Plane spotting at Munich Airport: spots around both runways, light and traffic

For many spotters, Munich is the most pleasant large airport in Germany: two tidy parallel runways, a visitors’ hill in the middle of the grounds and a traffic mix from regional jets to the Airbus A380. The Erdinger Moos, the flat marshland around the airport, is still vast, though. If you arrive without a plan, you quickly end up at the wrong runway end or in backlight. This guide shows you how the two runways work, what spot zones there are around the airport, when the light is right where and what traffic to expect.

Plane spotting in Munich: the short answer

For your first visit, the visitors’ hill in the visitor park is the right choice. It lies between the two runways, is reachable by S-Bahn and offers an elevated view over taxiways, apron and runways. If you want takeoffs and landings frame-filling and at eye level, you go to the fences of the north runway 08L/26R or the south runway 08R/26L. Which side and which end is decided by two things: the wind, that is, the runway direction in use, and the sun. South of a runway you have light behind you during the day, north of it mainly in the edge hours of summer.

How the airport is laid out

Munich Airport lies in the Erdinger Moos between Freising and Erding, a good 28 kilometers northeast of the city center. The layout is a gift for spotters because it is so simple: two runways of equal length run parallel from west to east, with Terminal 1 in the west and Terminal 2 with the satellite in the east between them, plus aprons, the cargo area and, in the western part, the visitor park.

Area	Location	What you see from there
North runway 08L/26R	northern edge of the grounds	Takeoffs and landings, taxi traffic on the northern taxiways
South runway 08R/26L	southern edge of the grounds	Takeoffs and landings, taxi traffic on the southern taxiways
Visitor park with hill	western part, between the runways	West apron, taxi traffic, runway movements with a telephoto lens
Terminal 2 and satellite	eastern part, between the runways	Lufthansa and Star Alliance traffic at the stands

The large distance between the runways has a consequence you need to know: from no fence spot can you photograph both runways well. If you stand at the north runway, you see the south runway at most as a distant strip. So you decide on a side before you travel. Only the visitors’ hill and the deck at Terminal 2 are in the middle, but the distances to the runways are greater there.

Which runway for what?

Both runways are used for takeoffs and landings in both directions. How traffic is distributed is decided by air traffic control depending on the traffic situation, and it can change over the course of the day. Spotters report that departures tend to be distributed by destination direction: traffic toward the north and across the Atlantic more via the north runway, traffic toward the south and east as well as cargo more via the south runway. Don’t rely on that blindly, though. A look at live flight tracking shows you in seconds where aircraft are currently taking off and where they are landing.

Runway direction in use: 26 or 08?

Aircraft take off and land into the wind. In a westerly wind, everything in Munich runs toward 26: aircraft come in from the east and take off to the west. In an easterly wind, direction 08 applies; then they land coming from the west and take off to the east. Because westerly weather patterns prevail in Bavaria, 26 is usually the more common direction. Easterly conditions do occur regularly, though, especially in stable high-pressure weather.

For your choice of spot, that means:

• Approach shots you only get at the runway end the aircraft are flying toward. With 26 that is the east side of the airport, with 08 the west side.
• Takeoff shots with the nose lifting you get at the other end or in the middle of the runway, where heavy aircraft rotate.
• The visitors’ hill is in the western part between the runways. There you are closer to the landings with 08 and closer to the aircraft lifting off with 26.

The basics on wind and runway direction in use are explained in the guide Understanding runway direction in use at airports. How to use weather maps to estimate the evening before which direction is coming is shown in the article on Windy and other weather maps.

The spots at a glance

Around the airport there are many locations that spotters have used for years. Conditions keep changing, though: sometimes parking bays are blocked off, sometimes field paths are closed, sometimes fences are reset. We therefore describe zones rather than every single parking bay. Always stay on public paths, keep your distance from the fence and follow instructions from airport security and police.

Visitors’ hill in the visitor park

The classic and, for most people, the first stop. According to the airport, the visitors’ hill is 28 meters high, open year-round around the clock and costs a small admission of 1 euro in cash. The visitor park itself is freely accessible, with a playground, food service and a free exhibition that is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. According to the airport, the historic aircraft in the park are currently closed because of renovation.

From the top you look north to the north runway and the western apron, and south to the south runway. For runway shots you need a long telephoto lens; the height helps you shoot over fences and taxi traffic. In summer, heat haze over the wide asphalt areas is the biggest problem; toward evening it gets better. What you can do about it is in the article Avoiding heat haze.

Observation deck in Terminal 2

The observation deck is in Terminal 2 at gates G and H on level 07, before the security checkpoint. The airport lists daily opening hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., free admission, an elevator and an area of over 900 square meters. You stand about 23 meters above the east apron and look at the Terminal 2 satellite, at the Lufthansa long-haul aircraft at the stands and, in the distance, at the runways. The deck is less suited to runway shots, but a good place for apron scenes with the A380 and A350, especially on bad-weather days with a short way back indoors.

North side of the north runway (08L/26R)

Along the northern fence and at the two runway ends there are several locations where you are close to the action. This is where the classic side-on shots of departing and landing aircraft on the north runway are taken. The catch is the light: you look south, so straight into the sun at midday. These spots are mainly usable on early summer mornings and late summer evenings, hardly in winter. Under overcast skies, on the other hand, they make full use of their closeness to the runway.

South side of the south runway (08R/26L)

The spots south of the south runway, between the airport fence and the villages to the south like Hallbergmoos, are the most light-friendly zone in Munich. You look north and have the sun behind you during the day, in winter almost all day. There are locations at both runway ends and along the runway, some with earth mounds from which you can shoot over the fence. At the runway ends you usually need a small ladder for line-up and touchdown shots; what is allowed is explained in the article Ladder, step and tripod at the airport fence.

Around the runway ends in the east and west

For approach shots with the landing gear extended, you position yourself on the extension of the runways. With runway direction 26 that is the area east of the airport, with 08 the area to the west. Many of these locations are on country roads and field paths. Park only where it is expressly allowed, don’t drive onto agricultural paths and don’t block fire access roads. Spotters report fines and new barriers at some places.

Light: which side works when

Both runways run east–west. That means the basic rule from the guide Planning sun position applies in Munich almost textbook-style: south side beats north side.

Location zone	Viewing direction	Good light	Difficult
South side of the south runway	north	during the day, in winter almost all day	on summer evenings, brief backlight from the northwest possible
North side of the north runway	south	summer: early morning and late evening	midday always, winter almost all day
Visitors’ hill, looking north	north	all day	heat haze in summer
Visitors’ hill, looking south	south	early morning and evening	backlight at midday
Terminal 2 deck	apron, mostly toward east/south	afternoons and with cloud cover	depending on position, backlight in the morning

The information is tendencies. How far the windows shift with the season depends on the sunrise point: in summer the sun rises in the northeast and sets in the northwest, in winter in the southeast and southwest. With the sun position planner in Planetrack, you see for every spot and every date when the sun is behind you. If you prefer to compare several tools, the overview of sun position apps for photographers helps.

What you see in Munich

Munich is the second hub of Lufthansa and home base of its remaining Airbus A380s. The Airbus A350-900 on long-haul is added to that. The majority of movements, though, are short- and medium-haul: the A320 family, regional jets of the Lufthansa Group, partners like Air Dolomiti, Swiss and Austrian Airlines. If you’re unsure about the regional jets, the guide How to tell Embraer E-Jets apart helps.

Terminal 2 is reserved for the Lufthansa Group and its partners from the Star Alliance. In Terminal 1, everyone else is handled, including Condor and Eurowings, long-haul partners of other alliances and leisure airlines. In summer, vacation flights additionally shape the picture. Cargo and business jets round out the range.

Waves instead of continuous operation

As a transfer hub, Munich works in waves: many long-haul flights land in one block, shortly afterward the connecting flights to Europe depart, then it gets quieter. If you know the waves, you plan breaks and spot changes into the gaps. How to read them from departure and arrival boards is explained in the article Understanding hub waves at hub airports.

Note the night flight rules (more on this in the overview of the night flight ban at German airports): between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., operations are heavily restricted, and from midnight to 5 a.m. only flights in the public interest take place. The spotting day in Munich therefore begins early in the morning with the first long-haul arrivals and ends late in the evening.

Getting there and gear

The visitor park has its own S-Bahn station: take the S1 or S8 to Besucherpark, one stop before the terminal. For the deck in Terminal 2, take it to the terminus at the airport. If you come by car, you’ll find airport parking garages at the visitor park; fees and current conditions are on the airport’s website.

For the fence spots around the runway ends, a car or a bicycle is practically mandatory. Buses do run to the surrounding villages, but from the stops it is often a long way across open terrain. Tips on choosing a means of transport are collected in the article Getting to a spot by public transit or car.

On focal length: at the visitors’ hill and the deck, 400 millimeters is often just enough, while at the runway ends you get by with much less. The rules of thumb are in the guide to lens choice and focal length. And if you’re approached at the fence because the telephoto lens stands out: stay calm and explain what you’re doing. How such situations usually go is described in the article Big telephoto, big suspicion.

Rules on site

• Use public paths. Don’t enter fields, service roads or closed-off areas, even if others are standing there.
• Keep your distance from the fence. In several places airport security asks for distance. Set up ladders so that they don’t lean on the fence.
• Don’t alter anything at the fence. Cutting holes, damaging the fence or passing objects through is off limits.
• Park properly. Fire access roads, field paths and driveways stay clear.
• Leave the drone at home. The airport is in a control zone, and geo zones apply around the grounds. More on this in the article Geo zones and the dipul map.

The legal basics are summarized in the article Is plane spotting allowed?. A special case is the annual Munich Security Conference: during that time, spotters report additional state and government traffic, but also tightened checks around the airport.

More aviation around Munich

If the weather doesn’t cooperate, a detour to a museum is worthwhile. The Flugwerft Schleissheim is north of the city on a historic airfield, and the Deutsches Museum in the city center has a large aviation department. And if you want to explore Bavaria further: the guide to Plane spotting in Nuremberg and the overview of the best plane spotting spots in Germany provide the next destinations.

Conclusion

Munich rewards planning. The two parallel runways are so far apart that you have to decide on a side, and the east–west orientation makes the light question predictable: south of the runways during the day, north in the edge hours of summer. The visitors’ hill is the comfortable, reliable way in with an S-Bahn connection; the fence spots deliver the closer pictures but demand a car, a ladder and consideration.