Guido Radig · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
Munich
The Bavarian capital on the Isar — a compact old centre under the twin towers of the Frauenkirche, beer gardens in a park the size of a district, and the Alps close enough to be a day out.
Munich
Munich is the capital of Bavaria, and Bavaria has spent most of its history being a country rather than a region — a kingdom until 1918, Catholic where much of Germany is Protestant, with its own dialect, its own dress and a settled sense that it is not quite the same place as Berlin. The city reflects that. The centre is compact and walkable, arranged around one square and the twin towers of its cathedral, wealthy and well kept, with a park running through it large enough to lose an afternoon in. What makes Munich work for a visitor is less what is inside the city than what the city opens onto: the Alps are close, the castle route is close, Salzburg is close, and Munich is the airport and the railway station that all of it hangs off.
Explore Munich on the map
City locations, drawn from our published destination data. Attractions, hotels and restaurants are not mapped yet.
Beyond the temples
One square, one park, two very good museum clusters — and a city that is at its best outdoors.
The old centre
- Marienplatz is the centre of the city and has been its market square since the middle ages. The New Town Hall along one side is neo-Gothic and carries the Glockenspiel, whose figures perform daily — the crowd gathers well before and disperses immediately after, and the times shift with the season, so check them locally.
- The Frauenkirche is a block away: late-Gothic, built in brick, with the two domed towers that are the city’s silhouette. Inside it is plainer than its exterior leads you to expect.
- The Viktualienmarkt is an open food market immediately south of Marienplatz, working rather than staged, with a beer garden in the middle of it. It is the best lunch in the old town and the easiest.
- The Residenz, the Wittelsbach city palace, runs along the northern edge of the old town — a very large complex of state rooms, a treasury and a theatre, and one that repays a slow half-day if palaces interest you at all.
Outdoors
- The English Garden is a long band of parkland running north from the centre, with the Chinese Tower beer garden in the middle of it and meadows that residents genuinely use. Walking its length is one of the pleasures of the city.
- At the southern edge of the park, the Eisbach throws up a standing wave that surfers ride all year round, in wetsuits in winter. It is a strange and excellent thing to watch for ten minutes.
- At a traditional beer garden you may bring your own food to the self-service tables — that is the old Brotzeit right — but not to the tables with waiter service. Sit under the chestnut trees, order the drink, and the rest sorts itself out.
- Nymphenburg Palace, the Wittelsbach summer palace to the west, is worth it as much for the canal and the park behind it as for the rooms.
Museums, and places of record
- The Deutsches Museum on its island in the Isar is a science and technology collection on an enormous scale — mining, aviation, instruments — and is the best rainy day in the city, particularly with older children.
- The Kunstareal holds the Alte, Neue and Moderne Pinakothek and the Lenbachhaus within a few streets of each other. The Alte Pinakothek is the one to choose if you choose one.
- The Olympic Park, built for the 1972 Games, is a striking piece of architecture and open parkland, with BMW Welt and the BMW Museum across the road. A memorial on the site remembers the Israeli team members and the German police officer killed in the attack during those Games.
- The NS-Documentation Centre in the old party quarter and the Dachau Memorial Site outside the city belong together. Give Dachau most of a day and nothing frivolous afterwards.
Three days in Munich
The old centre
Marienplatz first, with the Glockenspiel if the timing suits, then the Frauenkirche and the lanes around it. Lunch at the Viktualienmarkt. Afternoon in the Residenz state rooms, and an evening walk along the Isar or in a beer garden at the southern end of the English Garden.
Park, museums and the north
Walk the English Garden from the Eisbach wave up to the Chinese Tower. Afternoon in the Kunstareal — the Alte Pinakothek if you pick one — or the Deutsches Museum on the island instead if the weather is against you. Late afternoon at the Olympic Park and the BMW buildings.
A day of record, or a day out
Either the Dachau Memorial Site with the NS-Documentation Centre in the city afterwards — a full and deliberately sombre day — or a day out by train into Bavaria: the castle route, Regensburg, or the Alps. Do not try to combine the two.
Arriving & getting around
A compact walkable centre with an excellent regional rail network attached to it.
In the city
- The old centre is walkable end to end and much of it is pedestrian. Everything on Marienplatz, the Frauenkirche, the Viktualienmarkt and the Residenz is within a few minutes of each other.
- Beyond it, the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses run on one integrated ticket across zones. Buy for the zones you need, validate where required, and keep the ticket — inspectors are frequent and fines are not negotiable.
Arriving
- Munich Airport (MUC) is well north-east of the city and is connected to the centre by two S-Bahn lines as well as an express coach. It is a major hub, which is why so many Indian itineraries enter Europe here.
- The Hauptbahnhof is the rail hub for southern Germany and the jumping-off point for Bavaria, Austria and Switzerland. Regional day tickets exist and are worth asking about at the counter if you are making a day trip.
Out of the city
- The Alps, the castle route, Nuremberg, Regensburg and Salzburg are all reachable by train from Munich, which is the single strongest argument for basing here. The Bavaria region page sets out what is worth a day and what deserves a night.
- A car is unnecessary for the city and only worth considering for the deeper countryside — the Alpine valleys and the smaller Franconian towns. Inside Munich it is a liability: the centre is restricted and parking is expensive.
What to know before you go
Three things catch first-time visitors to Germany, and none of them is about sightseeing.
Almost all shops and supermarkets close on Sundays across Germany, and many close early on Saturdays. Museums, restaurants and cafés stay open. Buy what you need on Saturday; the shops at the main station are the usual exception.
Germany runs on more cash than most of western Europe. Cards are widely accepted in Munich but small cafés, bakeries, market stalls and some beer gardens are still cash-only or set a card minimum. Keep euro notes on you.
Germany is a Schengen state, so an Indian passport needs a Schengen visa — no more than 90 days in any 180-day period, applied for at the mission of the trip’s main destination.
The festival runs from mid-to-late September into the first weekend of October and the dates move each year. During it, rooms are scarce and expensive across the whole city. Check the dates before booking, whether you want it or want to avoid it.
One integrated ticket covers U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses, priced by zone. There are no barriers on much of the network, but inspections are frequent and the penalty for travelling without a valid validated ticket is not discretionary.
English is widely spoken in Munich, in hotels, museums and restaurants. Bavarian dialect is strong in the countryside and among older residents; standard German will always be understood.
How to be a good guest
A Catholic kingdom’s capital that kept its own manners inside a federal Germany.
Bavaria is not a region like the others
- Bavaria was an independent duchy and then a kingdom until 1918, and it joined the German Empire on terms of its own. It calls itself the Freistaat — the Free State — and the distinction is not merely decorative.
- It is predominantly Catholic where much of northern Germany is Protestant, which shows in the baroque churches, the public holidays and the calendar. The dialect is strong, the dress you see at festivals is genuinely worn, and Bavarians will tell you cheerfully that Berlin is another country.
Oktoberfest, and what it is
- Oktoberfest is mostly in September. It runs on the Theresienwiese from mid-to-late September into the first weekend of October, and the dates move each year — check them before you book anything.
- During it, accommodation across the city is scarce and expensive, the centre is very full, and trains and trams run at capacity. If the festival is why you are coming, book far ahead; if it is not, avoid those two-and-a-bit weeks and the city is a different and calmer place.
- It is a fairground and a family festival as much as a drinking one, with rides, brass bands and tents that are booked out by groups months in advance. Walking in off the street to a tent table in the evening is not realistic.
Eating, and the meat question
- Bavarian cooking is pork-led: roast pork, sausages, dumplings, pretzels. Lard is used in cooking more widely than a menu will tell you, so a "vegetable" dish in a traditional inn may not be vegetarian.
- Munich handles vegetarian eating well once you are outside the traditional inns — it is a large, international city with a good vegetarian scene and plenty of Indian restaurants. In a beer garden, the cheese and pretzel end of the self-service counter is reliable.
- The white sausage, Weisswurst, is a morning dish and is traditionally not eaten after midday. Nobody will stop you; it is simply a local rule that visitors enjoy knowing.
Insider tips
Munich is easy. Most of the planning worth doing is about when you come, not what you see.
Do
- Check the Oktoberfest dates before you book — whether you want to be here for it or not.
- Walk the length of the English Garden and stop at a beer garden along the way. Bring your own food to the self-service tables if you want to.
- Use Munich as a base: add two or three nights and take the Alps, the castle route or Salzburg as days out.
- Buy the right zones on your transport ticket and validate it. The airport is well outside the inner zones.
- Give Dachau most of a day and pair it with the NS-Documentation Centre rather than with a beer garden.
- Keep cash on you, and do your shopping before Sunday.
Don’t
- Don’t plan a shopping day for a Sunday. Nothing will be open.
- Don’t expect to walk into an Oktoberfest tent in the evening without a booking — the tables are reserved months ahead.
- Don’t assume a vegetable dish in a traditional inn is vegetarian. Lard and meat stock are used more widely than the menu says — ask directly.
- Don’t hire a car for the city. The centre is pedestrian and restricted and the regional trains go everywhere you want.
- Don’t build the whole trip around the Glockenspiel. It is three minutes of clockwork, and the city around it is the reason to be in the square.
Beyond the city
What Bavaria holds around Munich. These are named for orientation; the region and country pages carry them.
Common questions
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