Munich Travel Forum

Hi - my family will be in Munich at the end of may and plan to tour around for 3.5 days before driving up to Frankfurt to attend a wedding. We have 2 kids (3yr old and 6month old) and my 73 y/o father with us. I have not planned our itinerary (reading up on different places to visit). A few questions I have -

1) is it better to rent the car when we arrive and drive around Munich while we are there or easier to use the public transportation while going around Munich and nearby places then rent the car when we are ready to leave for Frankfurt? Is parking easy to find and reasonable in cost?

2) are the tourist places stroller friendly? I am thinking of bringing our double stroller but it is quite big.

Thanks!

1) is it better to rent the car when we arrive and drive around Munich while we are there ...?
No.
> Is parking easy to find and reasonable in cost?
2 x No.

It will be faster and cheaper to use public transport in Munich (and other big cities).
Mini group day ticket from the airport to Munich is EUR 18,00.
Mini group day ticket for the city Munich itself is EUR 9,00.
These tickets are for 2-5 persons (children under 6 years need no tickets at all) and cover all local public transport:
- regional trains
- S-Bahn
- U-Bahn (metro)
- trams
- buses

We do bring our twins to Europe and Asia and we do find the light umbrella strollers more manageable, and they are also not expensive but sturdy. Easier to maneuver, specially in the subways... but on cobblestone paths, might be a little difficult. Good luck and have fun with the kids! Norman :)

No personal experience here (yet... ;), but Munich public transportation looks to be stroller-friendly. Most buses, trams, U-Bahns, and S-Bahns are handicapped-accessible, which should allow you to navigate your strollers with minimal difficulty. You might need to improvise a bit on the escalators, but if all else fails, you'll just have to allow a bit of extra time and take the elevator ("aufzug") available from most station platforms.

> is it better to rent the car when we arrive and drive around Munich

Unless you know exactly where you're going to park it's usually a very bad idea to drive with your own car. Public transport is well-organized in the home county of the unified fare system.

> are the tourist places stroller friendly? I am thinking of bringing our double stroller but it is quite big.

Well, let's put it this way: The tourist places are as stroller friendly as it may be at places that were built before strollers had been invented. At newer places it's usually no problem, but don't expect a castle with elevators.

In my optinion the US do care a lot more about wheelchair access, and while strollers are generally easier to handle, the inconvenience is more or less the same. Under no circumstances bring a double stroller, take two single ones, or you won't get anywhere near a tourist place using public transport.
You might want to consider a http://www.didymos.de/english/ for your little one.