The Christmas holidays are coming up! We can – hopefully – look forward to a few relaxing days in Munich, where we can forget the stress of the pre-Christmas period. There are still options for last-minute Christmas presents and even some supermarkets are still open on Christmas Eve. Last but not least, we should also bear this in mind: Timetables at Christmas differ from the usual times. The subway, streetcars and buses are geared towards Bavarian Gemütlichkeit on public holidays.
Christmas Eve (December 24)
The Saturday timetable applies to all lines until around 2:30 pm. Just the right time to run the last few errands in the morning. From around 15:00, however, the service will be significantly reduced. Most lines switch to a 15- or 20-minute interval. The operation of many lines ends earlier or goes directly into the night timetable.
From around 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., many bus lines stop operating completely or only run on the main routes. Subway trains and streetcars remain in operation, but run less frequently. The suburban trains will run every 20 minutes on all lines from around 15:00.
The Christmas holidays (December 25 & 26)
On both public holidays, the Sunday and public holiday timetable applies without exception. This means that the subway trains usually run every 10 minutes. Buses and streetcars run according to the Sunday schedule (often every 10 or 20 minutes).
If you want to get to your family in time for Christmas, you should take an earlier connection, as the transfer times can be significantly longer due to the shorter intervals.
Night traffic: How to get home after the presents
Munich won’t let you down at night, but there are some differences in the timetables at Christmas. On the night of December 25, the normal night timetable applies (N lines for streetcars and buses). But be careful with the S-Bahn: there is often the usual night-time shutdown from around 2:00 am to 4:00 am, except on the S1 and S8 (airport lines).
On the night of 26.12.: the night lines operate as on the weekend. This is because this night runs from one public holiday to the next. The night lines of the streetcar and the night buses meet as usual at Stachus for a “rendezvous”.