Munich Airport to Munich Hauptbahnhof

If Munich isn't your final stop, the Hauptbahnhof is really the point of your journey — it's where the ICE and EC trains leave for Salzburg, Innsbruck, Verona and half of the eastern Alps, and where an airport arrival turns into an onward rail ticket. That changes the maths on how you cover the 36 km from the airport. When you're just visiting the city, the cheapest option usually wins. When you have a booked seat on a train leaving the Hbf in ninety minutes and two suitcases at your feet, the question becomes which link gets you to the departure board with the least fuss — and here the answers rank differently.

The €13 seat that runs straight to the concourse

The Lufthansa Express Bus is the option that fits a train connection best, and you don't need to have flown Lufthansa to use it. It runs non-stop from the airport to the Hauptbahnhof — one seat the whole way, luggage stowed in the hold underneath, no staircases and no platform changes. You board at Terminal 1 (Area A) or Terminal 2 (Level 03), and it terminates on Arnulfstraße along the station's north side, a two-minute walk from the main concourse where the long-distance platforms begin. The fare is a flat €13, buses leave every twenty to thirty minutes from roughly 06:25 to 22:25, and the run takes about 45 minutes when the A9 is clear — closer to an hour if the motorway is backed up. For someone rolling bags toward a train, not having to lift them up and down S-Bahn steps is the part that matters most.

Where the S-Bahn's stops eat into your buffer

The S-Bahn is the frugal choice and, on paper, it lands you inside the same building — the S1 and S8 both terminate in the underground level directly beneath the Hauptbahnhof, so you surface by escalator right under the platforms. A ticket runs about €13 to €15, trains leave every ten minutes from around 04:00 to 01:00, and crucially they run on their own tracks, immune to the motorway jams that can slow the bus and the taxi. The catch for a connecting traveller is the stopping pattern: the S8 calls at every station on its way in and reaches the Hbf in roughly 41 minutes, the S1 in about 45. That's fine when you have time to spare. With a tight transfer and heavy bags, the repeated door-open-door-close and the change of levels underground can turn a comfortable margin into a sprint. If your onward train is relaxed, take the S-Bahn and pocket the difference; if it's tight, the bus's single ride wins back your nerves.

A metered taxi, and when it earns its fare here

A taxi from the kerbside ranks at either terminal runs about €80 to €105 on the meter for the 45-minute drive. To the Hauptbahnhof specifically it's a hard sell, because the Express Bus drops you at the same north-side spot for a small fraction of that — you're paying six or seven times as much for a door the bus practically shares. The times it earns the fare are the edges of the clock: a flight that lands before the first bus rolls or after the last one at night, or a group splitting the cost three or four ways. Outside those cases, save the taxi money for your train ticket.

A fixed pickup for a connection you can't miss

When the onward train is the whole reason you're passing through Munich and the timing leaves no room, a pre-booked private transfer buys you certainty — a driver waiting in the arrivals hall at a set time, so you skip the wait for the next departing bus and go straight to the platform without the S-Bahn's stops. Firms like Welcome Pickups, Blacklane and local operators charge roughly €90 to €130, track your flight if it lands late, and handle the bags into the boot for you. It's the priciest way in, but the price is really insurance against a missed connection, which is what you're actually buying. For most travellers the honest recommendation stays simple: if your train gives you an hour or more, ride the S-Bahn; if it's tight and you've got luggage, the Express Bus is the €13 that gets you to the Hauptbahnhof concourse with time to read the departure board twice.