Munich Airport to Munich City Centre (Marienplatz)

Look at a metro map and Munich Airport seems to sit just off the top edge, a short hop from Marienplatz. On the ground it is nothing of the sort. MUC is planted in farmland near Freising, about 37 km northeast of the Altstadt, and there is no motorway sprint that shrinks that gap. The honest reality is a 40-minute journey no matter what you pay: the S-Bahn does it cheaply and to a fixed clock, while a taxi does it in the same time for six times the money. Once you accept that the distance is fixed, choosing between the options gets a lot simpler.

The S8 to Marienplatz: ~40 minutes, and no faster in a taxi

The S-Bahn is the option that matches the way most first-timers picture arriving: you step off, follow the signs down one level from the München Airport Center, and the platform is there between T1 and T2 arrivals. Two lines serve the airport and both end at Marienplatz, but they are not equal. The S8 loops in from the east and reaches the square in around 38 minutes; the S1 swings the western way and takes closer to 48. On the platform display, take whichever S8 comes first. A single fare runs about €13 to €15, but if you plan to ride a tram or the U-Bahn later that day, the Airport-City-Day-Ticket at roughly €17.50 covers the airport run plus all your onward MVV travel until the network shuts. Trains leave every ten minutes or so, from about 04:00 to just past midnight, and — unlike everything on wheels — they never sit in traffic on the A9.

The Lufthansa Express Bus: one seat to the Hauptbahnhof, then a short hop

If you are travelling with cases you would rather not drag down escalators, the Lufthansa Express Bus earns its keep. It picks up outside T1 (Area A) and T2 (Level 03), costs a flat €13 one-way, and keeps you seated the whole distance to the Hauptbahnhof. The catch is that it stops at the Hbf, not at Marienplatz — from there it is one S-Bahn stop or a 12-minute walk into the Altstadt. Reckon on 50 minutes for the ride, more when the motorway clogs, and note the shorter operating window: roughly 06:25 to 22:25, every 20 to 30 minutes. Land outside those hours and the bus simply isn't running, which quietly pushes you back to the S-Bahn. You can pay the driver, buy in the Lufthansa app, or book online beforehand.

When the ~€80 taxi actually earns its price

Munich's cream taxis queue kerbside at every arrivals exit, no booking needed, and the meter to the Altstadt lands somewhere around €80 to €105 — more if you hit rush hour on the A9. There is no fixed airport surcharge; it is simply the 37 km doing the damage, which makes this the city's priciest way in. For that reason a taxi rarely makes sense as a solo traveller with time to spare. Where it flips is the arithmetic of a group: split four ways with luggage, call it €20 to €25 a head door-to-door, and the gap to the train narrows fast. It also comes into its own at the edges of the day, when the S8 has thinned out and the bus has stopped entirely.

A pre-booked transfer answers the same door-to-door need but removes the one thing a first visit makes stressful: the meter you can't yet read. Firms like Welcome Pickups, Blacklane and local operators quote a locked fare when you book — figure on €90 to €130 — and that number holds even if the motorway seizes up, so a jam becomes the driver's problem rather than a climbing fare on your screen. Your driver waits in the arrivals hall, tracks the flight if it's late, and carries the bags to the car-park lift. You pay a premium over the taxi rank for the certainty.

Skip the rental car unless you're leaving Munich

The car-rental desks sit in the München Airport Center between the terminals — Sixt, Europcar, Hertz, Avis — from about €35 to €60 a day. For reaching Marienplatz specifically, it is the wrong tool. The Altstadt is largely pedestrianised, central parking is expensive, and you would spend your first hour hunting a garage rather than looking at the Glockenspiel. A hire car only pays off if you are using Munich as a doorway to the Alps or a Bavarian road trip and heading straight out of town.

For most people walking off a flight with a hotel near the old town, the decision is the S8: about €13 to €15, roughly every ten minutes, and it puts you at Marienplatz with the Neues Rathaus in front of you and the Viktualienmarkt stalls a two-minute stroll south. Save the taxi or the booked car for a group, an odd hour, or a suitcase you simply cannot face on the stairs.