Families in Munich do not have to wait for the Christmas markets to go skating: public skating is already running at the SAP Garden in the Olympic Park, and the rink at Munich Airport opens on 13 November. The two differ noticeably in price, hours and effort.
SAP Garden (Toni-Merkens-Weg, 80809 Munich). According to the city portal muenchen.de, public skating runs daily in several sessions, roughly daytime and then 7.30pm to 10.15pm in the evening. Weekend daytime sessions are shorter; exact slots are in the ticket shop. Numbers are limited, so book online: with an online ticket you enter at gate E6, the box office is at E8. Entry is only possible from the start of your booked time slot.
Prices: adults €9.50, concessions €8, children up to 3 free, ages 4 to 12 €4.50, ages 13 to 17 €6.50. A parent with their own children under 18 can buy the family ticket (Mehrpersonenkarte) at €15 for one adult plus children. Skate hire is €8 a pair (sizes 25 to 50, photo ID required). From Thursday to Saturday, 8pm to 10pm, there is an ice disco.
Munich Airport (MAC-Forum, Terminalstraße Mitte 18). From 13 November to 27 December the rink is open daily 11am to 9pm, until 4pm on 24 December. Entry is €5 for the whole day, blade sharpening included; hire skates cost €5 (sizes 24 to 47, subject to availability). On Wednesdays from 6pm there is an ice disco with a DJ: 25 November and 2, 9 and 16 December. Ice stock shooting costs €25 an hour, booked through the Christmas and Winter Market platform. Drivers can use car park P20 at a reduced rate for market visitors: free for the first hour, €5 up to three hours.
What does an afternoon cost a mother with two children?
With hire skates for all three, the SAP Garden comes to €15 entry plus €24 hire, €39 in total. At the airport it is 3 × €5 entry plus 3 × €5 hire, €30. With your own skates it is €15 versus €15, so the family ticket draws level. This is our own calculation from the published prices; it assumes both children are aged 4 to 17 and leaves out travel and food. The airport is reachable by S-Bahn, but the trip from the city centre takes noticeably longer than to the Olympic Park.
Our assessment: for a one-off try without booking a slot, the airport is cheaper and less fuss. For regular skating, or ice before 13 November, the SAP Garden is the better bet. How crowded either gets in school holidays and Advent weekends cannot be reliably predicted, so arriving early is wise.
Opening dates for the rinks at Ostpark, Pasing and the Prinzregentenstadion are not yet confirmed: in-muenchen.de says the 2026/27 season start there is still open. The Stadtwerke München publish the current hours.
Sources: muenchen.de (SAP Garden), Munich Airport, in-muenchen.de
