© 2008, Jackie Wu

Munich – the city of Oktoberfest and Lederhosen. In October, anyway… Unfortunately, accommodation during October would have been too expensive, so the summer school takes place in September. So what's Munich like throughout the rest of the year?

Munich is the third-largest city of Germany: smaller than Berlin or Hamburg but larger than Frankfurt, and has a higher density (→ higher rents) than any other German city. It also has the strongest economy with a focus on Finance, automotive engineering, IT, and biotechnology.

Historically, Munich originated from a Benedictine monastery along a salt route in the 12th century and eventually became the capital of Bavaria in the early 16th century. Shortly after, the Frauenkirche, Munich's main sight featured in the picture, was built. Both Hitler's Nazi Party and the White Rose student resistance movement originated in Munich.

Ever since Munich became capital of Bavaria, it has been a centre of arts, culture and science. For example, it is home to the famous Pinakothek art galleries, the largest publishing city in Europe, and holds the headquarters of the Max Planck Society, Germany's top-league research organisation.

But of course, Munich also offers beer and pretzels when it isn't Oktoberfest. You can enjoy those in one of the many Biergartens, along the banks of the river Isar, or at one of the many lakes surrounding Munich.

Please check if you are required to have a visa to enter Germany. In case you do, remember to apply soon enough ;)

The best option to travel to munich from outside Germany is to fly directly to Munich Airport (MUC). From there you take the S-Bahn (S1 or S8, either direction is fine) to “Marienplatz” and change to the subway line U6 towards “Klinikum Großhadern”. Get off at the rear of the train at its final stop “Klinikum Großhadern”. Exit the subway station and take the bus line 266 towards “Planegg” and get off this bus at the stop “Martinsried (Nord)”. Walk south and you will find the hostel on your left hand side after about 100m. It will take you about 40 minutes to reach the city center and another 30 minutes to get to the Hostel.

Another (suboptimal) option is to travel to Frankfurt Airport (FRA). From there you will need to take the train (ICE) to Munich main station, which takes about 3.30h and costs about 100euros. You can find the timetable and prices here.

There are very cheap flights (within europe) going to "Allgäu Airport Memmingen" (FMM), which is a very small international airport located about 110km outside from Munich. This is a good (read: cheap) option if you plan accordingly. Confusingly this airport is sometimes referred to as “Munich-West” so make sure to double check your flight. A good indicator that you will arrive at “Allgäu Airport Memmingen” is if you are traveling with one of the following airlines: flyniki, germanwings, intersky, ryanair, sunexpress, or wizzair. From Memmingen you take the "Allgäu Airport Express" to Munich main station, which costs 17euros and takes about 1.20h.

If you travel by train, you will be arriving at Munich main station. You then take the subway line 1 or 2 (U1: direction “Mangfallplatz”; U2: direction “Messestadt Ost”) and get off at “Sendlinger Tor”. From “Sendlinger Tor” take the subway line U6 towards “Klinikum Großhadern” and get off at the rear of the train at its final stop “Klinikum Großhadern”. Exit the subway station and take the bus line 266 towards “Planegg” and get off this bus at the stop “Martinsried (Nord)”. Walk south and you will find the hostel on your left hand side after about 100m. The total duration is about 40min.

Be sure to stamp your ticket before boarding any train.

You can buy tickets at every S-Bahn and subway stop and on the trams. The easiest option when arriving at the airport is to buy a Single-Tageskarte (Gesamtnetz), which costs 12,00euros. If you have already met a fellow summer school student or want to team up with strangers, you could opt for the Gruppen-Tageskarte (Gesamtnetz), which costs 22,30euros and serves up to 5 people. These tickets will allow you to travel for 24h with all local transports in Munich. Another option is to go for the one-way ticket “Einzelfahrt Erwachsene (4Zonen)”, for 10.80euros which allows a one way travel from the airport to the school.

If you arrive at the main station, you should get the ticket “Einzelfahrt Erwachsene (1Zone)” for 2,70euros, which allows a one way travel from the main station to the school.

You can get information about the departure times and duration via the electronic time table. Just enter your starting point (e.g. “Flughafen Muenchen”) and your destination (e.g., “Martinsried (Nord)”) and it will show you possible connections and information about tickets if possible.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact the local team

The summer school takes place at the University of Munich's ever growing Life Science Campus, hosting the University's Biology, Pharmaceutics, and Chemistry Departments, the huge University Hospital, as well as two Max-Planck Institues, and a bunch of Biotech start-ups and companies.

© 2014, Campus-Martinsried

The summer school's teaching sections all take place in the Biozentrum, room D00.003. You can find a layout of the Biozentrum here; room D00.003 is located in the ground floor of Biozentrum's section D, and just recently a couple of signposts were finally installed on the campus. Don't worry though, we will take care of you and put up signs that guide you the way to the lecture room. Laptops will be provided.

Apart from the social events, you will have to take care of breakfast, lunch, and dinner yourself. However, the campus provides some opportunities for lunch, and in Martinsried (where the student apartments are located) you can find a couple of shops, backeries and resturants.

On the campus you can find:

• A small burger place (hidden in a construction site container) that provides reasonable burgers for reasonable prices (POI in the map: Burgers)
• "The Freshmaker", a more fancy, but also more expensive canteen (POI in the map: Fancy food)
• a small café, “chicco di caffè”, that serves great coffee (POI in the map: ASPP venue, literally right next to the teaching room)
• lots of green spots to relax during the lunch breaks

In Martinsried you can find:

• a nice Pizza place for the dinner (POI in the map: Pizza)
• a bakery and two supermarkets, where you can grab a coffee and something to eat in the morning (POI in the map: Supermarkets)
• a bus stop where the line 266's busses bring you to the subway station “Klinikum Großhadern” from where you then get a subway to Munich's nightlife (POI in the map: Bus: Martinsried Nord)

We've annotated the 10 most important locations around the summer school in the following map. Clicking on an annotated location will show some additional helpful information, including links and timetables (requires JavaScript enabled).

See map full screen

To make sure that apart from all the great programming experience you also benefit from being in the greatest city in Germany during the summer months, we will organize two social events.

On Tuesday evening we will explore downtown Munich on a walking tour which will lead us to the top landmarks in the city centre. Afterwards we will enjoy proper Bavarian food at the historical Alter Simpl in Maxvorstadt, Munich's vibrant University quarter.

The event on Thursday will depend on the weather situation. If it's nice and sunny, we will have barbecue at Langwieder See, a bathing lake just outside of Munich surrounded by beautiful nature. In the unlikely case, that it's very rainy, we will enjoy a relaxing afternoon/evening at Europe's largest thermal bath complex, Therme Erding. In any case: make sure to bring your bathing suit.

Those of you who booked one of the shared rooms offered by us, will find their rooms in the Stay.residence (POI in the map: Student apartments), a nice new hotel within 5-7 minutes walking distance to the venue (POI in the map: ASPP venue). This is also the place where the faculty members and the organizers will stay.

Some important information about the rooms:

• Everyone gets his own key for the room;
• Rooms come with two separate beds, one bathroom, sheets and towels, and a small kitchenette;
• Breakfast is not included, but the hotel provides a vending machine for basic nutrition in the foyer (also see the Supermarkets POI in the map);
• Check-in is on Sunday, August 30, between 2pm and 10:30pm;
• Check-out is on Sunday, September 6, before 11am;
• There will be free WiFi in the hotel; for details, ask at the reception at check-in;

Should you have any further questions, don't hesitate to contact us.

© 2015, The Stay Residence

Those who don't want to share an apartment may want to have a look at the following (uncomprehensive) list of hotels that are still within walking distance to the venue:

• the Stay.residence, located here (approx. 5-7 min by foot to the venue)
• The IZB Residence, located here (approx. 5 min by foot to the venue)
• Hotel Thalmair, located here (approx. 25 min by foot to the venue)
• Google

All tutors, and probably most of the students, will stay in the Stay.residence. So you may want to consider booking your room there, too. : )

However, should you choose to stay at another place, please make sure it is properly connected to the BioCampus via public transport. You can find Munich's public transport journey planner here; the bus station closest to the venue is “Großhaderner Straße”. It takes another 4 minutes from the bus station to the lecture room by foot.