- As always we have our exclusive all english travel guide for Arsenal's trips to Germany. This time Munich is on the cards. Munich based gooner @therealstarks was so kind to help us out with insights into munich's public transport, breweries and simply everything you need to know for this month trip. Please give him a follow on twitter. We hope our guide will help you to focus on Arsenal rather than coping with travel issues.Enjoy!Geting To The Allianz Arena:
The Allianz Arena
is quite far from the centre of München, like some modern stadiums
the arena is on the outskirts of the city which means it is only
really accessible via public or private transport, you can walk to
the Arena but it would take you quite some time.
1. By car:
The Allianz is located on the junction of the A9 and A99 motorways and it well signposted from all directions.
If you are driving
from the city centre you need to take the A9 in the direction of
Nuremberg, leave the A9 at junction 73 and following the directions
for parking. If arriving via another motorway then you will need to
join the A9 as well. While in the area of München the Allianz is
very well sign posted.
Parking costs 10€
on match days, this is paid when leaving the car park and can only be
paid using an ArenaCard (more on that below). There are 9,800 spaces
available but these fill up very quickly so get there early.
2. By train/public transportation:
Get any train to München central Station (Hauptbahnhof) to carry on your journey. To get to the Arena users of public transport need to get themselves on the U6 underground (U-Bahn) line. Unfortunately the U6 does not run through the central station, there are 2 ways to get to the U6 line,
2. By train/public transportation:
Get any train to München central Station (Hauptbahnhof) to carry on your journey. To get to the Arena users of public transport need to get themselves on the U6 underground (U-Bahn) line. Unfortunately the U6 does not run through the central station, there are 2 ways to get to the U6 line,
- Get to Sendlinger Tor U-Bahn station
This is done by
heading to the U-Bahn line (indicated by a white U on a square blue
background) and getting either the U1 (direction of Mangfallplatz) or
the U2 (direction of Messestadt Ost). Sendlinger Tor is the next stop
so if you end up at Könisplatz or Stiglmaierplatz you’ve gone
wrong. Just change to the other platform and head back in the other
direction.
Once at Sendlinger
Tor you need the U6 in the direction of Garching-Forschungszentrum.
Sometimes this line does not go all the way to
Garching-Forschungszentrum; the stadium is at the Fröttmaning stop
so you need to get that far.
- Get to Marienplatz on the S-Bahn
To do this head
for the S-Bahn lines (indicated by a white S on a circular green
background).
There are 8 S-Bahn
lines in München and all of them go through the central station
(Hauptbahnhof) it two directions, the best advice is to look for
indications that the richtung (direction) for the line is
Marienplatz. Marienplatz is the city centre and is only one stop from
the Hauptbahnhof. If you end up at Hackerbrüke you’ve gone wrong
and need to change platforms and head in the other direction.
Once at
Marienplatz the instructions are the same as those for arriving at
Sendlinger Tor, head for the U-Bahn lines and get the U6 in the
direction of Garching-Forschungszentrum.
On all maps the U6
is the blue line on the map
The stadium is at
the Fröttmaning stop on the U6. The Fröttmaning stop will have a
picture of a football on the displays and on the list of stops and on
the U-Bahn map
All of the stops needed to get to the stadium are within the “Inner Ring”. A single ticket will cost €2.60 each way and a day ticket (Tageskarte) will cost €5.80.
Important note for
U-Bahn and S-Bahn. Before you head downstairs to the platforms you
will walk past some blue boxes on the top of poles, these are
machines for you to stamp your ticket, without this stamp you ticket
is not considered valid and you will be liable for a €40 fine if
caught. The stamp machines look like this.
München public transport is operated by www.mvv-muenchen.de. This site offer a route planning service (if needed) and there is also a good app for travel planning in München which is called the “MVV Companion” which you should be able to find on the various app stores.
- From&to the airport:
München airport is the Franz Josef Strauss Airport (code: MUC). Lufthansa, British Airways, Easyjet and Monarch Airlines all have flights to München
There is no direct
route via public transport between the stadium and the airport;
however both are on the northern side of the city. If you get a taxi
or a bus to the city after arrival you will drive past the stadium.
With this in mind some supporters, who are going directly to the
stadium from the airport, could be well advised to take a taxi
directly from the airport to the stadium. Get a price before leaving
the airport and if you are planning to pay by card be sure to say
this to the driver first. In my experience all taxis accept card
payments but they don’t want to, if the driver says no just head to
the next taxi in the queue, normally the original driver will call
you back instead of losing a fare.
To get to and from
the city centre from the airport you have 2 options, other than
getting a taxi.
- S-Bahn
Two S-Bahn lines
run from the airport to the centre of the city, the S1 and the S8
(one goes round to the east of the city to other to the west),
following the signs for the S-Bahn (white S on a green background)
and you will head downstairs to the ticket machines, the machines
will have an option for English and the best option is to go for one
of the tourist ticket options otherwise you’ll end up in a mire of
rings and zones. Both the S1 and S8 take roughly the same time to get
to the centre. A ticket to get to the city centre will cost €10.40.
The airport is the end of the line so there is no chance to go in the
wrong direction.
- Lufthansa Airport Bus
Lufthansa offer an
airport bus service that runs regularly to the city centre. To use
this service you do not need to have flown with Lufthansa, it is open
to all and costs €10.50 (one way, a return is available for €17).
There are collection points at both terminals and once the bus leaves
the airport it only has two stops, one at Nordfreifhof U-Bahn station
in Schwabing North (on the U6 line so you could get off the bus here
and then get the U-Bahn to the stadium) and the other is the
Hauptbahnhof (central train station). More information can be found
here http://www.airportbus-muenchen.de/cms/en/home/
The information provided is a guide only, any prices stated are correct at the time of writing but changes are possible, please ensure you check with your travel provider before starting your journey.
C) At the Arena
The Allianz Arena
operates a cashless payment system for purchases made within the
arena (cash is only accepted in the club shops and in one of the
restaurants).
Visitors will need
to get an ArenaCard which can then be topped up with cash. A new card
is sold with €10 of credit.
Cards can be
obtained outside and inside the arena. The staff selling the cards
can also provide the service to top up the card with additional
credit should you really want another Bratwurst.
The Arena itself
is an amazing place to watch football (obviously not as good as the
Emirates though), especially for an evening game. The will stadium
lit up in red and the walk to the stadium from Fröttmaning really
gives the feeling that you are heading to an event. The stadium is a
proper bowl so the atmosphere stays within the stadium; the
atmosphere is helped by a safe terracing area behind one of the goals
C) Stay overnight:
To be honest München is brilliant (I am very biased) there are plenty of hotels that will cater for all budgets. Staying very close to the stadium isn’t really an option and I would anyway recommend staying closer to the centre to see more of München.
Some hotel
bookings sites are linked below on the off chance that you might need
one.
www.booking.com
www.hrs.de
www.expedia.de
www.hotel.de
In case you need a hotel on a short notice you'll find one on those websites. If you want to share hotel/hostel information or you have a spare room just use the comment section or tweet me @germangunners and I'll do a retweet.
D) Going out after the match:
For those staying overnight or a bit longer than I would suggest heading in to the city centre to enjoy some of the best beer in Europe.
München is home
to 6 major breweries, each of them have several bars/restaurants in
and around the city centre. The most famous of these locations is
probably the Hofbräuhaus which is very close to Marienplatz. It’s
very Bavarian (men in Lederhosen and women in Dirndls) and when it is
full it is a sight to see given that it holds roughly 1,300 people.
All of the breweries have locations similar to the Hofbräuhaus and
information can be found online. Some of my favourites are listed
below.
If some are unable
to get to the game itself then there are plenty of bars in München
that will show the game, like in the UK just keep an eye out for the
Sky signs on the outside of bars and they will have the game on.
Almost all of these places will operate a table reserving system so
just be aware of that and try to get to places early or try to
reserve in advance.
In case you need any further information or like a certain topic to be discussed please use the comment section, email or tweet us.
We hope you'll have a great time in Germany.
Viel Spaß
Come on Arsenal
Follow @therealstarks on twitter!
