Munich

From the CouchSurfing Wiki, an informal workspace which anyone can edit.

Munich (or München in German) is a city in Bavaria, Germany.

1 Getting there
2 Getting around
3 Work & Employment
4 Emergency contacts
5 Orientation

Getting there

By Plane: Munich Airport is one of Germany's biggest airports and a major hub for Lufthansa. There are non-stop flights to Munich from almost anywhere in the world.

The three-letter IATA code for München Franz-Josef-Strauß Flughafen (the aiport's official name) is MUC.

MUC is close to Erding and Freising, two smaller cities approx. 30 km north of Munich. There is a suburban train (S1 and S8) connecting to Munich city.

A second, smaller airport is currently in discussion on a former military air base in a western suburb.

The city of Augsburg, approx. 70 km northwest of Munich, has a small airport. However, there is currently talk of closing it down.

Other "nearby" airports are Frankfurt am Main (FRA), the other major hub in Germany, approx. 300 km; Nuremberg (Nürnberg), approx. 170 km; and Stuttgart, approx. 170 km. Salzburg, Austria (SZG) is also fairly accessible from Munich.

By Train:

Munich main station ("Hauptbahnhof") is again easily reachable, both with expensive high speed trains (ICE - Intercity Express) and cheaper local trains.

Other major stations in Munich are Munich East ("Ostbahnhof") and Munich Pasing.

There is a quite sophisticated network of suburban and underground trains in Munich, getting you all around Munich and to the suburbs quite quickly, although buying a ticket is fairly complicated because they have a strange pricing scheme. That's also true for long-distance trains. Seems to be a problem with German public transport in general.

Best thing to do: Ask in the Munich group in CS before buying a ticket, tell us where you want to travel and we might be able to help you find a cheap ticket.

Getting around

Getting around is as simple as hopping on any of the public buses, trams (small trains running on the street), S-Bahns (fast suburban trains) or U-Bahns (underground). It is nearly impossible to find a place in Munich where there is no public transport nearby.

The MVV, the organization that runs Munich's public transport, has its website at http://www.mvv-muenchen.de. There you'll find timetables and route information.

As a rule of thumb: Buy a day ticket for the "Innenraum" (the large inner white zone on the map). Most of the time, this is cheaper if you hop on any type of public transport more than three times a day. You'll probably do that, because Munich is not as small as it seems.

If you're arriving by plane to the city and staying for three days, the best deal is a 3-day ticket for "Innenraum" and two 3-zone single ride tickets - it should cost around 25€.

If you're a group of two or more, a Partner ticket is ideal.

The city portal has an excellent map http://www.muenchen.de/home/82221/stadtplan.html (An alternative map can be found at http://www.stadtplandienst.de)