Going to Bavaria: What to do and see in Munich

Hear the heartbeat of Munich

Whether you're just passing through the Bavarian capital or you're here to explore without rushing, we recommend starting at Marienplatz. On it and nearby are located:

• The New Town Hall - one of the most beautiful and largest buildings in the city, which doesn't want to fit in the lens. To photograph it in its entirety, we recommend climbing up to the observation deck of St. Peter's Church opposite. The central tower of the Town Hall is adorned with a clock, which daily at 11:00 and 12:00 (and additionally at 17:00 from March to October) starts a 15-minute performance that includes two scenes from city life: a knight's tournament in honor of the wedding of William V in 1568 and a dance of cooperators celebrating the victory over the plague in 1517.
• Old Town Hall. Out of use since 1874 (the town council moved to the New Town Hall), most of the rooms are now occupied by a toy museum (open daily from 10:00 to 17:30, children's ticket costs €1, adult ticket €4).

• Frauenkirche Cathedral is the tallest church in Munich (100 meters), which can accommodate about 4,000 people at a time. It is associated with several legends, the most famous of which says that the architect made a deal with the devil: to prevent him from interfering with the construction, he promised to build a building without windows. Indeed, from a certain angle the window openings are hidden behind the columns. In the portico under the organ choirs, you can see the imprint of a man's boot on the slab - the so-called "devil's footprint".

• St. Peter's Church. The oldest church in Munich (construction began in the 11th century). It was badly damaged during the war and was finally restored only by 2000. On its tower is one of the most spectacular observation platforms in the city.

Beneath the square lies the hub station of the same name, where the U3 and U6 metro lines intersect with the city's central train line. Step up to the surface and you're in the tourist center.

See the city from above

Unlike Prague or Rome, where there are many hills, Munich is flat, which means the viewpoints here are mostly man-made.

The best vantage point is the tower of St. Peter's Church, from where you can see the New Town Hall in all its glory. Its height is 92 meters, at the level of 56 meters there is a circular platform, where you can get only on foot, overcoming 306 steps. Please note that the staircase is very narrow, it is difficult to separate two adults of average build. Full people, pregnant women and those who suffer from claustrophobia should refrain from climbing. Tickets cost €3. The site is open weekdays from 9:00 to 17:30 (winter) or 18:30 (summer), weekends and holidays - from 10:00 to 17:30 or 18:30 respectively.

You can book a hotel in Munich with a discount of up to -65% on the website.

Other options:

• New Town Hall Tower. It is 85 meters high and can only be climbed on weekdays from 10:00 to 17:00 (November to April) or 19:00 (May to October), ticket costs €3.
• The statue "Bavaria" on the Therese Meadow, where the famous "Oktoberfest" is held every year. The height is 18.5 meters, on the head of the statue there is a viewing platform, where you can climb up a spiral staircase. You can get here from April 1 to October 15 daily from 9:00 to 18:00, the ticket price is €3.5.
• Olympiaturm TV Tower. The height is 291 meters, at the level of 185 meters there is a closed observation deck and a small museum of rock'n'roll, at the mark of 189 meters there is an open observation deck. There is also a rotating restaurant, which makes a full revolution in 53 minutes. The tower is open daily from 9:00 to midnight and tickets cost €7.

Get in touch with beauty

Connoisseurs of paintings and sculptures will find Munich's three Pinakothek, which form the so-called Areal of Art:

• Old Pinakothek. One of the most famous galleries in the world with a collection of paintings from the Middle Ages to the middle of the 18th century. There are about 700 exhibits, including works by Dürer, Rubens (the largest collection of paintings in the world), Van Dyck, Titian, Tintoretto, Raphael, da Vinci, Velasquez and other masters. The museum is open every day except Monday from 10:00 to 18:00 (Tuesday until 20:00) and tickets cost €4 (reduced price until 2018).

• New Pinakothek. It exhibits paintings and sculptures by the masters of the 19th and early 20th centuries: Goya, Renoir, Gauguin, Monet, Cézanne, van Gogh, Rodin, Picasso and others. The museum is open every day except Tuesday from 10:00 to 18:00 (Wednesday until 20:00), ticket costs €7.
• Pinakothek of Modernity. Includes 4 independent museums: the Collection of Modern Art, the New Collection (considered the first design museum in the world), the Architecture Museum of the Technical University of Munich and the State Graphic Collection. The Modern Art Collection features works by Matisse, Picasso, Kandinsky, Warhol and other artists, while the Graphic Collection houses drawings by Dürer, Rembrandt, da Vinci and Cézanne. The museum is open every day except Monday from 10:00 to 18:00 (Thursday until 20:00) and tickets cost €10.

Visit Europe's largest zoo

The Hellabrunn Zoo covers 39 hectares and is home to 14500 animals of 650 species. Open daily from 9:00 to 16:00 (18:00), depending on the season, tickets cost €15 for an adult and €6 for a child aged 4-14.

Where else to take your child in Munich

Stroll through one of the largest parks in the world

The English Garden has an area of over 4 km². It was opened to the public in 1790 and has been popular with locals ever since as a place to relax, walk and play sports. Here you can ride bicycles, feed ducks and other wildlife, swim in the river and sunbathe (including topless), have fun in the beer garden near the Chinese Tower (it has a capacity of 7,000 people and is the second largest in Munich), admire the city from the hill where the Monoptera rotunda is located, and watch the extreme surfers who surf in the waters of the Eisbach stream - the most full-flowing in the park - at any time of the year.

Learn more about the legendary BMW brand

The BMW Museum, covering an area of about 5,000 meters, features 125 exhibits telling the story of one of the most famous automobile concerns in the world. You can sit in some of the cars, which invariably enthrall guests of all ages. It is recommended to set aside about 4 hours to visit the museum so that you don't miss anything. If the museum is not enough, you can take a tour of the BMW factory and see how cars are assembled (book in advance).

The museum is open every day except Monday from 10:00 to 18:00 and tickets cost €10.

Add to your knowledge at the German Museum

There are exhibitions devoted to chemistry, physics, aviation and space flight, transportation...Among the exhibits: Siemens' first electric dynamo (1866), Benz's first automobile engine (1886), submarines from World War I and World War II, and even a coal mine from the Ruhr Basin. Many exhibits can be touched and turned on!

The museum is open daily from 9:00 to 18:00 and tickets cost €11.

Stroll through the residence of the kings of Bavaria

The Munich Residence is the largest inner-city palace in the country and one of the most important art museums in Europe. It has 130 rooms, the most popular of which are the old palace chapel, the porcelain room with exhibits from Europe and East Asia, the collection of miniatures, the silver chamber, and Louis I's living quarters. The treasury contains the prayer book of Emperor Charles (860), the cross of Henry II the Saint, the crown of Empress Kunigunda, the crown of Henry II (1270), the service of Empress Maria-Louise of Austria, the jewelry of Queen Theresa and other interesting exhibits.

Drink and snack

Bavaria is a paradise for fans of wheat beer (Weissbier), with dozens of varieties brewed here. We recommend checking out the Weisses Bräuhaus (Tal 7), which has more than 10 Weisses on its menu.

Fans of dark beer will love Andechser Dunkel from the monastery brewery Andechs, which is served, for example, in the Andechser am Dom (Weinstraße 7A).

Those who do not like the taste of beer can appreciate radler, a mixture of beer and lemonade. It is a sweet, light drink that makes it almost impossible to get intoxicated, and is especially popular with girls.

The Biergarten is a popular format of drinking establishments in Munich and Bavaria in general. Long tables and wooden benches (in summer - in the open air, in winter - indoors), the hum of hundreds of voices, waiters with huge mugs (0.5 here is considered a "ladies'" dose, most locals take a liter at once), Germans in traditional dress - for those who want to sip Bavarian flavor along with the foam.... You can safely bring your children with you: many places of this kind have high chairs, changing tables in toilets and even gift sets for young visitors.

The most famous beer restaurant in Munich is the Hofbräuhaus (Platzl 9). Some sources say that Hitler liked to come here, others deny it, but it doesn't really matter. People come here for the atmosphere: to listen to Bavarian tunes, drink a mug or two of beer and make new acquaintances among locals or tourists.

A few other noteworthy establishments are Augustiner-Keller (Arnulfstr. 52), Löwenbräukeller (Nymphenburger Str. 2), Der Pschorr (Viktualienmarkt 15) and Ratskeller in the basement of the New Town Hall (Marienplatz 8).

Worth a try:

• Munich white sausages (Münchener Würsthen);
• meat bread (Bayerischer Leberkäse);
• liver dumplings (Leberknödel);
• cheese appetizer (Obazda), eaten with bread or pretzel Bretzel;
• pork knuckle (Schweinehaxe);
• pork roast (Schweinebraten);
• bread dumplings (Semmelknödel).

3 ways to save money in Munich

When vacationing in one of the most expensive cities in Germany (according to some reports, Munich is second to Freiburg in this ranking), it's natural to want to save money. We've found 3 ways to do it without compromising on anything.

1. Buy a Bayern ticket. This ticket allows 1-5 people at a time to make unlimited trips on Munich public transport and regional trains of certain types (including those to Salzburg). The ticket price depends on the size of the company: €25 for one person and €49 for five people. Children or grandchildren under 14 years of age can be carried free of charge with this ticket. On weekdays it is valid from 9:00 to 03:00 of the next day, on weekends and holidays - from 00:00 to 03:00 of the next day. For comparison - only a single ticket for 1 zone in Munich costs €2.8, and a trip from Munich to Salzburg by rail will cost from €20. The benefits are obvious. Riding without a ticket is a bad idea. You may get lucky, but the probability of meeting with controllers is quite high. For a "hare" this meeting is fraught with loss of €40.
2. Plan a cultural program for Sunday. On this day, admission to many museums in Munich (for example, all three Pinakothek and the Bavarian National Museum) costs only €1 instead of the standard 7-10.
3. Go on a free city tour. Tours are led by Munich enthusiasts, and you can thank the guide with any amount of money after the walk. The starting point is Marienplatz square. You can reserve a place in the group at www.neweuropetours.eu.

If your budget is limited, we do not recommend planning a trip to Munich during the Oktoberfest period. During these days the prices for accommodation increase many times over, and it is very difficult to find a free place in establishments (which means that you have to eat not where the prices suit you, but where you managed to sit down). Another obvious tip is to buy groceries or cooked food in a supermarket, this will significantly reduce the cost of food.