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Hotel zum Fischer sits in the middle of Dachau, a hundred metres from the station: the old town on its hill to one side, the S-Bahn commuter train to Munich on the other. On this page you’ll find what you can reach from here – and why one day is rarely enough for all of it.
Getting here: the S-Bahn is 100 metres away
The S2 takes you into central Munich without changing trains: about 20 minutes to the main station (Hauptbahnhof), around 25 minutes to Marienplatz. On weekdays it runs every ten minutes at peak times. » MVV
By car, the A99 and A92 motorways are just under ten minutes away (7 km). There are 26 hotel parking spaces and two EV charging points right outside.
Munich Airport is around 30 minutes by car (28 km), or about 50 minutes by public transport (X201 express bus, then the S1 from Oberschleißheim).
Messe München, the trade-fair grounds, is just under 50 minutes away: S2 to the main station, then U2 to Messestadt West.
An evening walk: old town and palace
Dachau is more than 1,200 years old, and its old town wears that history well: narrow lanes, townhouses, little shops and cafés in between. On Wednesday and Saturday mornings, Schrannenplatz square hosts the weekly market.
Up on the hill stands Dachau Palace, whose banqueting hall has a Renaissance coffered ceiling from the 16th century (open Tuesday to Sunday). The Hofgarten, the palace garden in front, is free to enter and open daily until dusk, 8 pm at the latest. You stroll beneath old lime trees, past fruit trees, and on a clear day the view reaches all the way to the Alps.
The whole loop fits neatly between check-in and dinner – and it starts right at the hotel door.
Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site
The name Dachau also stands for the darkest chapter of German history. The Memorial Site on the grounds of the former concentration camp is a place of remembrance and learning.
Practical details: the Memorial Site is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm (closed on 24 December), and admission is free. Public guided tours in English and German take place every day (for a small fee), and audio guides are available in 18 languages. Allow enough time – the Memorial Site itself recommends half a day, and advises against visits with children under 13. From Dachau station, city bus 726 takes about ten minutes to the „KZ-Gedenkstätte” stop. You can plan your visit at kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de.
Dachau’s art heritage: galleries, museums and the painters’ trail
Around 1900 was the heyday of Dachau’s artists’ colony: painters such as Adolf Hölzel, Ludwig Dill and Arthur Langhammer came for the moody skies above the Dachau moorland – and stayed. The Gemäldegalerie, the town’s picture gallery, shows around 200 works from that era, including paintings by Carl Spitzweg, Max Liebermann and Lovis Corinth.
A few steps away, the Bezirksmuseum, Dachau’s local-history museum, tells the story of everyday life in old Dachau. Both open at 11 am Tuesday to Friday, and at 1 pm at weekends. It’s an easy way to round off departure day with a quiet museum visit before you set off home.
If you’d rather stay outdoors, follow the Künstlerweg, the painters’ trail with its picture panels, through the old town and along the river Amper.
Ice hockey, basketball, shows: SAP Garden in the Olympiapark
In the middle of Munich’s Olympiapark stands SAP Garden, an arena holding up to 11,500 spectators. EHC Red Bull München plays its DEL ice hockey home games here, along with many FC Bayern Basketball matches, plus shows and other events – and at set times the rink opens for public ice skating.
From our doorstep you’re at the Gern underground station in a good half hour: S2 to the main station, then U1. From there it’s a few minutes’ walk into the Olympiapark. And after the final buzzer or the encore? No need to rush. The S2 runs back to Dachau until well after midnight, and your bed is a hundred metres from the S-Bahn.
Olympiapark & BMW Welt
The Olympiapark, built for the 1972 Games, was designed to be open – no fences, no barriers. Its landmark is the famous tent roof, along with the Olympiasee lake and the Olympiaberg hill with its view over the city.
Right next door, BMW Welt shows the latest models from BMW, BMW Motorrad, MINI and Rolls-Royce; entry is free and it’s open daily. The BMW Museum opposite walks you through the brand’s history (Tuesday to Sunday).
Families will also find the Sea Life aquarium in the park. The tent roof, BMW Welt and the museum easily fill half a day between them.
Getting there: S2 to Marienplatz, then the U3 to Olympiazentrum – around 40 to 45 minutes in total.
A day in Munich
The S2 stops right at Marienplatz – you step out into the heart of the city. At 11 am and noon (and at 5 pm from March to October), the Glockenspiel on the New Town Hall springs into action; the Viktualienmarkt food market is just around the corner (Monday to Saturday). The Munich Residenz, the former royal palace, is a few minutes’ walk away and open daily. For a breather, head to the English Garden, at 376 hectares Munich’s largest park, with the beer garden at the Chinese Tower and the river surfers on the Eisbach wave – you can watch them from the bank.
Truth be told, Munich in one day is a compromise. Give it two, and the checklist becomes a proper wander – the S2 will bring you back even late at night.
Family day: museum, zoo and a lake
The Deutsches Museum, Munich’s vast science and technology museum, is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm and a safe bet with children: in the Kinderreich children’s area, even three- to eight-year-olds get to experiment and explore. The S2 takes you straight to Isartor without changing, and from there it’s a short walk.
For animal-watching, there’s Hellabrunn Zoo by the river Isar (open 365 days a year; check the MVV journey planner for the quickest current route) or Sea Life in the Olympiapark.
And if it’s simply a day for swimming: Karlsfelder See lake is a fifteen-minute bike ride from the hotel – good for a swim, with a playground, a lakeside loop and two restaurants with beer gardens. That way, a second day fills itself, and nobody has to pack bags first thing in the morning.
A day in the saddle: the Ammer-Amper cycle route
The Ammer-Amper cycle route runs right through Dachau: 198 kilometres from the Graswang valley via lake Ammersee to Moosburg, awarded four stars by the ADFC cycling federation. You don’t have to ride all of it – the stretches along the Amper towards Fürstenfeldbruck or Freising make a fine day’s ride on their own.
Prefer walking? Dachau has a whole set of mapped-out trails, from the painters’ trail (Künstlerweg) to the Amper nature walk (about 8 km) and the Dachauer Moos moorland loop (about 13 km) – routes at tourismus.dachau.de. And if you just want a short spin: Karlsfelder See is a fifteen-minute bike ride away.
And in the evening: back home to our tavern
However far you’ve roamed today, in the evening you don’t head back to just any hotel – you come back home to us. In our Tafernwirtschaft we cook Alpine and international dishes, with hot food served all day from 11 am to 10 pm. And then there are our plate-sized Riesenschnitzel – some guests come back for those alone.
With nothing but a flight of stairs between dinner and bed, the next day practically plans itself. Much of what’s on this page won’t fit into a single day trip – which might be the best reason to stay one more night.