1 day in Munich

If you don't have to me at the airport too early, I would suggest you come into the old town of munich and stay there. In the moring, it's about a 40 min trip back to the airport. Even if you stay in one of the towns out by the airport, it will still take you 20+ minutes to get to the airport.

People will all recommend places in the Altstadt (Blauer Bock, Viktualienmarkt) and they are all good. I think Pension Lindner might be the best of the bunch. It's only a few blocks from Marienplatz, the center of town, and a few minutes from the S-bahn station to get you back to the airport.

Thank you Lee, it sounds like a good idea to stay in the center. I will see if Pension Lindner is available.

Another vote for Pension Lindner. I've stayed there twice; very pleasant, and excellent location.

As for what you can do in half a day -- the walking tour of Munich in Rick's Germany guidebook is a good quickie introduction to the city. Audio version, with downloadable map, available here. In the interest of time, though, probably best to skip the interior of the Residenz, and skip climbing the stairs of the Peterskirche belltower.

Although I do own a RS guidebook for every major city I've visited, I like the Frommer's walking tour #1 for a quick introduction to Munich. The tour ends at the Königsplatz. From there, if you take the subway to the main train station (1 or 2 stops) you can get on Tram #17 and head out to the Nymphenburg Palace. Either tour the palace or head straight to the Hirschgarten biergarten! It's the largest beer garden in the world holding 7,000 people. If you aren't into beer, they have a great outside food arcade. If you're into beer, they serve Augustinerbrau, which in my opinion is the best beer in the world. You should have time to fit all this in.

Thank you for your suggestions, I will look at both Frommer's and RS's walking guides. Unfortunately Pension Lindner does not have any available rooms, but I'll look for something close to it.

For just one night I'd also recommend MotelOne. Lots of good locations around the city. Rooms are cheap and clean and , surprisingly, local (the chain is based in Munich).

DJ

It's me, my wife and 17 y.o. son, and it seems MotelOne does not allow more than 2 people.

A friend recommended to my wife and I that we stay at the Buddy Hotel. We are staying there in June with a 1 day layover in Munich as well. We got a great rate for the room and it is less than .2 miles to the main train station. The address is Sonnenstrasse 2, Munich, 80331 Germany. I booked it on hotels.com for 106€.

You can easily see the Marienplatz, the farmer's market (great lunch opportunity!) and the Frauenkirch where you can see the devil's footprint. This is such an easily walkable part of the city. I loved it!