Tour Options

Tour Options

For the cheapest sightseeing tour of the city center on wheels, board Streetcar 19 outside the Hauptbahnhof on Bahnhofplatz and make the 15-minute journey to Max Weber Platz. Explore the streets around the square, part of the old bohemian residential area of Haidhausen (with some of the city's best bars and restaurants, many on the village-like Kirchenstrasse), and then return by a different route on Streetcar 18 to Karlsplatz. A novel way of seeing the city is to hop on one of the bike-rickshaws. The bike-powered two-seater cabs operate between Marienplatz and the Chinesischer Turm in the Englischer Garten. Just hail one -- or book ahead by calling Rikscha-Mobil. Cost is EUR 37 per hour.

The tourist office offers individual guided tours for fees ranging between EUR 100 and EUR 250. Bookings must be made at least 10 days in advance. Taxi tours with specially trained drivers are offered by IsarFunk Taxizentrale GmbH. These are a good alternative for groups of up to four people. Cost is EUR 68 per trip for the first hour and EUR 18 for each subsequent half hour.

Information

IsarFunk Taxizentrale GmbH (089/450-540). Munich Tourist Office (089/2333-0234). Rikscha-Mobil (089/129-4808).

Bus Tours

Bus excursions to the Alps, to Austria, to the royal palaces and castles of Bavaria, or along the Romantic Road can be booked through DER. Next to the main train station, Panorama Tours operates numerous trips, including the Royal Castles Tour (Schlösserfahrt) of "Mad" King Ludwig's dream palaces; the cost is EUR 41, excluding entrance fees to the palaces. Bookings for both companies can also be made through all major hotels in the city. The tours depart from the front of the Hauptbahnhof outside the Hertie department store.

City bus tours are offered by Panorama Tours. The blue buses operate year-round, departing from the Hertie department store on Bahnhofplatz. A one-hour tour of Munich highlights leaves daily at 10, 11, 11:30, noon, 1, 2:30, 3, and 4. The cost is EUR 11. A 2 1/2-hour city tour departs daily at 10 AM and includes brief visits to the Alte Pinakothek, the Peterskirche, and Marienplatz for the Glockenspiel. An afternoon tour, also 2 1/2 hours and starting at 2:30 PM, includes a tour of Schloss Nymphenburg. The cost of each tour is EUR 19. Another 2 1/2-hour tour, departing Saturday, Sunday, and Monday at 10 AM, includes a visit to the Bavaria film studios. The cost is EUR 23. A four-hour tour, starting daily at 10 AM and 2:30 PM, includes a visit to the Olympic Park. The cost is EUR 19. The München bei Nacht tour provides 4 1/2 hours of Munich by night and includes dinner and a show at the Hofbräuhaus, a trip up the Olympic Tower to admire the lights of the city, and a final drink in a nightclub. It departs April through November, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 PM; the cost is EUR 60.

Yellow Cab Stadtrundfahrten has a fleet of yellow double-decker buses, in which tours are offered simultaneously in eight languages. They leave hourly between 10 AM and 4 PM from the front of the Elisenhof shopping complex on Bahnhofplatz. Tours cost EUR 9.

Information

DER (Hauptbahnhofpl. 2, in main train-station bldg., Leopoldvorstadt. 089/5514-0100). Panorama Tours (Arnulfstr. 8, Leopoldvorstadt. 089/323-040). Yellow Cab Stadtrundfahrten (Sendlinger-Tor-Pl. 2, Isarvorstadt. 089/303-631).

Walking Tours

Downtown Munich is only a mile square and is easily explored on foot. Almost all the major attractions in the city center are on the interlinking web of pedestrian streets that run from Karlsplatz, by the main train station, to Marienplatz and the Viktualienmarkt and extend north around the Frauenkirche and up to Odeonsplatz. The two tourist information offices issue a free map with suggested walking tours.

Two-hour tours of the Old City center are given daily in summer (March-October) and on Friday and Saturday in winter (November-February). Tours organized by the visitor center start at 10:30 and 1 in the center of Marienplatz. The cost is EUR 8. The theme walks of Radius Tours & Bikes include Munich highlights, Third Reich Munich, Jewish Munich, and the Dachau concentration camp. The cost is EUR 10 (EUR 19 for the Dachau tour). Tours depart daily from the Hauptbahnhof, outside the EurAide office by Track 11, and also meet 15 minutes later at the New Town Hall's Glockenspiel on Marienplatz.

Information

Radius Tours & Bikes (089/5502-9374. www.radiusmunich.com).