Munich central train station

1: Info about lockers at München Hbf - read the comment regarding construction work: https://www.bahnhof.de/en/muenchen-hbf/locker

2: Check to use Bayern Ticket, with it you can use regional trains in Bavaria (incl. Salzburg train station) such as hoho: https://int.bahn.de/en/offers/regional/regional-day-ticket-bavaria

3: How about Zoo Hellabrunn? Other ideas for tourists with kids in Munich.

My suggestion would be go to the airport hotel and unload your luggage - a bit out of your way but settling the luggage will be a big plus. Take the S-bahn train back to the Hauptbahnhof from the airport and have the rest of the afternoon/early evening with free hands. The Rick Steve's Audio Europe tour of downtown Munich (listen to it first to get its scope) is informative and with kids will probably take your available time and will take you past some good eating options. The girls might really like the Residenz (Wittelsbach Palace) with its Treasury. Watch the Rick Steve's programs on Munich available on Youtube to give the girls a chance to offer their opinions. Have fun!

With the Bayern Ticket, it will cost you 52 EUR for the entire day, departing Salzburg after 9 am week days, anytime weekends. That will cover all transportation in Munich for the day, to and from the airport and any other public transportation.

I agree with NickB, go to your hotel and drop off your luggage, then sightsee. The train station is undergoing major renovations and personally I wouldn't want to deal with the mess and trying to find the lockers and paying for them.

You can get an all day ticket or one Bayern day pass for everyone.

Yes, take your luggage to the hotel and drop it off. You can then head back into the city. My recommendation would be to take the UBahn to Odeonplatz; there you can either walk around the Hofgarden, visit the Residence, or walk past the Residence and Opera into the Marinplatz in central old town. Or all three if you have time.

1. Does the central train station have storage lockers that will hold large suitcases?

Yes, but as others have stated the main train station is a big construction area right now. Most trains from Salzburg stop of Munich Ost (East) Station first and there are lockers there as well.

1. Can we make one train reservation to the airport, get off at the central station, spend time in Munich, and then board the train to the airport? Or do we need 2 separate reservations?

A Bayern Ticket is you best bet and will be good for travel all day, even on the local Munich transport. So only one Bayern ticket needed. For your group you will only need a Bayern Ticket for three adults as the kids will be free.

1. Any suggestions of things to do for 3-4 hours in Munich with the two girls? Another thought is to go straight to the airport and then take a bus to Freising which is a short bus ride from the airport. Thanks for any wisdom from the RS community!

Pick some highlights from the self paced Rick Steves walking tour (I always take people to see the Asam Kirche).

Another option you might consider is staying at the Hilton on Rosenheimer Platz instead of at the airport. It has direct access to the S-Bahn which stakes you to the airport in about 35 mins and departs every 20 mins (even early in the morning). You'll save some time running your luggage to the hotel and can spend it exploring the city for one final night instead.

DJ

Thanks for all of your helpful suggestions! One more question: do we reserve seats with the Bayern ticket or is that not necessary?

My understanding is that you cannot reserve seats. That is because the Bayern ticket allows you to use only local/regional trains, plus all of the public transportation in Munich. None of those allow you to make reservations for seats.

Since you will be boarding the regional train from Salzburg, that is the origin point and you will be the first onboard and have your pick of seats. Nobody else has reserved seats, so once you sit, it is yours.

You can change to the S-Bahn to the airport at Munich Ostbahnhof. That is normally an easy cross platform change from Track 6 to Track 5.

Thanks for all of your helpful suggestions! One more question: do we reserve seats with the Bayern ticket or is that not necessary?

Not necessary and also not possible since the trains that you can use the Bayern Ticket on do not have reserved seats ;). Before you leave on your trip download the DB app and get familiar with it. The day of your trip you can just enter your start and end locations and it will automatically figure out the most economical ticket (which should be a Bayern Ticket in this case) which you can then purchase on the app. It will then tell you which trains to take, their times and track numbers.

DJ

There are a lot of trains between Salzburg and Munich. About half of them - RJ/RJX, WestBahn, and long distance trains of the Bahn, IC (InterCity) and EC (EuroCity) - make the trip in 1½ - 2 hours, but the Bayern-Ticket is not useable on them. Those trains make fewer stops, reservations are possible, and the tickets cost more, are priced per person, but do have advance purchase discounts. The other half are hourly regional trains - BRB RE5 - which are only a little slower, about 2 hours, because they make more stops. The Bayern-Ticket is only usable on these regional trains. The last few times I've been on these trains they have been modern, double-deck seating and load at platform level.

The RE5s make 10 stops between Salzburg and Munich Hbf. The last stop is at Ostbahnhof, on the east side of Munich, then they circle around to the south of Munich and come into the Hbf from the West. The direct route between Ost and the Hbf is the S-Bahn underground trunk line with stops at Rosenheimer Platz, Isartor, Marienplatz, and Karlsplatz. For seeing Munich, you would probably want to start at Marienplatz.
There are S-Bahn to the airport from the Hbf (S1) and Ost (S8). There are locker available at Ostbahnhof.

So you could either leave your luggage in a locker at Ost, take any S-Bahn to Marienplatz, then, after your visit to downtown, come back to Ost to recover your luggage and go on to the airport on the S8, or you could get off at Ostbahnhof and take the S8 to the airport, leave your luggage at your hotel, then take either the S1 or the S8 back to Marienplatz. The S1 and S8 leave from opposite sides of the same platform at the airport. Whichever one is leaving next will get you to Marienplatz soonest.

And, of course, with the Bayern-Ticket, all of this S-Bahn travel, as well as use of any other conveyances of the MVV (U-Bahn, trams, or buses), is covered.

do we reserve seats with the Bayern ticket or is that not necessary?

This ticket allows to take regional trains only. For regional trains it is not possible to do seat reservations.

The trip to the airport Hilton, including walking to the hotel is probably 1.5-2 hours, assuming
you change to the S-Bahn at Ostbahnhof and not go the rest of the way downtown. To me,
it depends on how much time you want to spend in downtown Munich.

If you go all the way to the main Bahnhof with your luggage, I suspect there are left luggage
offices near to, but not in, the station, so you can avoid the long commute to drop off your
bags and the construction hassles. If you leave your luggage at Ostbahnhof, then you have
an intermediate stop on the way back to the airport to retrieve it.

Finally, if you would get to the Hilton before check-in time, you'd just be leaving your bags in
the storage room. Seems like a long way to go just to do that.