Munich Airport partner ticket question

That is what it says at www.mvv-muenchen.de

How many days are you in Munich? If for 4 or more a weekly IsarCard sold by number of rings of travel coverage is a good option.

Thanks for the replys! We will only be in Munich 3 days and one of those days will be a trip to Salzburg. That's another thing I'm wondering about: travel to Salzburg on our own or do it with an organzied group trip. Any thoughts?

Going to Salzburg on your own will undoubtedly cost less and give you more freedom than an organized tour, and it's certainly not difficult to do. With a 26€ Bayern-Ticket (for 2), you can make the round trip on regional trains. The Bayern-Ticket is also valid for all transportation in the MVV (Munich metro) so you can use it for the S-Bahn to get to Ostbahnhof to catch the regional train. On weekend days, you can leave as early as you want, but the Bayern-Ticket is only valid after 9 AM on workdays. There is a train leaving Ostbahnhof at 9:50, getting to Salzburg at 11:42. If you want to catch an earlier train, also buy individual tickets to Grafing Bahnhof for 7,20€/person. You can use those tickets for the RE that leaves Ostbahnhof at 8:56. That train gets to Grafing at 9:10, and the Bayern-Ticket is good from then on, to Salzburg Hbf at 10:42. Once you get to Salzburg, take any of the buses that leaves from in front of the Bahnhof to the old town, or just walk down Rainerstrasse. You'll go right past Mirabell palace (Do-Re-Mi steps from SOM). The Bayern-Ticket is valid for the rail line from Freilassing, Germany, into Salzburg Hbf but not for local transport in Salzburg.

When you arrive at the airport, you want to buy a Gesamtnetz (entire network) Partner (up to 5 P) Tageskarte (all day pass) for 20€. No matter which S-Bahn you take, you'll get to Marienplatz at about the same time. The S8, which leaves from the left hand side of the platform, track 1, gets you to Marienplatz one minute later than the S1, but the trip is shorter, so I would probably wait for the S8 (65% of the time, the S8 will be the next train, anyway).

Thanks Lee! One question about Salzburg travel: you mention leaving from Ostbahnhof, but I was thinking Hauptbanhof. does it matter? Not sure where Ostbanhof is. Once in Salzburg, are main attractions all within walking distance?

You can certainly start from the Hbf. All the regional trains to Salzburg start there, but they also stop at Ostbahnhof, and the S-Bahn from the airport to Ost is faster, so you might catch an hour earlier train. If you are catching an express train, all of them except the RailJet (RJ) also stop at Ost. If you are leaving from Marienplatz, it's almost as fast to Ost as to the Hbf, and then you catch the same train to Salzburg a few minutes later. Ost is also a smaller station, so it is easier to get from the S-Bahn tracks (1 & 2) to the track (8) for the trains to Salzburg. On the other hand, the train sits on the track in the Hbf for a while before heading for Salzburg, but only stops at Ost for a minute or two. Not sure how one defines main attractions. When I was there, we saw Mirabell Palace, a lot of things in the old town, the Hohensalzburg Fortress above the old town, and the Kloster where the movie-Maria was supposed to have been a novice, all on foot. Several years later, I took the bus from the Hbf to Mondsee (site of the wedding church in the movie) on my way to Hallstatt. You'd be hard pressed to walk that. The same local ticket to Grafing will cover you from anywhere in the inner zone by bus, tram, U-Bahn, or S-bahn to either the Hbf or Ostbhf and then to Grafing. Here is the map of the U-/S-Bahn lines in Munich. Ostbahnhof is at the eastern (ost means east) end of the central S-Bahn tunnel through Munich. There is an S-Bahn on that line every few minutes.

No changing of trains at Grafing. The train that gets to Salzburg at 10:42 leaves the Hbf and Ostbahnhof before 9:00, so you can't use the Bayern-Ticket if you get on that train at those stops, but it does get to Grafing Bahnhof after 9, so you can use a local ticket, which is valid before 9, to Grafing and the Bayern-Ticket from there on. No change of train at Grafing, just use a different ticket after Grafing. Total price is 40,40€, 26€ for the Bayern-Ticket plus 14,40€ for the two local tickets vs 110€ for round trip regional tickets. If you take the next train (leaves the Hbf after 9), which gets to Salzburg an hour later, at 11:42, you only need the Bayern-Ticket for 26€. This is just a "trick" to allow you to get around the 9 AM restriction for a Bayern-Ticket. You can also purchase a "Freizeit Ticket" for round trip travel between Munich and Salzburg in a single day on express trains (EC or RJ) for 30€/person. It's valid anytime (no 9 AM restriction) as long as you get back to Munich by 3 AM the following morning. That price is online or from an automat. It's 5€ more at a counter. Or you can purchase Savings Fare tickets online in advance for as little as 29€ for two people each way. Those tickets are date and train (express only) specific but don't have to be for round trip in a single day.

Lee, thank you for the details and the transportation map. It sounds easy enough. Only one thing has me confused: what do you mean when you mention Grafing? There are no changing of trains between Munich and Salzburg is there?