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Six or seven hours to kill -- hang out in Munich or take the train to Salzburg?

Posted by on

We're flying into Munich on Saturday morning (yep, in six days!) and meeting friends, who will be about 7 hours behind us. They're picking up a rental car. We'll be staying outside Salzburg for three nights before we start tooling around Bavaria together, and we'll have one more night in Munich at the end of our stay in Germany before we head to the UK.

So ... with seven hours to kill ... would you A) store your bags at the Munich airport and then take the train to downtown Munich and do some walking about, eventually returning to the airport to join your friends for the drive to Salzburg? Or would you B) take the roughly two-hour S-Bahn and Meridian train from Munich to Salzburg, stash your bags at the train station, and then wander about until your friends arrive?

Ready. Set. Go.

Thanks,

Karl
Cameron Park (Calif.)

Posted by
79 posts

From the airport you will need to change trains once to arrive in Salzburg. I would take the train from the airport to the main train station. I would store my luggage for an hour or two and walk to the main square in Munich. After a long flight it may be nice to walk about a bit before getting back on a train for a longer journey. Just saying but Munich is one of my favorite cities.

Posted by
7823 posts

If your friends itinerary is either a non-stop flight or plenty of layover time, so they won't miss their flight connections, I would explore Munich. I love Salzburg much more than Munich, but this will give you more time to see the city. If you're exhausted, you could always relax in the English Garden.

Posted by
19275 posts

If you are already planning to spend three nights in Salzburg, I think you have enough time to see Salzburg. I'd stay in Munich to see something different. As someone else mentioned, if you are using a Bayern-Ticket, you could go into Munich Hbf, store your stuff in a locker there, then take the S-Bahn to Marienplatz. Have your friends meet you somewhere in Munich (they'd have to purchase single trip tickets to downtown from the airport), then all of you take the Meridian train to Salzburg (4 person Bayern-Ticket for 43€).

You don't really need a car for Salzburg itself, and you might find that there are buses to your accommodations outside Salzburg. Then wait until you leave Salzburg and rent your car in Freilassing, Germany, right across the river from Salzburg, to avoid an out-of-country fee. If you do need a car to get to your Austrian accommodations, get off the Meridian train in Freilassing. There are several car rental agencies a short walk from the Freilassing Bahnhof.

Posted by
21182 posts

You don't have to hang out around the station. Marienplatz is just 2 stops away on the S-bahn, in fact if you store bags at the airport, you don't even need to go to the Hauptbahnhof, either S-bahn will stop at Marienplatz. You can get a group all-zone MVV day pass for 23.90 EUR and have the use of all public transport in Munich for the day, including from and to the airport.

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