24901GER
City Sightseeing
Opening days/times, entrance fees, etc. are listed in Yellow Pages.
· You need cash or ACIS card for entrances at Nymphenburg (if it is included: check your Teacher Itinerary and Expenses Form)
· At Nymphenburg, it should be assumed group wants to see the main palace unless the teachers agree to visit the Amalienburg instead. Note that Amalienburg is only open from April to mid-October.
· Usually you will meet your local guide and bus at your hotel.
Morning city sightseeing with local guide (approx 3 hours), free afternoon or visit to Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. Free evening.
Sightseeing includes:
· Schloss Nymphenburg or Amalienburg (possible) inside visit
· Olympiapark drive past
· Marienplatz and Glockenspiel end point
BMW World is increasingly being incorporated into city sightseeing, or requested by GLs. It is located next to the Olympiapark and is free and easily visited. The bus may not drop off right next to the main entrance and has to use the side street opposite (Dostlerstraße) which has bus spaces. The group will need 20-25 minutes in BMW World. No reservation is needed. There are free toilets downstairs. Discuss the inclusion with the city guide in advance, as they will need to watch their timings. Do not confuse BMW World with the adjacent BMW Museum which charges an entry fee, or the BMW Plant, which requires an advance reservation for a guided tour.
Arriving on a train that morning?
If you arrive in Munich on the overnight train, locate your bus in the parking area to the left of the station on Arnufstrasse (left with your back to the platforms), load bus and drive to breakfast if included (usually at your hotel).
If you have a local bus service for the city sightseeing, it it is best to unload and store the luggage at the hotel. Then leave the bus downtown after the tour and amuse the group with lunch and shopping until the rooms are ready, getting them back to the hotel either by walking or by the U/S-Bahn (they pay).
The local guide will meet you at breakfast.
Ending the tour
The bus normally drops the group off at Alfons-Goppel-Str. behind the opera and close to the Max-Joseph Platz (NB it is forbidden to drive to Max-Jospeh Platz itself) or just past the Isartor (both are good pick-up points if you are going to Dachau in the afternoon). Walk with the guide to Marienplatz where the tour ends at the Glockenspiel (shows at 11 & 12). There are plenty of places for lunch on and around Marienplatz, encourage them to visit the Viktualienmarkt, behind Old St Peter’s church, where there are sausage stands, fruit and vegetable stalls and a beer garden (NB the Market is entirely closed on Sundays).
If appropriate, give free time suggestions (see Munich Facts and Free Time) and be sure that everyone is able to get back to the hotel and knows how to use the S-Bahn/U-Bahn. Arrange a meeting point and time if necessary.
MUNICH BIKE TOUR
Some tours now include a bike tour instead of the standard city tour on the bus, although that does remain an option in the event of bad weather or a group not wanting to ride.
First, it is important to check with the group that they can all ride a bike and feel confident doing so. If a few people do not want to ride, there is plenty for them to see and do in the centre of Munich. Arrange to meet them after the tour. Here is the procedure:
The guide will arrange a time and meeting point (probably the Fish Fountain by the Rathaus on the Marienplatz). The group will then get their bikes (and helmets) at St Peter’s Church and have a few minutes to practise on the bikes. The tour will take them through the (mostly traffic-free) Old Town and Residenz Palace courtyards and gardens, along Ludwigstrasse and into the English Garden where they may take a break at the Chinese Tower Beer Garden (where there are toilets) before returning to the city centre to finish the tour.
Note that the group may not be back in time for the Glockenspiel. Also, there is neither a guided visit to Nymphenburg Palace nor sight of the Olympic Park with the bike tour. These may be fairly easily fitted in at other times (you provide an introduction at Nymphenburg, but may not guide inside the palace).