Publish transportation in Munich is marked by rings, which are concentric circles rippling out from the city center.

There are two S-Bahns (S1 and S8) that goes to the airport, and they are designed in an interesting way. (In my mind I always picture the two routes shaping like Chromosomes). The two routes started from two opposite directions, meet in the city center with opposite direction, and goes up north to the airport together. If you are to take the s-Bahn from the city center, both platforms can have trains going to the airport.

Unlike the system in Taiwan where you have an electronic card and the gates automatically deducts the costs according to the length of your trip, Munich (Germany) do not have gates in public transportation systems. In the metro or train stations, passengers can purchase tickets from boxy ticket machines. There are ticket checking people on the train/metro/buses. They appear randomly, and if you do not have a valid ticket, you will be fined.

If you are travelling to Munich with friends, I suggest that you purchase a group ticket which is valid for 5 people. It is much cheaper than buying individual single tickets.

Overall S-Bahn system is quite convenient for travelling to the airport. However, if you have a flight to catch, I’d suggest that you look up plan B and C beforehand. Maybe the system is not too stable, maybe I am cursed. But out of the 6 times that I travel to/from the airport, it has failed me 4 times.

Last suggestion: download the DB (Deutsche Bahn) app on your phone. When delays, cancellations or change of route happen, the station always broadcast the information with German. But most of the time the language is not the issue, because when German messages come out of the old speakerphone, muffled and echoing, you will see the German people as confused as you. DB app usually has the newest possible update information.

transportation ring system:

Photo source: MVV official website

Lin