Review: Hilton Munich Airport, Germany

During my recent trip to Germany with my parents, I ended up having an unscheduled overnight in Munich. I had flown Lufthansa’s Airbus A319 business class from Frankfurt to Munich, and then my connecting flight to Zurich on SWISS that evening ended up being canceled.

I spent the night at the Hilton Munich Airport on SWISS’ dime, along with receiving EU261 compensation. I was only at the hotel from around 8:30PM until 4AM, so my review will be a bit shorter than usual. However, I think it’s worth giving this hotel some love.

Let me just say upfront that the Hilton Munich Airport is one of my favorite airport hotels in the world. It has an incredibly convenient location, beautiful renovated rooms, and a very nice club lounge with an outdoor terrace.

I also want to give the hotel a shoutout because I stayed there twice during the early stages of the pandemic, and the hotel treated Hilton Honors elite members exceptionally well at the time, when other hotels didn’t. At the time the club lounge was closed, so the hotel basically let club guests order food and drinks in the restaurant in the evenings at no cost, which was extremely generous (this isn’t the case anymore).

Anyway, let me get into the review, though I want to emphasize this review will be shorter than usual, as I didn’t have the chance to check out the gym, the food and beverage outlets, etc.

Booking the Hilton Munich Airport

When my SWISS flight was canceled, I just immediately booked the Hilton Munich Airport, which is the most convenient hotel (I’d be reimbursed by SWISS, as the cancelation was due to a technical fault). My booking was last minute, and the rate was €266. When planning in advance, it’s usually possible to find a better rate than that.

Hilton Munich Airport location

The Hilton Munich Airport has an unbeatable location, as it’s situated between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Regardless of which terminal you’re arriving at, just exit and go to the central part of the airport, where you’ll find many of the airport’s services, ranging from restaurants to the rental car center.

If coming from Terminal 2 (which Lufthansa uses), just make a sharp right, and you’ll see signage for the Hilton Munich Airport.

You can then either take the stairs or elevators up a level to the lobby. During my stay, the elevators were being repaired, as I think the hotel is wrapping up its renovation.

Let me emphasize that the hotel is landside and not airside, so you’ll need a Schengen visa (or passport eligible for Schengen access) to stay here.

Hilton Munich Airport lobby & check-in

The Hilton Munich Airport has a grand atrium lobby, that lets in a ton of natural light (well, at least in the daytime). In terms of the public spaces, this hotel reminds me a lot of the Hilton London Heathrow Terminal 4, as it has a similar atrium.

Even though the hotel has 550 rooms, I found check-in to be efficient. There was a dedicated priority check-in line, though that wasn’t even needed, as there wasn’t a wait to be helped by an employee. I was thanked for being a Hilton Honors Diamond member, and offered an upgrade to an executive room.

While I didn’t have the chance to check out any of these amenities, just off the lobby you have Mountain Hub Social (the all-day dining restaurant), Mountain Hub Gourmet (the fine dining restaurant), and Nightflight Bar (the lobby bar). I hope to have a more detailed review the next time I stay here, though in the meantime I just want to mention how much I enjoyed the live music that was being performed in the lobby as I arrived. If I hadn’t been so tired, I would’ve come back down for a drink.

Hilton Munich Airport executive room

My room at the Hilton Munich Airport was located in the north wing. Rather than taking the elevators right near reception, I instead had to walk past all the conference rooms, and then the elevators were behind that and to the right.

The hotel has six floors, and I was assigned a room on the top floor. I believe the north wing was recently renovated, and I was particularly impressed by the design. It felt modern and quite luxurious, and I loved all the mountain and cloud art, given the hotel’s location in Bavaria.

I was assigned room 6202, one of the first rooms down the hall and to the left.

My king executive room was beautiful. The room had an entryway with the bathroom to the right, and the rest of the room straight ahead.

The room was functionally appointed, with a king size bed, a chair with a table (which could act as a desk or dining table), a chair in the corner, a luggage storage rack, and a dresser.

On the table was a kettle with tea and instant coffee.

The room also had a minibar, and one of the impressive things about this hotel is that the minibar in executives rooms is complimentary. Admittedly the selection is limited, but still, it’s nice to get a couple of free beers, sodas, water, and a candy bar.

The bathroom was modern and quite spacious, with a sink, a soaking tub, a walk-in shower, and a toilet.

Toiletries were in reusable containers from Crabtree & Evelyn.

The only other thing I can report on in the room is the beautiful sunset view that I had right as I arrived. Unfortunately the room didn’t really have any views of airplanes, but rather it faced a (quiet) parking lot.

Hilton Munich Airport executive lounge

The Hilton Munich Airport executive lounge is located in the north wing, on the ground floor (level zero). Just walk down the hall, and you’ll see the entrance to the lounge on the left.

As far as the lounge’s hours go:

• The lounge is open daily from 7AM until 10PM
• The lounge serves breakfast from 7AM until 10AM
• The lounge serves soft drinks and snacks from 10AM until 10PM
• The lounge has an evening happy hour with complimentary alcohol from 6PM until 8:30PM

Unfortunately I only arrived at the lounge as they were cleaning up from the evening service. The lounge also still had quite a few people in it, so I wasn’t able to get great pictures of the entire space. The lounge had a nice indoor space, with dining tables, communal high-top seating, and sofas.

My favorite feature of the lounge was the huge outdoor terrace, with dining tables and high-top seating. There’s nothing quite like sitting outside on a beautiful summer night in Germany.

The buffet and self-serve drink area were also quite nice.

The evening happy hour selection was just being cleaned up as I arrived, but I snapped a quick picture of the printed menu.

Below you can see some of the leftovers.

Like I said, I hope to stay at the hotel longer next time, and have a more comprehensive review.

Bottom line

The Hilton Munich Airport has everything you could ask for in an airport hotel. It has an ideal location directly at the terminal, the rooms were recently renovated, and the executive rooms and executive lounge are very nice. This was my third stay at the hotel, and I’ve always had good experiences here. Hopefully my fourth stay will be a bit longer, so I can write a more thorough review!

What do you make of the Hilton Munich Airport?