the outdoor Biergarten at Weihenstephan. Then, the next day, take the 635 bus, about 23 minutes, 5 times/hr, or the train, 13 min, 1 time/hr, from the Freising Bhf to the airport, for 3,90€ either way.

I wonder why so many folks are so over cautious. The OP’s flight is at 3 PM - why would we say to get to the airport in the morning. That is a massive waste of time.

There is always some risk in every stage of travel. It looks fairly straightforward to get to MUC from Salzburg on the day of departure.

Arnold, you're absolutely right. If they get up early there's is plenty of time to get to the airport from Salzburg by 12:30 (if they are flying back to NA). If the trains are on time, there is no severe weather, there is no work stoppage, there isn't an accident on the line, and the Sbahns are running smoothly. My crystal ball doesn't work all the way out to September. And I wouldn't care as much if it was a cheap, short flight, with several later flights later that day if I miss the one I booked. It's a different story if I've spent $$$$ on a Transatlantic flight that that may also involve connections.

Of course each person must look at their particular situation and assess their own risk tolerance.

Thanks everyone, this is just the advice I need. I do plan on starting with the rental car in Salzburg, and I am aware there's a fee for driving into Slovenia.

Maybe it would be pleasanter (?) to spend the last night in Salzburg. I usually am paranoid about being far from the airport before a flight, but that is from growing up and living in Los Angeles where one usually had massive traffic problems on the way to LAX, Where we used to live, the drive to LAX could be 45 minutes or it could be 2 hours.

We’ve stayed by Berchtesgaden many times and drove to our afternoon flight out of Munich. We’ve had Lufthansa and United flight departing for Newark, NJ at 3:30 many times. We get up, have breakfast and leave for the airport by 10:30am. We return the car at the airport. You can pick up your rental in Freilassing, Germany, a suburb of Salzburg, to avoid the out of country drop off fee.

For all the reasons CJean provided, I like to be close to my departure airport the night before I fly home. I do not want to risk spending money I could put toward another trip to purchase an expensive ticket home because of a problem getting to the airport the day I fly home. You would not need to stay at an airport hotel, but could say in a closer to airport suburb, like Freising where there are things to do in the morning before travel. Just my two cents....

I wish you a wonderful trip!

Traveler Girl

If you choose staying near Munich airport the night before, I highly recommend Hotel Gastoff Maisberger. Directly next to the S1 train station and 10 minutes from airport. Big rooms, reasonable pricing, and an excellent restaurant.

Thanks. I now have a question about getting the rental car in Salzburg, perhaps I will start a new question...

We might be leaving Salzburg for Slovenia on a Sunday, and I see that the only open car rental offices seem to be at the airport. It looks like it's only a 15 minute drive from our hotel to the airport, would a taxi or Uber be feasible instead of the bus, which seems to take much longer?

Sunday seems like it might be a good day to leave the city and head over the Grossglockner road?

We took a trip to Austria and Slovenia in early December 2023. We flew in and out of Munich. We were in a group and stayed the last night in Salzburg. We left at 5:30 am by private bus and arrived at the Munich airport at 9:00 am for an 11:00 flight. We didn't have any problems.

Do as you wish, but I think it is feasible to stay in Salzburg and take the train the morning of your flight. I would turn in the car the day before. Look at schedules, the high speed train takes a little less than 2 hours. I feel you should plan to arrive at the airport around noon or 12:30, just to be safe. Check in took a lot of time, but the security line went fairly quickly. Everyone on our flight arrived at the same time.

The Munich airport is convoluted. You have to take a bus from the main terminal to where you actually board the plane. I used to fly domestically frequently for work and we have taken several trips to Europe. Of all the airports I've flown into, Munich is my least favorite.

the high speed train takes a little less than 2 hours.

There is no rail connection from Salzburg to MUC in less than 2 hours.

The RailJet makes the trip from Salzburg to the Munich Hbf (it doesn't stop at Ost) in 1H33, but then you still have to take the S1 to the airport. Total trip time is 2H35.

There is a WestBahn, S8 connection in 2:16, but with those trains you arrive at the airport at 10:55 (a little early) or 14:55 (too late).

There is an ICE, S8 connection in 2:15, but with those trains you arrive at the airport at 10:15 or 14:15 (too early or too late).

The connection with the arrival time closest to 12:30 is an EC, S8 connection in 2H35. You leave at 10:00 and arrive at the airport at 12:35.

The Munich airport is convoluted. You have to take a bus from the main
terminal to where you actually board the plane.

In 1987, I flew out of the old Munich airport at Riems, and did have to take a bus to the plane then. In 1992, when MUC had only T1 in operation, I flew out to FRA. I don't remember if we needed a bus at T1. Since 2002, 8 arrivals/departures with Star Alliance, all at T2, my flight has always used a gate and jetway.

In 2001, I was staying in Bad Herrenalb, in the Black Forest, and I took the streetcar down to the Karlsruhe Hbf from which I took an ICE to the Frankfurt airport. At 2H03, that was the farthest I have ever traveled to an airport on the day of departure from Europe. Considering the poor arrival history of long distance trains in Germany recently, I don't think I would risk that today.

I've flown out of MUC four times in the last 20 years, once from the suburb of Poing (55 min, 2 S-Bahn), once from Karlsplatz (48 min by S1), and twice from Freising (20 by bus).

Since you will have a lot of free time in the morning before you have to leave for the airport, the best place to spend the night before might be downtown Munich, where there is a lot more to see and do.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

What I may do now is fit our Munich time in at the end of the trip. We'd fly to MUC, arrive on a Monday afternoon, train to the main downtown location and sleep one night nearby because we'll have jetlag.

Then train to Salzburg, several days there, pick up rental car for several days in Slovenia. Then drive back from Ljubjlana to Salzburg, drop car, train to Munich and enjoy several days there carless. That way we'd be nearby for our flight home.

How does that sound?

that sounds better to me.

On the Monday you land at MUC, depending on the actual local time and how long to get bags and deal with immigration and how many hours you've been awake at that point, you could also spend the night at the airport Hilton and then train all the way to Salzburg first thing in the morning. It's a very nice and ultra convenient hotel.

Excellent idea phred, thanks. Our flight from Seattle is "only" about 10 hours but it's overnight. Who sleeps on planes?