Hi gang,
Getting excited about my trip to Munich in July! In doing some research, I was wondering whether it is better to travel to Dachau on my own and take one of the English language tours offered on site, or go with a group from Munich Walk tours.
Does anyone have experience with this?
Thanks!
Todd,
I took a tour with Radius Tours to visit Dachau, and thought it was a good value. You'll still use public transport, but having a Guide along was good as we talked about the history and so on before reaching Dachau.
As others here will relate, it's also very easy to visit on your own and I believe there are Guides on site as well.
I have experience with going to Dachau on my own. It is so easy to do and much less expensive on your own rather than with one of the "profit added" tours. All of the guides, either from the Memorial or with a commercial operation, have been trained and/or tested by the Memorial, but their own guides take a much more rigorous course. I think most of the commercial guides were originally Memorial guides. A guided tour by one of the Memorial's guides costs 3€.
Here is the Memorial's website with times.
Assuming you are using an inner zone Tageskarte (6€, single, 11,20€, up to 5 people) that day anyway, get a Munich XXL pass (8,10€, single, 14,20, up to 5) instead. That pass will cover both the S-Bahn to Dachau station and the bus from there to the Memorial. Take the S2 S-Bahn, direction (Richtung) Petershausen, to Dachau station. In front of the station are bus slips and the one to Dachau is clearly marked.
I took a Radius tour and was very satisfied that I got the most I could out of the experience. You can do it on your own, but for us it was worth the cost of the tour to be in a smaller group with a native English speaking guide. Radius does not allow non-English speakers on their tour. I witnessed them turning away a group who had a couple of people who didn't speak English. They did not want the disruption of having their other group members translating for them. Our guide was very knowledgable and answered all questions. Not everything comes down to how much money things cost. What you get for your money is important too.
I traveled to Dachau on my own and went on an English language tour from a Memorial guide. There was no one on the tour that did not speak English (because they give tours in other languages). The girl guiding the tour was from England, but still spoke very understandable English. The size of the group was not excessively large.
"What you get for your money is important too."
I know you paid more money, but I don't think you know you got any more for it.
"I know you paid more money, but I don't think you know you got any more for it."
That's true, just as I don't think you know that I didn't. The only way to know for sure is to do it both ways. Neither of us has done that.
As Lee said, the trip to Dachau is very straight forward. A lot of tourists take public transportation there, so its clearly marked and the bus drivers are very familiar with helping tourists find their way. And .... if you still aren't completely sure which way to go you just need to follow the other groups of tourists. ;)
I have always visited the memorial on my own, so can't speak to the tour, and as others have mentioned you can get an English speaking tour when you get there. I like the idea of doing it on your own because you have the flexibility to spend more time if you like. Visiting Dachau is a very powerful experience so you may find you need a little extra time on your own to absorb the unimaginable reality of what of what you are seeing.
The Memorial also rents audio-guides for the same price (3€) as a tour. That allows you to start any time and go at your own pace, stay as long as you want.
We had a car while we were there and drove to Dachau ourselves. It was cheap and easy and we didn't have any problems with the tours :)
Todd, I think the advice on this thread is good and should get you started in the right directly.
todd,
Im going in Sept and will just fly solo as far as getting there. I like the train system in Europe so i will be using that as much as possible.
happy trails.
We just returned from our trip to Germany and Dachau was one of our "must visit" stops. As stated it was very easy to get to Dachau on our own, using the S-Bahn. We debated hiring one of the guides there, then decided to do it on our own. I am sure that the guides provide additional information not included on the plaques and in the museum, but we wanted total flexibility. As it was, we were there for 5 hours! Very moving, informative, sobering experience, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in that part of history.
@Lee
"the girl guiding the tour was from England, but still spoke very understandable English."
Ha! I think that is funny, knowing exactly what you mean.
