Travel to Munich to visit Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial

Do you have a plan for your luggage yet for that morning? https://www.bahnhof.de/en/dachau-bahnhof/locker It looks like the Dachau train station has luggage storage for various sizes of luggage.

I had thought that if we had a car and driver we could have the driver wait for us and we could have our luggage with us.

I see some possible issues with your plan. The luggage for 6 people going on a river cruise and the 6 people themselves are going to be a bit much for one driver. Also the cost for the driver to just sit around while you are at the memorial will probably be a bit high.

There are luggage storage facilities available at the Munich train station. I think that these might be your best choice in not having to deal with the luggage until you are ready to take the train to Dusseldorf.

The S2 train leaves from/and returns to the Munich train station and is quite easy and quick to take to Dachau. Once there you have the option of taking a taxi (or two) to the memorial or taking the bus that runs fairly frequently (10-15 minutes).

Another option I think you should consider is hiring a private guide for while you are at Dachau. A group of 6 will make this cost effective. If you are going to all this effort to see the Memorial, you might as well make the best use of your time there.

I wanted to add that you need to be aware there is significant walking/standing involved at the memorial. I don't know if any of your group participants have mobility issues, but keep this in mind. There are a few seats scattered around but you should be prepared to walk and stand a great deal during your 3 hours.

Thank you Mona. We may just leave our luggage at our hotel in Munich and then go back to get it before going to the train station.

Carol, thank you for your reply. I am beginning to feel like I have a challenge on my hands. We are traveling with my husband's siblings and spouses and for some reason, everyone wants to do what we are doing. So, now I am the organizer.

We can all afford to do whatever is easiest and most time efficient for all of us even if it means having a vehicle that would handle 6 adults and possibly luggage.

My main concern is being able to get from Munich to Dusseldorf by dinner time. I have been told by some that it is easier to take the train (4 hours) vs flying. I do see that there are nonstop flights on Lufthansa so I guess I would like some input from someone that says what might be best. The train while long, seems like it might be fun as a group and in first class you can even get a meal. Thoughts on this?

Oh my! It must be a bit of a shock to suddenly become the travel planner for this group by default....

I also like the train idea. Looking as far out as I can on the current schedule, it seems like there is a train around 1:50 and another at 2:28 that would get you into Dusseldorf no later than 7:12. Dachau opens at 9 am. If you are there around that time you would have your 3 hours ,time for lunch, and time to get the train. You know your group. I would expect that in a group of 6 you have at least one person who is not a "morning person" or who may be impacted a bit more by jet lag. I think you may need to set some guidelines. For example, "We are leaving for Dachau at 8:30 am. If you are not there at that time, no worries, we will just assume you have changed your mind and will go on without you. Meet us at XXXX at 1 pm."

I'm posting a link that you might find helpful. It is for Dark History Tours in Munich. If you look on their webpage, they have a section for "private tours." They are well regarded on this forum and may be able to deal with some of logistics as well as provide a meaningful experience at Dachau. https://darkhistorytours.com/tours-in-munich/

Thank you Carol for your wonderful suggestions. Typically when in a group like this, that is exactly what we do. We do not like to wait around for others to show up. I will take a look at the Dark History Tour site.

jacque, the fact is, I haven't been to Dachau (but have been to Buchenwald and to Auschwitz.) I sympathize about your becoming the travel agent. Honestly, I wouldn't travel such a long distance (Munich-Düsseldorf) for a single Munich site.

This leads me to suggest that if this is the first trip to Europe for some of the travelers, you may need to reflect on other potential difficulties, like (perhaps ... ) never having been on a long-distance train, or not wanting to spend so much time at a depressing place like a KL. You also have to reckon with the trip back to a downtown HBF in a major city of the world on a business day, and the overhead of going to the hotel to get the luggage. (Since you said you can afford a big vehicle, I think you will eventually decide to take the luggage to Dachau, to speed things up. You'll have to pay the "waiting time" anyway, if you use the driver to get TO the camp, which does seem like a good idea.)

There's also the issue of lunch. We would gladly shop at the HBF for sandwiches and wine to eat on the train, but this may be a new idea for some of the guests. And it takes time, especially when you see how many places there are to shop in the station, and that some of the places have long lines at lunch hour. Do you have the background to assure them that even a mediocre sandwich in a German train station is probably a gourmet meal compared to a sandwich in an American station (or airport!)

It may take extra effort to get people with jet lag up in time for the hotel breakfast hour, with their bags packed, and ready to be at Dachau at opening time. As I said, I haven't been there, but most KL are very big, with a lot of walking involved. I see the basic suggested tour company has a 4-4.5 hour tour. Of course, when you pay the bill, you get to say how long you want to spend. But it's a hint that there's a lot to see and learn about there. And you're traveling the entire diagonal width of Germany to do this stop before your cruise embarkation.

When I looked at the DB site, the shortest train trip I saw was 4:48, with very few one-seat rides. I don't mind changing trains myself, but that calls for more "cat-herding" by you. "No, you can't go into the shop, we have 7 minutes before the train leaves!"

It's really simple to get out to the Dachau Memorial (KZ-Gedenkstätte) using public transportation. There is one regional train per hour that originates in the "main shed" of the Munich Hauptbahnhof and takes 12 minutes to get to the Dachau Bahnhof. There are three S-Bahn per hour (every 20 minutes) from the underground station at the Munich Hauptbahnhof; they take 20 minutes to Dachau Bahnhof. It's a short walk from the tracks to the bus slips at Dachau Bahnhof, and there's a bus leaving for the Memorial every 10 minutes. The trip by bus to the Memorial takes 7 minutes.

The regional train is faster, but it originates at the Hbf. If you would need to use the S-Bahn to get to the Hbf, then it's probably easier to just take the S-Bahn. If your hotel is near a donntown S-Bahn station, between Ostbahnhof (east station) and Laim, you can catch the S-2 directly to the Memorial without having to change.

The bus back leaves every 10 minute from the Memorial to Dachau Bahnhof and takes 11 minutes. Depending on whether you take a regional train or S-Bahn back to the Hbf, the trip takes 32-45 minutes.

At the Dachau Bahnhof, according to this website, there are 229 large (36" x 24" x 17") and 102 small (29" x 16" x 9") coin lockers available for at least 7 hour use. There are also potentially more lockers at the Hbf, but because of current construction, there could be some access problems.

You should get M-1 Day Tickets (Tageskarten) for your trip. These tickets will cover all your transport in the central (M) zone and in the next zone (1) which contains the Memorial. If you need to take any transport to the Hbf from your hotel in the M zone, a Tageskarte will cover that travel as well as the train to/from Dachau Bahnhof and the bus to the Memorial. Five of you can use a Gruppe Tageskarte (2-5 adults) for 19,20€. The sixth person will need a single Tageskarte for 11,50€.

BTW, do you know at what hotel you will be staying or what S-Bahn station (or the Hbf) you will be using?

The train while long ...

As the song from Porgy and Bess said, "It ain't necessarily so".

By S-Bahn, to the airport takes 40 minutes longer than to the Hbf. You need to get to the airport at least an hour, preferably 1½-2 hours before flight time, and the flight take over an hour to Düsseldorf. Then you have the time to find ground transport and get into Düsseldorf. Flying will probably take about as long, cost more, and be more of a hassle then taking the train.

A lot will depend on timing, but there will probably be more train connections per day than flight connections per day.

DEFINITELY take the train.

Here is the fly scenario:
Arrive from Dachau to the Munich Hbf. Get luggage, buy tickets, take the S-Bahn 40 minutes to the airport, lugging your stuff to check in. Check your bags, hang out at the airport for another hour. Cram into a tiny seat, look out a tiny window at clouds from above. Arrive in Düsseldorf. Wait at baggage claim for your luggage. Drag it all onto the S-Bahn, for which you need tickets, for another 15-20 minute ride to the Düsseldorf (or somewhere near central Düsseldorf). Total time? 4-5 hours.

Here is the train scenario:
Arrive from Dachau to the Munich Hbf. Get luggage, carry it to the nearby platform. Board the train, setting the luggage in the racks on your car. Sit in a cabin for 6 people, or sit in pairs, sometimes with a table (you can reserve seats in advance). Have more leg room and the freedom to get up, head to the dining car, etc. Spend 4 hours watching scenery out of the large windows, playing a card game with your group, or reading a book without interruption. Arrive at Düsseldorf Hbf, grab luggage and step onto the platform. Total time? Just a few minutes longer than the actual train trip, so just over 4 hours.

It has to be SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper--and I mean several hundred Euros cheaper at least--for me to consider flying. And even then I would probably take the train. And added bonus--it's environmentally WAY friendlier. Within Germany I only fly when it's connecting from an international trip (Frankfurt to Hamburg). When we lived in Munich, we took the train to Hamburg, which is a much longer trip, often with a transfer, rather than fly. We didn't fly once.

It is super easy to get to Dachau from the Munich Hbf, and as people have said, luggage for 6 people is a hassle. Stick it in a locker or leave it at the hotel if the hotel isn't far from the Hbf. You'll be glad not to have to worry about it.

Stick it in a locker or leave it at the hotel if the hotel isn't far from the Hbf.

Please make sure you check with the hotel that your luggage can stay there. In the next few weeks, the inside of the main hall of Munich Central Station will be demolished - exactly the part where the lockers are now. Nobody knows yet where they will be moved to and how many will remain. Knowing DB, we don't need to be prophets to say: not enough.

Have you thought about staying overnight in a hotel in Dachau instead of in Munich? You could leave your bags at the hotel, and then have an easier trip into Munich to catch your train to Dusseldorf.