The Munich Card and the Munich City Pass provide free public transportation in München and discounts or free admission to the top sights, shows, tours, and experiences.
Visitors to Munich save on public transportation and sightseeing by using one of München’s variety of travel cards and discount sightseeing passes. The Munich Card gives discounts to around 100 sights, tours, and events. The Munich City Pass gives the same discounts but also free admission to 45 of these sights. A travel card to include unlimited transportation on trains, trams, and buses in Munich may be added to both the Munich Card and Munich City Pass. The Munich Card and Munich City Pass are easiest bought online but a printed copy is necessary on public transportation.
Save with the Munich Card and City Pass
The Munich Card and Munich City Pass are great travel and sightseeing deals. A travel card may be added for unlimited transportation on Munich’s excellent public transportation network — either in Zone M (central Munich) or in the complete Munich transportation network (Zone M-6).
The Munich Card gives small discounts on almost all top sights in München, including all the top museums (except the BMW Museum, which currently is not included in any sightseeing pass). These savings at museums amount to usually €1 to €2 but savings on tours can easily exceed the premium of the Munich Card over a standard transportation-only day ticket. Day trips out of Munich to popular sights including Nuremberg, Schloss Neuschwanstein, or Herrenchiemsee often cover the cost of the Munich Card (and offer substation savings for couples and families using the group card). The Munich Card is available fro individuals or small groups up to 5 traveling together.
The Munich City Pass gives the same discounts as the Munich Card but also includes free admission to around 45 sights in Munich. This includes almost all museums in Munich (but not BMW), many walking and cycling tours, many activities at the Olympic Park, and the pricy Sea Life. The Munich City Pass is not available in a group version but has special cheaper versions for children and teens.
A further option is the Munich City Tour Card, which is fairly similar to the Munich Card but sold by different organizations. This card offers savings at fewer museums and cultural sights than the Munich Card but includes more events, tours, experiences, and restaurants. The average international first-time visitor to Munich is likely to find more value in the Munich Card or the more inclusive Munich City Pass.
A clear advantage of the City Pass is that it may be used on a mobile phone when bought online in advance. The voucher for the Munich City Tour Card bought online must be exchanged at the airport or station. Both are, however, available from station vending machines too.
Buying Munich Transportation Passes
For any travel discount pass covering public transportation in Munich, two zones are relevant: Zone M (previously Innenstadt) which includes central Munich, and Zone M-6 (previously Gesamtnetz) which includes the complete Munich public transportation network. Child (6 to 14 years) tickets are valid on the full network. (Transportation-only travel cards are available for any combination of the 7 zones.)
For visitors staying in central Munich, it is often better value to buy a pass for Zone M and only buy a day ticket, or even a solo ticket, for the trip to and from the airport, which is in zone 5. This is especially sensible when the flight arrival is late in the day or departure early in the morning. Almost all top tourist sights in Munich are in zone M with the noticeable exception of Schließheim and Dachau which are in Zone 1. Munich Airport is in Zone 5.
Transportation-only day tickets in central Munich become very cheap for single travelers from day three when a weekly Isarcard is cheaper than three separate day tickets. For groups, and for travel from the outer parts of Munich, this is not the case. Here the Munich Card Group is the better deal from three to six days and becomes even cheaper than the transportation pass only.
Prices of the All-Inclusive Munich City Pass
The all-inclusive Munich City Pass is far more expensive than transportation day tickets or the travel discount cards but it does include full admission to many sights. It easily pays for itself, especially in the multiple-day versions where an additional day is covered by saving only around €10.
For the Munich City Pass, adults are considered anyone older than 18 years, the teen pass covers those aged 15 to 17 years, and the child pass is for children 6 to 14 years. Under 6-year-olds travel for free (and free admission at most sights). Group, family, or partner options are not available for the Munich City Pass.
The prices of the basic adult Munich City Pass are as follows in 2024:
| Ticket (Zones) (€) | 1 Day | 2 Days | 3 Days | 4 Days | 5 Days |
| No Transportation | 39.90 | 56.90 | 68.90 | 71.90 | 74.90 |
| Munich City Pass – 18+ (M) | 54.90 | 76.90 | 89.90 | 99.90 | 109.90 |
| Munich City Pass – 18+ (M-6) | 64.90 | 86.90 | 109.90 | 129.90 | 139.90 |
The Munich City Pass is best bought online and printed out or used on a mobile phone.
Which Munich City Savings Card Is Best to Buy?
The group tickets are cheaper than two separate adult passes. One adult traveling with one child, or three children traveling together, save with separate passes but for all other small groups and even couples the group tickets are the better deals.
Child passes always cover the whole network so no Zone M versions are available.
Most cards are valid for the calendar day of validation until 6 am the following morning. The exceptions are the 24h and 48h Munich City Tour Cards and the 24h Munich Card that are valid for the hour use exact limitations, which is potentially useful when arriving in / departing from Munich in the middle of the day. (For sights the card must be valid upon entry, for transportation it must be valid for the entire journey!)
Note again that transportation-only day tickets in central Munich become very cheap for single travelers from day three when a weekly Isarcard is cheaper than three separate day tickets. For groups, and for travel from the outer parts of Munich, this is not the case. Here the Munich Card Group or City Tour Card is the better deal from three to six days.
The Munich Card and Munich City Pass are best bought online and printed out at home or used on a mobile phone. The Munich Card and Munich City Tour Card are also available from most station vending machines in Munich. The Munich City Pass is available online or only at Munich Airport, Hauptbahnhof, and Tourist Information (Marienplatz).
See Public Transportation Tickets in Munich for more on the transportation and ticket system. See also Save with the Munich Transportation Passes and Day Tickets for more on transportation-only day tickets and Save with the Munich City Tour Card for more on that discount deal.
