# Munich Plant Tour



## bpa (Dec 7, 2002)

Picking up my 330i in early March in Munich. I'm signed up for the plant tour but am having second thoughts about spending the entire afternoon in the factory. We're planning to head south after the tour to spend the night somewhere south of Innsbruck on our way to Italy. My 19 year old son who is going with me wants to see some castles south of Munich. Given our travel schedule, if we wait until after the tour, it will likely be getting dark by the time we get to the castles. So ....... what do those of you think about the tour? Is it worth it? How long does it take? Thanks.


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## WRS (Dec 22, 2001)

The tour takes about two hours, and it is well worth the time. It is an up close and personal tour. The liability laws in germany are not anything like the U.S., so you get right in the middle of production!:thumbup:


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## JST (Dec 19, 2001)

WRS said:


> *The tour takes about two hours, and it is well worth the time. It is an up close and personal tour. The liability laws in germany are not anything like the U.S., so you get right in the middle of production!:thumbup: *


Yes, the tour was far more interesting to me than Neuschwanstein, but that's just me.

You are right about getting right into the middle of the action; there was a point at which I went to lean against something, and looked and realized that what I was about to lean against was the big red "STOP THE ASSEMBLY LINE" button. During the welding, sparks actually land on you. It is very, very cool.


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## ZBB 325Ci (Dec 19, 2001)

I used to work in the Munich plant (a summer in college), so when I did ED, I didn't schedule a tour. As others have mentioned, definately do the tour -- its pretty amazing to see the process of how BMWs get put together...

As far as your schedule, your options for finding hotels south of Innsbruck are pretty limited -- there's not much between Innsbruck and the Italian border, and not much in Italy until you start dropping out of the Alps. One thing you could do is drive down to the Schwangau area (in Germany, where Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles are) and get a hotel that night after your tour. Then do the castle tours in the morning (easily can take 1/2 a day). Then drive down to Italy that afternoon -- Schwangau to Innsbruck is probably about an hours drive. 

Its been 10 years since I did a Munich to Venice drive... We left after work on a Friday afternoon (hit the road about 4pm). We made it to just outside Venice around 11:00 or so (we stopped in Innsbruck for dinner and one town in Northern Italy for a 15 minute pit stop)...


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## M.Wong (Jan 9, 2003)

I agree, the tour is well worth your time. Plan 2 hours 30 minutes for it, which will probably put you in some traffic getting out of the city.

Munich to Garmisch was only an hour drive when traffic was light. Innsbruck looks like another 20 minutes beyond that.

Garmisch to Neuschwanstein, while it looks close on the map, is about a 45 minute drive. Be advised, Neuschwanstein will take some time, as they sell you a ticket at the base of the hill for the next available tour time. We arrived in the late morning (like 11:00) and the next tour was 90 minutes later. Take 20 minutes to casually walk up, and we still had an hour to burn. You can't go inside the castle without the tour. You can walk around the outside (no charge and no time issues) but if you're going all that way, you may as well do the tour.

We went to Italy, but went SW of Stuttgart to get there, through Bad Saeckingen. We have some pictures here:

Our ED trip with the E39

It will be a great trip. Have lotsa fun!


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## shabbaman (Dec 16, 2002)

*Castles may be closed*

When we were in Germany 2 years ago we were there in March. One of our day trips was to the Rhine to go see castles. Unfortunately, of the 10 or so castles along the Rhine, only 1 or 2 were open. The rest were slated to open April 1st - Tourist Season.

Even though the castles that you are going to try to see are south of where we were find out if they are open


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## desiguyincali (Sep 9, 2002)

Definatly you should do the factory tour. Its really worth it and I bet you will start to appreciate your car more once you see how well it is made.


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## bpa (Dec 7, 2002)

Thanks for all the input. I think we'll go with the tour and then hit the road for Italy. It looks like about 3 to 3 1/2 hours to Bolzano or Trento, which would only leave us another 3 to 4 hours into Florence the next day. We'll see castles in Switzerland at the end of the week on our way to dropping off the car in Zurich. Hopefully, the roads over the Brenner Pass will be good (i.e. no snow or ice).


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## M.Wong (Jan 9, 2003)

You will love being in your new car so much, a three or four hour drive will not seem long at all. 

Bring lotsa music CDs though. We went through ours quickly and got tired of hearing the same things after the end of the two weeks!


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## bimmerman11 (Nov 11, 2002)

*who schedules the tour of the factory?.....*

My salesman seems to believe that I am automatically signed up for a factory tour but nothing was mentioned of it in my ED Information Packet that I received in the mail. Can I call the Delivery Center and schedule a tour or is my salesperson supposed to do this for me?

Thanks.
Marc


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## jrubens (Aug 14, 2002)

Try calling 1-866-868-7269 to set one up. I found this number on the boards and have not tried it, as my ED will not be until May.


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## bpa (Dec 7, 2002)

*Plant Tour*

I think you need to call Peter Wilke at BMWNA at 866-868-7269 to see if he can schedule you for the tour. He is the tour scheduler guy. The tours are only given in English on Mondays and Fridays and they are not scheduled automatically as part of the ED process.


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## WRS (Dec 22, 2001)

Call BMWNA to reserve a spot. They will transfer you to a voice mailbox to leave your desired tour date. If you get the Form letter E-mail reply saying that no slots are available just wait untill you get to the delivery center and ask the receptionist to make a reservation for you! you WILL get a slot.


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## bimmerman11 (Nov 11, 2002)

*I called BMWNA twice...*

and left 2 messages on their voicemail but I haven't heard back from them yet. Should I ask my salesman to call too? He is a nice guy but he seems incompetent at times.

Any advice?

Marc


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## Matthew330Ci (Sep 9, 2002)

yeah, my salesguy already signed me up, but i called peter at the 866 number to confirm and i asked him specifically to call me back, but no answer.


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## highbeam (Sep 30, 2002)

Incidentally, if my tour was typical, it's closer to 3 hours than 2.


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## Trevordog (Nov 24, 2002)

Does anyone know when the last tour starts in the afternoon?

I saw a post in another thread mention a 1pm tour start, but we are arriving in Munich around 11am and I doubt that would be enough time.

Since we are leaving from Munich we were planning to come back the day before and do the tour then, but that would be a Thursday which sounds like the tour would be in German and not English (a problem since we know very little German)....


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## desiguyincali (Sep 9, 2002)

To book your factory tur try calling Wilke Peter at 480-575-7057. He is the one who does the bookings for the Factory tour.


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## highbeam (Sep 30, 2002)

There is only the 1:00 pm tour. But if you are arriving at 11:00, you should be able to make it by 1:00. Just take a cab directly from the airport to the Olympiapark where the factory is (no more than a 35 min ride that time of day). They have a closet and lockers where you can leave your stuff while you take the tour.


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## jrubens (Aug 14, 2002)

I left a message last week at the toll free number, but never heard anything back either.


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