Munich Lodging/Car Rental

From where will you rent the car? If Austria, then drop it in Salzburg and use the very very cheap Bavarian ticket to complete your travel via train from Salzburg to Munich. If you drop in a different country from pickup you will pay a hefty fee.

Plus, Munich is probably the single worst city in Germany for driving. An "economical place to stay... centrally located" will almost certainly not offer parking, which is very scarce in the historic core of the city. Most the stuff visitors come to see is located within a realitively compact walkable area, and the few that aren't (Dachau, the zoo, the Olympic stadium) can be easily accessed by public transportation.

So, I agree with the last poster, leave the car in Austria, unless there's some special reason you absolutely need it.

Oh, and I'm not sure how much it costs per night, but a good mid-range hotel in an excellent location is Hoteal am Opera. It sits right around the corner from the Hofbräuhaus.

Thanks all. I will actually be flying into Munich, rent car to Salzburg/berchtesgaden, back to Munich, Fly out Munich. Seems one of two options. Rent car airport, drive austria, drive back to airport, drop off car, train to Munich lodging, train back to airport. Or, from arrival to airport, take train to car rental outside of airport near lodging(non-airport car rentals seem a good deal cheaper, but will take more time), drive to austria, return car to rental company, public transport to lodging (or maybe rental shop will drop off if close enough to lodging), public transport to airport.

As far as where to stay, I've researched a few places and seems I just get on public transport and get to central area quick, as was mentioned in other posts. This apt. seems very close to city center, would you agree (Klenzestraße, Munich, Bavaria 80469, Germany)? And here is another apt. detail. This is probably the one I will take. It is located at City center and fair (Messe), Berg-am-Laim-Straße, Munich, Bavaria 81673, Germany. Is it a good location?

Thank you.

The Munich airport is out in das boonies to the north of town, and you'll lose a lot of sightseeing time dropping it off back there. And while the traffic in central Munich isn't great, IMO it's no worse than any major North American city. I'd drop the car back off at the Munich main train station. Drop off point for the major car companies is actually a parking garage about a block north of the station (get directions to it when you pick up the car, there's a off turn or two you need to make) and while it did rather remind me of the Chicago parking garage from 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' we dropped out car there and got a receipt for it rather uneventfully. Then you just walk to the train station and pick up the U Bahn/ S Bahn wherever you need to go. Sure beats losing 2+ hours returning it to the airport.

I think Hertz charged us about 9 euros as a 'one way' fee, and it was more than worth that token amount.

As for lodging, I've heard good things about the Motel One chain that's constantly opening up new properties through Germany, and they've got a few options close to Marienplatz that are also a little less in the red light area.

Selkie,. thank you, and I see your point. The airport is much further north than Munich and Salzburg, so we would backtrack. Great idea about picking up at airport and dropping off at train station. Looks like train station open until 2100, so that is good also. The apt. i found is close to train station, so that may work well. Thanks for the Motel 6 tip as well.

I went on a rick steves best of europe tour last year and we stayed at a very nice hotel in the dead center of the city called Blauer Bock hotel with an excellent breakfast. I would stay there again if I was in Munich. Very clean and excellent location. Not sure how much it is and when looking at hotels, you need to keep in mind how much they are in Euros. Have a nice time.

Why the obsession with a car? This is not California, where you need a car to get almost anywhere. Germany has the most extensive rail network in Europe, with over 1000 stations in Bavaria alone. Make use of public transportation.

The fastest way (2h17m) to get to Salzburg from the Munich airport is to take the S8 S-Bahn to Munich Ostbahnhof and an hourly regional express (Meridian) from there to Salzburg Hbf. It would take almost as long (2h5m per ViaMichelin) to drive, but you would have to take time to pick up the car. The cost of a Bayern-Ticket for two would be 28€ (your 8 yo travels free with you on the Bayern-Ticket). ViaMichelin estimates the cost for gas alone at 24,15€, plus you might have to buy a Vignette for Austria.

Once you get to Salzburg, there are buses everywhere, but it is a small town, you can walk to most things. There are multiple ways to get to Berchtesgaden from Salzburg, the train via Freilassing or the Watzmann Express bus, RVO 840, from in front of the Salzburg Hbf to Berchtesgaden bus station, and buses in Berchtesgaden go everywhere. A Berchtesgadener Land, Tagesticket-Bus-und-Bahn ticket (12€ per adult, 8 yo free) covers the train through Freilassing or the RVO 840 bus as well as almost all of the buses in Berchtesgaden (except the 849 bus from Obersalzberg up to the Eagle's Nest).

When you come back to Munich on the regional train, you get off at the Ostbahnhof. There is a streetcar from in front of the Ostbahnhof that goes down Berg-am-Laim Strasse (what's the address?). Transportation in Munich (buses, streetcars, U-Bahn, as well as the S-Bahn) is also covered by the Bayern-Ticket that gets you from Salzburg to Munich Ost.

For transportation within Munich, you want to use a Tageskarte (day pass). They come in Single (for one person) and Gruppen (for up to 5 people) versions; you'll want a Gruppen Tageskarte for your full day in Munich. Everything people normally visit in Munich, except Dachau, is in the inner zone (Innenraum), Zone 1. An Innenraum Gruppen Tageskarte costs 11,70€. It gives you unlimited travel on all the public conveyances in Zone 1. If you want to go to Dachau, use a München XXL Gruppen Tageskarte, for 14,80€. It gives you unlimited travel in the inner two zones. On the day you go to the airport, use a Gesamtnetz (entire network) Gruppen Tageskarte, for 22,30€.

Germany also has a great and storied car culture, and if you're going to drive in Europe, it's a fun and fairly easy place to explore by private vehicle once you're clear of the bigger cities. The roads are pristine by American standards, the signage is easy to figure out, and since it's actually fairly hard to get a driver's license there, you're probably the worst driver on the road. Just follow the rules. (Yes, there are even speed limits on many stretches of the autobahn, and never ever be in the left lane any longer than it takes to pass) and driving in Germany and surrounding areas is pretty cool.

Yeah, you can take inter city bus and train, but then you can't pull over to the side of the road to buy some strawberries from a farmer's stand or take a good picture of the neat onion dome church (I think you can do a great series of those in Bavaria) or stop at a roadside park and watch people paddle along a mountain stream. In the era of GPS, we also like to take some time on a vacation and just ramble- start out driving in one general direction and than just randomly take roads that look interesting, trusting the Garmin to get us back to our hotel at the end of the day. Take the bus, and you may never get to unravel the mystery of the turnoff to Katzenbarfenburg that you only got a glimpse of as the bus charged past it as it completed its regular route.

I like train travel, and love the convenience and low stress of mass transit in urban centers, but there are times when nothing beats having our own car for how we prefer to travel in quieter areas.

selkie, do you recall if there is a key drop at the munich train station in the event you return the car late?

nicely written post on the freedom of car travel btw. the reason i chose car rental is that there seems to be a lot of attractions near berchtesgaden, and on the way back to munich...and we will play it by ear as far as which ones to visit. plus car rental is surprisingly cheap in germany, especially considering i'm dropping off at a different location. and maybe we'll get lost on purpose as well... i wouldn't mind having a lost year in europe, come to think of it. ;-)

i do look forward to taking public transportation in munich though (and in barcelona once we leave munich). living in southern california, it is frankly embarrassing to deal with such a poor public transportation system. i realize socal was built around the car, and does have a great freeway architecture, but that doesn't mean it can't also develop good mass transit and evolve. but hey, once self-driving cars take over, the freeways could be used more efficiently. the day couldn't come sooner.

Lee has it all correct. Unfortunately Americans just cannot fathom a trip without a car. It's just in our genes that we must must must drive. We just can't fathom that in other countries rail and bus systems actually DO work very well.

I don't know for sure, but I'd be surprised if there was an after hours key drop option. Not much space in the ground floor drop off area, and I suspect the employees rather have to play car tetris to get as many vehicles as possible to fit in the upper floors for a bunch of different rental companies. That, and you don't want to leave a garage in that area unlocked at night because you don't want, um, low budget backpackers thinking they could do a bit of urban camping and sleep in the garage overnight, possibly causing damage to the cars.

I thought of this thread yesterday when I got an e-mail from the German Tourist Board encouraging me to consider a driving vacation that starts in Stuttgart. So maybe it's not just American attitudes blah..blah..blah.. wanting to do such things. The locals are more than willing to offer the self-drive suggestion independently.