About 45% of the 75,000 people that will visit electronica 2006 will be from abroad. If you’re flying into Munich airport, you’ve got a few choices on how to get to the show. By far the best choice is to catch one of the regular buses that run from just outside the terminal. (Generally speaking, unless a group shares a cab, taxis work out to be pretty pricey.) If your first port of call is central Munich, use the S Bahn trains. Or, a really good service is the Lufthansa luxury coach. It will take you right to the Haubtbahnhof (central station) in the heart of Munch. An added perk: you don’t have to be a Lufthansa ticket holder to use the Lufthansa coach.
Without a doubt, the majority of people that visit the show get to the Messestadt (show ground) by U Bahn. But before we continue talking about modes of transportation, let’s clear up this U Bahn and S bahn stuff. Munich has a fantastically good and efficient train system that also happens to be mind-numbingly complex when trying to work out what ticket you need. The S Bahn lines are the suburban trains that run within the city and also to out-lying areas. The U Bahn trains are the central city lines. You need to get the U2 line to the show. You can check out a map of the trainshere.
A great site that explains the fares system—and let’s face it a lot of Germans can’t even figure it out—can be found here.
Don’t forget that the Munich rail system works on an honesty policy. You are responsible for purchasing a ticket and getting a date and time stamp before entering the train. Don’t think that by acting the dumb tourist that you’ll get away without a ticket if you are questioned by the plain-clothes ticket inspectors that patrol the trains. You won’t. The fines are big AND you have to travel way way out of the city to pay them…right there and then. Definitely NOT worth the risk.