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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,
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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!
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