Dachau

Thanks again. We do have a hotel and it looks like the hotel you recommended is all booked. We'll be there the 4th through 8th of May and it appears there are a number of events going on then, as quite a few hotels we tried were booked up.

The city is great. We really enjoyed it. My hubby was on leave from a year tour to Iraq and we were able to relax along with seeing the sites.

I am sure you will love it.

No need to pay for an expensive tour. Use public transit. You can easily get to Dachau by S-Bahn and bus with a €10,80 MVV XXL Partner Tageskarte for up to 5 people round trip. You can visit for free; guided tours cost €3. See www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de.

My husband and I booked a tour to Dachau. It was a good tour and a great guide our only regret was not having more time in the museum. I think we only had about 45 mins at the end of the tour. While I am glad we took the tour not only to see how the public transit to and from the station in Dachau is navagated, but for the narative of our guide. We will be going back some day and will do it on our own.

We took the Dachau tour, the Hitler & the Third Reich Walking tour and the Neuschwanstein Castle tour with Radius Tours listed in RS books. There is a discount if you sign up for 2 or more tours.

Thanks for the info. Cristina. That helps

Do you know where you are going to stay in Munich? We stayed at Hotle Uhland and loved it. It is away from the main area of town but it is well connected. Here is the web site. http://www.hotel-uhland.de/enwelcome.html

Thanks, Lee. We'll take your input into consideration. Sounds like it's not too hard to get there on one's own.

Barbara, all the S-Bahns go through one central tunnel downtown between the Hauptbahnhof and the Ostbahnhof (includes Marienplatz). Take the S-2 towards Petershausen and get off at the Dachau (not Dachau Stadt) station. The 726 bus leaves from in front of the station about 10 minutes later for Dachau KZ-Gedenkstaette (memorial) and Saubachsiedlung.

We had planned to do it on our own, but then decided to take a tour. Through Radius maybe? The tour was lead by an fantastic guide who was a native English speaker. She brought so much more to the experience. I highly recommend doing the tour.

Thanks to you all for your informative replies. Looks like there are pros and cons for both choices, and we'll probably decide once we get to Munich.

I believe Dachau is part of a tour. I have used public transport no problem , some time ago . But the whole tour might make a good day.

Barbara,

I also used Radius Tours for the Dachau tour, and would highly recommend them. However, I wanted to mention that it might be a good idea to book soon (either on the web or when you first arrive in Munich), as the tours sometimes fill quickly. They have an office in the Munich train station (see Rick's book or their web site for directions).

While it's certainly possible to take the train and bus trip on your own from Munich, I felt that having the guided tour provided a much better understanding of the history of Dachau and the events that transpired there.

Happy travels!

Just a quick question. I'll be in Munich for one entire day, is it not realistic to try to get out to Dachau and still do some sightseeing in Munich? How long does it take to get to Dachau? We have a night train to Vienna at 11:45

Thanks!

From Munich Hbf to Dachau memorial by S-Bahn and bus takes 39 minutes one way. However, I think there are many far more interesting things to see in Munich than Dachau. I've spent all or part of 16 days in Munich and never bothered to see Dachau.

When my hubby and I got back from Dachau we just continued on to Marienplatz and spent the rest of the late afternoon and the evening there. In May they have a 9:15 am tour and a 12:30pm tour. The website says that the times are valid until March 31 so you might want to check the website closer to your travel date. http://www.radiusmunich.com/tourplan.htm We went on the only one they do in Nov and that is at 11am. The tour is about 5 hours.

We also had plenty of time after the Radius Tour of Dachau to walk from the train station to the Marienplatz and check out that area.

Unlike some people, I didn't sleep through history class. I don't need to go to Dachau to know what happened there. On the other hand, I found the Dokumentation Center in Berchtesgaden to be very informative, with lots of things not covered in my history class.

As far as how to see Dachau, the most the train and bus cost is €6,70, less if there are several of you. The tour given by the memorial costs €3. That's €9,70, max. The Radius tour is €21. That's over twice as much, and there is nothing to say the Radius tour is any better than the one given by the memorial itself.

We went to Dachau a couple weeks ago with our kids. In retrospect, I wish we had joined a tour as it would have made it more interesting for the kids who got tired of listening to the audio tour. We drove there as we were on our way out of Munich but it sounds like it is very easy to get there on public transportation.

I went to Munich/Dachau in 2000 and we are going back in May this year as well. I think Dachau is a must see if you have a few days. It's one thing reading about it, but another thing being there. As for one day, that's a tough call. I'd say you're probably better off spending the travel time to/from Dachau with seeing sites in Munich instead.

For Dachau: We had a car, so we drove ourselves and just paid a few bucks for the self tour/video. Cheap and that was all I really needed. It was more just seeing the camp. I didn't need someone telling me about it since I have read all about it.

For Munich: I'm not sure if Rick has it in his book (my wife has been reading it), but there are many "Munich in a day" itineraries in strictly Munich books. When I was at Barnes&Noble I picked one up.

Here are the top recommendations from the book: Marienplatz (City Center, 11am clock display), Viktualienmarkt (Outdoor Mkt), Deutsches Museaum (Sci/Tech museum), Englisher Gardens, Hofbrauhaus

Complete information on Dachau can be found at www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de. Change to English version if necessary. The memorial is closed on Mondays. Tues-Sun, there is an English language guided tour at 1:30 PM (Introduction at 12:30). On Sat and Sun in the summer, there is an additional English tour at 12:00 (Intro at 11:00).

Does the 130pm English Guided Tour include the film? It didn't say anything about it on their website.

I read there was a memorial sight for Dachau outside the camp site somewhere outside the town. Does anyone know?

No need to pay for a tour. You can take the U-Bahn out to Dachau. I think they have guided tours in various languages there. I went with a tour group and really felt I had wasted my money since all the tour group really did was get us there...on the U Bahn. We had a guide from Dachau to take us around and then the tour company guide just got us back on the U Bahn.

Teresa, it's not the "U-Bahn". You take the S-Bahn (S2, direction Petershausen). Both are underground in downtown Munich, but they are not the same trains. S-Bahn stations are identified with a green circled-S; U-Bahn with a blue circled-U. The U-Bahn, with one exception, are confined to the inner zone of Munich; the S-Bahn run to the outer limits of the transit district, and often share tracks with regional trains going a lot further. Example: for regional trains, the line to Dachau goes on to Nürnberg.

BTW, you can find a complete Munich U-/S-Bahn map at www.mvv-muenchen.de/web4archiv/objects/download/1/schnellbahnnetz_2008.pdf.