A few questions about Munich plans and any suggestions

Regarding your question for Thursday June 14 -- If your nephew is interested in WWII, I would suggest doing one of the Third Reich walking tours offered by Radius or Munich Walks. There are a lot of existing structures to see that would be very interesting to him, but are not obvious without a guide. (For example, Hitler's former office complex is now a music school, but there isn't a sign outside telling you that). I would recommend that sort of walking tour over the Dokumentation Center for a first visit, esp. if time is short. While the Center is very interesting, it's basically a vertical textbook -- no real artifacts. I would however suggest the Munich City Museum which has an annex specifically devoted to the rise of National Socialism, which does have a lot of artifacts. Very interesting and can be done in an hour or so.

I would also suggest an overall Munich walking tour (which would cover Marienplatz, Viktualienmarkt and surroundings) either using a walking tour or Rick Steve's walking tour in his book or audio-app. It covers the highlights quite well.

The Pinakothek Moderne is wonderful as you say that period is an interest. I also liked the Neue Pinakothek (art from 1850-early 1900s, e.g. impressionists, Gaugin). Also the Egyptian museum is quite good, very manageable and cool inside as it is designed as sort of entering a tomb.

Your bike tour will likely take you along the river and English Garden, both of which are lovely. I think you can combine the bike tour with Nymphenburg.

The U-bahn system is quite easy to use, but taxi's are also plentiful.

What hotel? You might find it quicker to get off at Munich Ostbahnhof, which is also on the east side of the River Isar.

From the main station Munich Hauptbahnhof, you can a U-Bahn or S-Bahn that connects to the U-3 at several places, depending on the direction you want to go.

There are group multi day transport tickets you can buy.
https://www.mvv-muenchen.de/en/tickets-and-fares/tickets-daytickets/index.html

Fri. 10:00 am guided tour of Dachau

The English language guided tour of Dachau, given by their own trained guides, are at 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM, not 10:00 for 3,50€ per person.

Are you looking at a 3rd party tour that costs a lot more? The only advantage I've ever seen for the 3rd party tours is that they take you out to the Memorial and back by S-Bahn and bus. That is easy to do on your own with a 16,10€ München XXL Gruppen Tageskarte. You'll probably want an Innenraum Gruppen Tageskarte for 6,70€ anyway that day just to get to/from Marienplatz or the Hbf, wherever the 3rd party tour leaves from, so the incremental cost for three of doing it yourself is about 20€.

I can't see needing a taxi, ever, in Munich. The public transportation is already organized to take you almost anywhere people want to go. Use the Munich metro's website to find connections. Viktualienmarkt is right at Marienplatz (S-Bahn station) and Nymphenburg is a streetcar trip from the Hauptbahnhof.

Is Munich's an important adjunct to Dachau or overkill?

Adjunct to what? I've only been to the Dok center in Berchtesgaden, but it was totally different than Dachau. The Dok center is a museum documenting the process of the Nazi rise to power. Dachau was a Nazi work camp, not a death camp, per se. A lot people (less than 20% of all taken there) died of the hard conditions at Dachau, but they weren't taken there just to be killed, like at a place like Auschwitz (where 70% were gassed immediately and another 15% died from overwork).

There is a metro right on Marienplatz. Viktualienmarkt is close to St. Peters Church about five minutes from Marienplatz. Nymphenburg is an easy bus ride, I believe we got on by the train station. Nymphenburg is lovely. We were there about half of a day. You need to go to the Hofbrauhaus because everyone does! They have a lively band. I have just stopped in for a beer and shared a pretzel and then we went to Augustiner Keller for a meal and another beer. There are two Augustiner Kellers, one is on Marienplatz, the building is very interesting and I've enjoyed meals there. There is much more variety of food at Augustiner and it is very historic. The other one is by the train station and has a huge outside area which I would imagine would be quite lively in the summer. (We were there in January). The Glockenspiel on Marienplatz is quite special. I believe the times are 11am and noon.

Here is the map of the S-/U-Bahn system in Munich. The Hbf (main train station) and Marienplatz are linked by the S-Bahn trunk line; there is a train every few minutes between them.

The advantage of taking a tour to Dachau is that the guide will be giving you so much information on the way there as well as on the way back, so you end up with 6 hours of informative discussion, transfer of knowledge, and question answering, not just the few hours you are in the KZ.

Thank you everyone for your help. We might have missed the annex, not knowing that it would be of special interest. We were thinking to get off at the eastern train station instead of going all the way to the main station, so that confirmation is really helpful. I keep reminding myself that the public transportation will really take us everywhere and even run in the evening, but coming from a middle-size, southwestern American city, I'll have to see it to believe it!

Hi!

a few observations: Pinakothek der Moderne - I used to favor this museum, but in the couple of years since turning 50 I'm now all about the Alte Pinakothek. Good lord the collections of Durer, PP Rubens, Brueghel - the place is an embarrassment of incredibly interesting art. I pointed out how to look at details in these busy works to my 9 year old girl and fairly needed to drag her out of the building two hours later.

Viktualienmarkt is a crossroads not far from where you are staying (which is also where I stay). You'll pass through it naturally on your travels. We are totally in love with traditional German/Bavarian food, but I must say that the falafel place in the VM is EPIC. And affordable, very friendly (great guys run this place) and nice for a change. Called Sababa. You'll be tempted by the rest, but the falafel is amazing. The artisnal ice cream cone stand nearby is very good too. I didn't try the rollmop flavor though! Stuck to the classics - real strawberry like way back in the good old days of ice cream.

I'm assuming you are staying in Haidhausen. If so you can easily walk to Wirtshaus in der Au. This is a great alternative to a big busy beer hall if you still want some of that vibe. It's super cozy and welcoming, a bit more upscale than most cafeteria style beer hall, has more focus on classic Bavarian cuisine, and the tap are Paulaner - those monks definitely get their beers right - and the wins are better than in beer halls (and it feels right drinking wine). Not too pricey. Have your hotel call in a reservation.

Regarding reservations, Munich is a booming economy and the restaurants show it. We consistently ran into places, even the nicer beer halls, that told us they were all booked up. But here's a tip - if you don't have a reservation and you show up early, and you offer to be done with the table by the time it is reserved, they;ll be happy to let you sit down. A few time we heard no table, but it was 6:30pm, and we said "hey we'll be gone by 8." And they said oh no problem and we sat down.

So glad you are including bikes! It's a great biking city, totally embeds you i the flow of the place. The Englisher Garten is a huge park, great for a ride to some of the more remote beer gardens.

Lastly this is a take it or leave it, but if you want to make an 18 year old boy very happy take him to Galaxy Erding, the largest water-slide park in the world. It also has relaxing spa areas for grown ups (the name of the place is actually Therme Erding - the slides are just a subset of the spa) , pool after pool, after pool, and is a fun way to rub shoulders with the German middle class on a spreeish day out. It's massive compared to some other fully adult focused spas, but it will definitely make a kid smile from ear to ear.