Ooops, just realized we fly into Munich during Octoberfest

In your case, I suggest you change your plans. Just getting into Munich will require 45 minutes from the airport. Munich > Dachau > Munich will require close to an hour's transportation.

What if you were to just go somewhere that's unaffected by Oktoberfest and high prices? My choice would be to take the train from Munich airport to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the German Alps. G-P, where the 1936 Olympics were held and Sonja Henie won another gold medal, is surrounded by some wonderful stuff...

The Zugspitze, Germany's tallest Alp
The Partnach Gorge
Mittenwald, the Alpine village with the Karwendelbahn lift and a museum for violin-makers and musicians
The Fraundorfer Inn, with its Bavarian Evening entertainment

From G-P there are direct trains to Innsbruck and to your destination in the Dolomites from there.

A day pass (Bayern Ticket or Regioticket Werdenfelser Land) will get 2 people to G-P from MUC airport very cheaply.

I think all this would be a lot more enjoyable than staying outside Munich and commuting back and forth to Munich and to the overwhelmingly-depressing Dachau KZ.

I'm guessing the Fraundorfer will require less than €150/night for a double.

Rosenheim is about 40 minutes by train from Munich and about 50 minutes from Dachau.

Rosenheim is also a stop on the direct train to Bolzana.

Check out the hotel prices and take into account rail fares back into Munich or Dachau.

This is absolutely the wrong time to be in Munich if you don't want to participate in the Oktoberfest festival activities. I suggest you stay a long ways from downtown Munich if you don't want to pay the high price for being right there for Oktoberfest.

In October, 2007, I arrived in Munich to take my landmark car-less trip up the Romantic Road. Like you, I had naively thought that because I was not going to be right in Munich, it wouldn't matter.

I arrived in Munich in a Thursday morning, the last Thursday of Oktoberfest, and immediately went to the Hauptbahnhof, from where I walked the about 1 km to Marienwiese, ground zero for Oktoberfest. After looking around at the beer tents, I went back to the Bahnhof and took a train to Oberammergau, my accommodations for the night. I don't recall that Oberammergau prices were inflated for Oktoberfest (that was in 2007). On Saturday morning, I started my trip up the Romantic Road at Wieskirche. I spent the night, the last Saturday night of Oktoberfest, a big night, at Augsburger Hof in Landsberg am Lech. Again, I didn't think prices there were inflated due to Oktoberfest.

So, my advice to you is to look for places well outside Munich. Anywhere near the Hbf is going to be pricey. Marienwiese, ground zero for Oktoberfest, is only a short walk away. I like Freising, near the airport, but I think hotels there jack up their prices for Oktoberfest. I image even Dachau will be affected. Landsberg is a pretty town, just about an hour by train from the Munich Hbf, and on the same side of town as Dachau.

You might be better off on the east side of town, closer to the Dolomites, but I can't suggest anywhere. Unfortunately it's touristy (Herrenchiemsee) and likely to be affected by prices in Munich. Oberammergau might be a place to look at. Outside of a Passion Play year it might not be too expensive. From Oberammergau, you can go straight south through Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Mittenwald, and Seefeld, avoiding Munich, to Innsbruck where you can pick up the train over Brenner Pass to the Dolomites.

This map shows the railway and bus lines that serve the region south of Munich which Lee and I have suggested; it includes the towns of Oberammergau, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Mittenwald and Innsbruck . Red lines are railways, green lines are bus routes.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is likely to be sold out, and if not, the hotel prices will certainly carry a "Octoberfest" tariff. It's only an hours train ride from there to Munich. Nuremberg would be a better choice; it's an equal distance away but slightly less likely to host a large fest going population of tourists.

But if you have to go to Dachau I'd look at the small towns around there on the train line. Or seriously consider staying in Augsburg, a good city to explore on it's own, hotel rooms can be had for less than $200/night even during Octoberfest, and it's an easy train ride to/from Munich. 45 minute ride, multiple trains hourly.

Ingolstadt might fit your plans best, and hotel prices shouldn't be affected too much by Oktoberfest.

• There is a hourly direct bus (X 109) from Munich Airport to Ingolstadt.
• The direct ICE train to Munich Central Station takes 45 minutes.
• Regional trains to Munich take about 1 hour; some of them also stop in Dachau.

There is a lot of industry around Ingolstadt (the home of Audi), but the historic city center is beautiful.

Do a search in the forum. There were people in the past with the same question.

We lived in Augsburg, 50 miles west. of Munich for four years 87-91 and did the Octoberfest. three times.
There are frequent trains from Augsburg to Munich. Also, Augsburg is over 2000 years old and a great place to visit.
Also, hotels there are far cheaper. We visited last year before a Danube cruise and our hotel was about $120 per night.

I have a different point of view. I loved being in Munich during Oktoberfest even though we never went to the festival grounds and I don’t drink. There is an excitement in the air and families dressed in traditional dress having fun together. We also faced the hotel dilemma and ended up finding a gem of a hotel on the S1 line about 10 minutes from the airport at Neufahrn. The Hotel Gastoff Maisberger is literally next to the station, has large rooms, and an excellent restaurant. We did not feel the commute into Central Munich was that big of a deal and enjoyed people watching.

The many nice places that have been mentioned (Nuremberg, Augsburg, etc.) are worth recommending on their own merits. When considering these places for bases to visit Munich and Dachau, you must weigh the time and $ it will cost you to get to these places and then to commute to Munich and Dachau. Then you must also consider how you will reach the Dolomites from one of these German base towns.

Question: How convinced are you are that the small amount of time you have for your 2 nights should be spent in Munich and Dachau?

Perhaps you chose to fly into MUC not specifically for the city itself and for Dachau, but to get a reasonable price on your flights, as people often do... but your main goal is the Dolomites and Venice, and you just have some time to fill before the Dolomites, so Munich/Dachau looked like convenient "filler"? (Normally, people interested in Munich AND Dachau wouldn't attempt both with just a 2-night stay.)

The area Lee and I have suggested is indeed popular, and there may be some pressure on rooms and availability in G-P. But at this point, you shouldn't have trouble finding somewhere to stay with a good location and good ratings. A quick glance at booking.com is turning up 6 different apartments - within walking distance of the G-P station and with ratings between 8 and 10 - which are available for a full 7 nights from 9/20-27, with prices between $800 and $1,000/week ($114 - $143/night, or €99 - €124/night.) Example:

https://www.booking.com/hotel/de/alpspitzenblick-garmisch-partenkirchen.html

As long as you act fairly soon, I shouldn't think that getting a couple of nights somewhere should be that tricky.

This area's location (in between Munich and the Dolomites) makes for a fairly simple trip to Italy, of course, and you would need to discard Munich and Dachau, but it almost sounds like a place you might prefer if the Dolomites are an indication of your interests.

Hi,

Let us know if Munich and Dachau are must sees for you. If not, I’d suggest heading to GP or Mittenwald for your first two nights. Even Innsbruck or the surrounding area… such as Hall in Tirol. I’m partial to Hall as we’ve stayed here 7 times, as recently as Dec. 2024.

Do a search in the forum. There were people in the past with the same question.

Don't worry about searching the forum. An answer to a question like yours is difficult to find on the forum, especially since the forum's search engine is not the greatest. You've gotten plenty of good responses here, so I would certainly follow through with the ones that appeal to you.

One thing you might do is come back here and give some more details about your trip. For example, we can guess as to the approximate time since you will be there during Oktoberfest, but are there any other areas that interest you? What kind of things do you like to see when your sightseeing? Having information like that would give you even better answers than you've gotten already.

Since you want to go to Dachau you might consider staying there. In 2024 we were flying into Munich but we were staying in Salzburg and then Vienna before moving on to Budapest. Central Europe received extensive flooding just before our departure and the trains weren’t running. We decided to pivot after learning this just the afternoon before our departure and decided to stay in Munich for the week before moving on the Budapest. The problem…Oktoberfest was starting during this week. There was limited availability and what was available was extremely expensive. I found a hotel in Dachau that was fairly reasonable and near an S-Bahn station and it worked out great. We were able to easily travel around the region, thanks to our Deutschland ticket and even went to Oktoberfest the day after it opened. We did not go to the Camp because we had been there in 2006 and were planning to go to Auschwitz later in the trip.
https://www.booking.com/Share-dBA0hg