Staying 1 night

Choice of Sofitel Munich (studio suite or delux room) or Kempinski at the airport (suite or superior room)

flight to US leaves next day at 11am

Where should I stay? will be tired and arriving at 9am from Africa.

Want to spend day in Munchen. What should I do/see? I love beer

Should I rent a car and drive to the castles? or is there a train?

hotel advice would help as they cost the same.

You need to know what you want to see: Assuming you want to stay downtown you will be in downtown Munich at about 11 am and you will leave for the airport at about 8 am the next day. So not much time "to drive to the castles", in particular when being tired.

Book yourself a room at the Sofitel, very conveniently located to the railway station and easy access to the airport. And then do a bit of research here on this forum: There is plenty of wisdom for one day trips to Munich. This should answer most of your questions and give you plenty of ideas.

I agree about providing more information in regards to your interests. As to 'driving to the castles' I tend to suggest alternatives to the overly touristy Neuschwanstein, such as the more compact and less known Linderhof, which is somewhat easier to reach by car and to my mind a far more enjoyable experience. But I wouldn't suggest that with only less than 24 hours if it is a first visit, especially in holiday season when the tailbacks can be quite extensive.

But there are several threads on the topic including a near identical one posted just last week I believe. (edited to add - OP that was in fact your thread which you started and which some of us posted to provide information there about this subject) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/germa...muc-1-day.html Did you read our suggestions on that thread about these questions? I thought that I was being helpful with the information there.

The Kempinski is a perfectly pleasant hotel, located in well, an airport terminal. And while MUC has much to offer it really isn't where a first time visitor should stay when there are options in the city within walking distance of a myriad of sights.

Munich has a very useful advantage for people in this situation: transit service from the center city to the airport starts VERY EARLY in the morning. IIRC, on weekdays, the first S-Bahn train leaves the Hbf at around 03:45. This makes it practical to stay in the center city and still arrive back at the airport in the morning of departure with plenty of time to spare.

It's surprising how many major cities don't start transit service to their airports until later in the morning.

If the OP just likes residential/palatial museums, the Residenz Museum downtown and the Nymphemburg Palace could also be options.

Take S1/S8 to Hbf. Your hotel Sofitel is right there.
Too little time for castles, leave that for next trip when you have more time. Capitalize on what Munich has to offer (a lot). Grap some tourist info in the tourist office (ask concierge at Sofitel) and use the subway/bus/tram to explore the city. As for biergarten, the Augustinerkeller is near your hotel.

Nymphenburg Castle is an easy and quick tramride:

I have posted this link in the Germany forum before but you may like to check Munich Airport's stopover guide.

If you really, really want to see the castles of Neuschwanstein (the one on all of the brochures and postcards) and nearby Hohenschwangau, to answer your question - yes, you can get there by train so it's not necessary to rent a car and drive down there. You would take the train from the main Munich station to F�ssen; it's about a 2 hour trip. From there the castles are only about 2-3 miles and there is a bus connection or you could rent a bike.

But it would consume most of your day and and you'd spend more than 4 hours on a train. I'd agree with the others and say that you should sample more of what Munich has to offer (especially the beer) and save the alpine castles for another time.

just take a walk from your hotel to the "Maximilianeum", on this trip you can see the shopping street (Kaufingerstra�e with the Karlsplatz (Stachus)), Marienplatz, Viktualienmarkt, Hofbr�uhaus, Dallmayr Coffee, Maximiliansstra�e (most expensive shoppingstreet in munich) and finally, after passing the river Isar, the Maximilianeum.
This is a fine walk.

Is it possible to use trains to visit Linderhof from Munich? Or do you really need a car?

Thanks.

you can check it out here: http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml

it is possible, but its a journey for about 2,5h...

Train to Oberammergau and then bus is possible, on RVO bus 9622 (or train to GAP and bus)

http://www.rvo-bus.de/site/rvo__bus/...e/fpl/9622.pdf