The answer
Follow the green "S" signs down to the station in the basement of the central area and take the S8 or S1 — €15.10 for the M–5 single, about 40 minutes to Hauptbahnhof and a few minutes more to Marienplatz. Buy the M–5 ticket, never a zone-M one.
Both lines run to the same station at the same €15.10 fare, so the only real decision is the ticket: Munich Airport is in fare zone 5, and the €4.20 city single that locals use is worthless the moment you leave zone M.
Two or more of you? The Airport-City-Day-Ticket Gruppe is €32.60 for up to 5 people and covers zones M–5 until 6am the next day — three singles already cost €45.30.
Staying by Hauptbahnhof with heavy bags? The Lufthansa Express Bus is €12.50 online (€13.50 from the driver), runs every 20 minutes and drops you on Arnulfstraße.
⚠️ The traps (walk past these)
The €4.20 city ticket that never reaches the airport
Munich Airport sits in MVV fare zone 5, so the €4.20 zone-M single that covers the whole city is not valid to or from it. The ticket you need is the M–5 single at €15.10. There are no ticket barriers anywhere on the S-Bahn, so nothing stops you boarding with the wrong ticket — you find out when an inspector walks through, and the penalty fare is €60.
Do this: buy the M–5 single (€15.10) or the €17.50 Airport-City-Day-Ticket and never the €4.20 zone-M ticket
The paper ticket you forgot to stamp
Tickets from the MVV or DB machines come out unvalidated and are worthless until you stamp them in one of the blue boxes on the platform. Tickets bought on a bus or tram are already stamped, which is why locals never think about it. Inspectors on the airport line check constantly and the penalty fare is €60.
Do this: stamp your ticket in the blue box on the platform before you board the train
The S1 that splits at Neufahrn
Most S1 trains divide at Neufahrn into two separate trains: the front half goes on to Freising, the rear half goes to the airport. If the departure board reads "Freising und Flughafen", sitting in the wrong half drops you 20 km the wrong way with no easy way back. The S8 never splits.
Do this: board the rear portion of an S1 showing "Freising und Flughafen", or simply take the S8
Your airline moved to the new Terminal 1 pier
A €700m non-Schengen pier opened at Terminal 1 in April 2025 and now takes American, British Airways, Delta, Emirates, Turkish and Qatar out of the old modules A–E. It is 360 m long, so the walk to the S-Bahn is much longer than the module you may remember. Changing between T1 and T2 means clearing security again — allow 75–120 minutes.
Do this: check which terminal and module your flight uses, and add 20 minutes if you are arriving at the new T1 pier