Munich, the capital of Bavaria and the 1/3 biggest town in Germany, lies on the River Isar on the fringes of the Bavarian Alps. It started out as a monastery, developing into a agreement when the Duke of Bavaria allowed the monks to set up a market at the crossing of the route from Salzburg and the river.
You can nonetheless observe the traces of Munich’s medieval partitions in a ring of curving streets and see three of its marvelous historical town gates. The focal factor of Munich’s ancient internal town is the large, open square, the Marienplatz, the place site visitors and locals pause to watch the animated clock play out its legend two or three instances daily.
Munich is a fun-loving city, recognized for its seasonal gala’s and prosperous cultural calendar, so alongside with traveling the lovely church buildings and high-quality museums and palaces, you have to spend some time taking part in existence with the locals at a festival, a colourful market, or over a slice of one of Munich’s well-known desserts in a konditorei.
Munich residents additionally revel in their many public parks and gardens, in particular, the stunning 900-acre English Garden (Englischer Garten). Spend at least a few days exploring the city, planning your time with the assist of this reachable listing of the pinnacle vacationer sights and matters to do in Munich
- Marienplatz and the Neues Rathaus
Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) in the Marienplatz
Marienplatz has been Munich’s central rectangular considering the fact that the city’s foundation; the web site of medieval jousting tournaments; and till 1807, the place markets had been held. In addition to the large Neues Rathaus (New City Hall) that fills one complete facet of the square, you will discover the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) forming a gate at the a ways end.
In the giant open rectangular are the Mariensäule, a tall column to the Virgin Mary erected in 1638, and the Fischbrunnen, a more recent fountain that consists of bronze figures rescued from an formerly 19th-century fountain. Popular with buyers for its stores, boutiques, and restaurants, Marienplatz is the center of attention of fairs and scene of a giant Christmas Market, one of a number of in the city. During the Fasching carnival, the Narren-Lindwurm (dragon) dances over the square.
Daily at 11am and noon, and at 5pm from March via October, anybody stops to watch the well-known Glockenspiel on the the front of the Neues Rathaus, as its mechanical figures dine, joust, and dance. It’s one of the city’s best-loved traditions, and some thing you should not miss. Take some time to admire the problematic stonework on the Neo-Gothic façade.
It’s tough to understand that this constructing dates solely from the late nineteenth century, done in 1892. You can journey the elevator to the center gallery of the building’s 85-meter tower for views over the city. The Tourist Information Center is in the Rathaus, and in the again of the constructing is a restaurant serving common Bavarian dishes.
Address: Marienplatz, 80331 München
- Walk or Bike in the Englischer Garten (English Garden)
Monopteros temple in the Englischer Garten (English Garden)
Munich’s English Garden is now not solely the greatest metropolis park in Germany – it covers an place of 910 acres – it is additionally one of the most beautiful. Naturally organized companies of bushes and flora provide ever-changing vistas, and 9 kilometers of winding streams and an synthetic lake whole the influence of a herbal landscape.
Designed in 1785 as a army garden, the English Garden attracts walkers, joggers, and cyclists to its seventy eight kilometers of pathways and bridle paths. It’s additionally a first-class area to sunbathe and picnic, and you can quit for a snack or drink at the Chinesischen Turm (Chinese Tower), a 25-meter-tall pagoda.
In 1972, a Japanese backyard was once created on an island at the southern give up of the backyard to residence an actual teahouse, a present in honor of the 1772 Olympics. The park additionally incorporates the Bavarian National Museum, with its high-quality series of medieval German sculptures and tapestries, and the Bavarian State Archaeological Collection, which shows nearby prehistoric artifacts.
A curiosity in the park is the Eisbachwelle, a wave created by way of the emergence of the Eisbach river from its underground course. Crowds acquire to watch surfers’ stunts; besides for skilled surfers, it is a spectator activity and no longer for beginners.
- Nymphenburg Palace and Gardens
Nymphenburg Palace
The giant Baroque palace of Nymphenburg, in the northwest outskirts of the city, used to be in the beginning the summer time house of the Wittelsbach Electors in the seventeenth century. Extending extra than 600 meters from wing to wing, this giant palace is surrounded on every facet through the Nymphenburg Canal, which splits as it passes round the principal constructions earlier than reuniting once more in a fountain-adorned pool in the front of the most important façade.
Your first end ought to be the Central Pavilion, a cube-shaped palace in the fashion of an Italian villa, executed in 1674 and domestic to the lavishly adorned three-story Stone Hall (Steinerner Saal) and a wide variety of personal chambers with pleasant furniture and artwork. In the Palace Chapel, be aware the expressive ceiling portray illustrating the existence of Mary Magdalene. Beside the palace in the former Court Stables, the Marstallmuseum shows a series of lovely kingdom coaches.
In the stunning 17th-century gardens of Nymphenburg Park stands the Amalienburg, a palatial looking motel acknowledged for its well-known Hall of Mirrors. Elsewhere in the gardens are a maze with the Heckentheater (Hedge Theater); marble statues of Greek gods; a massive fountain; and a variety of hothouses, inclusive of the Palm House, which has Germany’s first hot-water heating system.
Address: Schloss Nymphenburg 1, 80638 München
- Munich Residenz
Munich Residenz
For centuries the seat of the dukes, electors, and kings of Bavaria, the Munich Residenz is one of Europe’s most dazzling palaces. Laid out round seven giant courts, the sizeable Residenz complicated includes three important sections: the Königsbau, fronting onto Max-Joseph-Platz; the Alte Residenz, dealing with Residenzstrasse; and the Festsaalbau (Banqueting Hall), overlooking the Hofgarten.
The earliest area of this massive complicated used to be the marvelous Antiquarium, constructed in 1579 and now phase of the brilliant Residenz Museum. The Alte Residenz, a masterpiece of the late Renaissance and testimony to the developing strength of Bavaria, accompanied quickly after, and the closing elements – the Neoclassical Königsbau, the Festsaalbau, and the Court Church – have been done in 1848.
Today, the Residenz homes a variety of monuments and museums, such as the Residenz Museum, the Treasury, the Court Church of All Saints (Allerheiligen-Hofkirche), and Cuvilliés-Theater. Be positive to discover the palace grounds, too, with its many remarkable historic courtyards and arcades.
Address: Residenzstrasse 1, 80333 München
- The Olympic Park
The Olympic Park
Home to the 1972 Summer Olympics, Munich’s amazing Olympic Park covers an vicinity of some 2.7 million rectangular meters on the Oberwiesenfeld, a former education floor for the Royal Bavarian army. Now a main leisure center, this massive facility hosts a range of important live shows and events, such as the summer season Tollwood Festival (the wintry weather Tollwood is held at Theresienhöhe, domestic of the Oktoberfest).
A variety of household things to do have been brought because the Olympics, so you will discover lots of matters to do here. These consist of a stadium roof climb, ziplining, and behind-the-scenes excursions showcasing the facility’s exquisite structure and design. The Olympic Tower, a 290-meter-high tv tower constructed in 1968 that used to be renamed in honor of the games, has viewing structures in the Aussichtskorb providing breathtaking views over the city.
Address: Spiridon-Louis-Ring 21, 80809 Munich
- BMW Museum
BMW Museum in Munich
Next to BMW’s hovering headquarters and factories at the Olympic Park is a spherical modern constructing with a metallic shell, housing BMW’s museum. Here, automobile followers will locate examples of almost all the fashions the organization has made, along with sports activities cars, racing models, and motorcycles.
You can see cutting-edge fashions and research about the technological know-how of current vehicle construction, as properly as get glimpses of future propulsion applied sciences and designs the corporation is exploring. Those who assume vehicles are simply for getting from factor A to factor B would possibly desire to bypass this one, however for followers of matters automotive, it is a must.
Address: Am Olympiapark 2, 80809 München
- BMW Welt
Architectural element of the BMW Welt
Not to be stressed with the BMW Museum (above), even though it is on the identical massive manufacturing complicated close to the Olympic Park, BMW Welt is a giant showroom. Here, you can see each automobile the business enterprise makes, sit down internal them, and analyze what the future motors and bikes may additionally seem like.
Whereas the BMW Museum is extra about previous fashions and history, the Welt is all about now, with an exhibition location and a third-dimensional media façade with immersive visions of the future of mobility. Interactive reveals think about sustainability and provide insights into the plan process. You can take excursions of the BMW Group Plant to see the manufacturing process.
Opened in 2007, the BMW Welt is the most visited visitor enchantment in Bavaria. The building’s futuristic steel-and-glass structure is section of the allure, plus the truth that admission is free.
Address: Am Olympiapark, München
- Viktualienmarkt
Viktualienmarkt
In 1807, when the farmers market outgrew Marienplatz, it used to be moved to the close by square, the place it thrived and expanded, till these days it covers 22,000 rectangular meters and consists of a butchers’ hall, bakery, fish hall, and flower market in addition to its fruit and vegetable vendors.
It’s no longer simply a vicinity for locals to purchase gadgets for the night’s dinner. Fresh breads and pastries, wheels of cheese, and cured meats are precise picnic makings, and tables and benches grant a area for consumers and site visitors to sit down whilst they devour scorching sausages, warm pretzels, and different meals organized in cellular kitchens.
Above the market stands a colourful maypole, with historically dressed figures representing the a number crafts and trades that had been practiced in this phase of town.
- Tierpark Hellabrunn (Hellabrunn Zoo)
Lion at the Tierpark Hellabrunn (Hellabrunn Zoo)
Spread throughout 89 acres, Hellabrunn Zoo is constantly ranked amongst the excellent zoos in Europe. Laid out in 1911, it used to be the first zoo in the world to have animals grouped in accordance to the place they got here from.
Today, extra than 19,000 animals from 757 species are held in open enclosures supposed to replicate the prerequisites of the wild, with animals that typically share habitats saved collectively anyplace possible.
Popular aspects encompass the Elephant House (now a listed building), the vast 5,000-square-meter free-flight aviary, the Polarium, and ape houses. Located adjoining to the Isar River in a unique conservation area, the zoo has many pleasant footpaths, playgrounds, and picnic spots.
Address: Tierparkstrasse 30, 81543 München
- Shop at Christmas Markets (Christkindlmarkts)
Christmas market in Marienplatz
From the final week in November till December 24, the parks and squares of Munich flip into a colorful, glowing Christmas extravaganza of coloured lights, evergreen boughs, and vacation music. Colorful frosted gingerbread hearts beautify little cabins stuffed with candies, cookies, timber toys, Christmas tree ornaments, and excursion baubles, as properly as nearby handcrafts in all mediums.
The greatest market is in Marienplatz, the place neighborhood chorales serenade customers with Christmas music. Two blocks away, at the Rindermarkt, the market is stuffed with figures and add-ons for crèche scenes. Miniature shepherds, wisemen, angels, animals, and the holy household are in each and every conceivable media: subtle Alpine woodcarvings from close by Oberammergau, ceramic, terra-cotta pottery, wax, and plastic.
One of the most charming is the Christmas village inner the courtyard of the Residenz, the place a kid’s theater and bakers turning out warm treats add to the appeal. Not a ways away, an whole rectangular turns into a Medieval Marketplace, the place artisans and craftspeople dressed in costumes of the Middle Ages reveal and promote proper length goods.
Wherever you go, you will discover regular lebkuchen (gingerbread) from Nuremberg – bought at Munich’s first Christmas markets in the 1600s and nevertheless favorites today.
Read More: Top-Rated Christmas Markets in Germany
- Art Museums in the Kunstareal District
The Glyptothek
Königsplatz used to be laid out in Neoclassical fashion in 1862, and in the artwork district round it, you may locate one of the best companies of artwork museums somewhere in Europe. First are the three Pinakothek artwork galleries: the Old Picture Gallery (Alte Pinakothek), with its first-rate collections of Dutch, Flemish, Italian, French, German, Spanish, and medieval paintings; the New Picture Gallery (Neue Pinakothek), with its shows of artwork ranging from Rococo to Art Nouveau; and the State Gallery of Modern Art (Pinakothek der Moderne), which consists of works by way of Picasso and Warhol.
Other museums of observe are the Glyptothek and the State Antiquities Collection (Staatliche Antikensammlung), with their massive compilations of historical sculptures and antiquities.
The today’s addition to this treasury of artwork is Lenbachhaus, an Italianate villa that used to be the domestic and studio of artist Franz von Lenbach. The villa and its new extension residence the world’s most important series of works with the aid of the Blue Rider movement, a team of Expressionist painters led by means of Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc.
Address: Königsplatz 1, 80333 München
- Peterskirche (St. Peter’s Church)
Peterskirche (St. Peter’s Church)
Known affectionately as Old Peter, St. Peter’s Church (Peterskirche) is Munich’s oldest parish church and stands on Petersberg, a small hill firstly settled by using monks. Built in Gothic fashion in 1386, the church was once altered with the addition of a Baroque choir with three apses in 1636, whilst the tower used to be given a lantern dome in location of its until now Gothic spires.
Interior highlights consist of the font through Hans Krumper, the crimson marble monuments through Erasmus Grasser, and the 15th-century Schrenk Altar with its sculptures of the Crucifixion and the Last Judgment. Also of be aware is the 20-meter-tall 18th-century excessive altar with its figures of the Four Fathers of the Church and St. Peter.
The panel-paintings on the choir partitions through Jan Polack are additionally well worth seeing, as is the quite viewed Altar of the Virgin of Mercy (Mariahilf-Altar) from 1756. Finally, the 299-step tower – well-known for its eight clock faces matched by using eight bells – reaches a top of ninety one meters and gives panoramic views as a ways as the Alps for these with the stamina to climb the 306 steps.
Address: Rindermarkt 1, 80331 München
- Hofgarten
Colorful plant life blooming at the Hofgarten (Court Garden)
In the middle of Munich, simply off Odeonsplatz, the Hofgarten (Court Garden) used to be constructed between 1613 and 1617, adjoining the Residenz and for the sole use of the court. It remained a personal retain for greater than one hundred sixty years, opening to the public in 1780.
Since then this peaceable sanctuary with its intersecting paths, fountains, beds of brilliant flowers, and shaded arcades have been a preferred area for locals and site visitors to stroll and relax. The focal factor is the central pavilion, proposing eight arches, with paths radiating from every one to structure beds for lawns and flowers. Fountains mark the factors the place the paths intersect.
Modeled on Italian Renaissance gardens when it was once designed, the Hofgarten grew to be extra like the then-popular panorama gardens for the duration of the nineteenth century. After its destruction in World War II, it used to be rebuilt to extra resemble the original.
- Deutsches Museum
Deutsches Museum
The Deutsches Museum is the world’s greatest museum of technology, and its 17,000 artifacts illustrate well-knownshows that range from the polished timber and brass of early astronomical gadgets to the modern-day science on international warming. The museum is a consistent time journey between early tech and excessive tech, as you observe the improvement of every scientific and technical self-discipline from its beginnings to the present.
The sizable collections touching on to transport are astonishing, protecting trains, aircraft, shipping, cars, even bicycles. You can see a reproduction of the Red Baron’s biplane from the First World War, study a Venetian gondola up close, and seem interior a 19th-century timber fishing boat. There’s continually some thing happening, from dramatic demonstrations of electrical energy to live shows displaying how musical gadgets work.
Kids’ Kingdom is stuffed with wise hands-on things to do designed for kids a long time three thru eight, exploring light, music, ships, computers, water, sound, astronomy, and more. It is Germany’s most famous museum and a favourite location to go to for families.
Address: Museumsinsel 1, 80538 München
- Asamkirche (Asam Church)
Asamkirche (Asam Church)
The stunning Rococo Asam Church, devoted to St. John of Nepomuk, was once achieved in 1746 by means of brothers Cosmas and Egid Asam and is richly embellished with stucco figures, frescoes, and oil paintings. While its exterior is stunning enough, mainly the giant doorway flanked via huge columns and topped by way of a discern of St. John kneeling in prayer, it is the indoors it really is most memorable.
Highlights encompass a wrought-iron grille from 1776 that separates the stucco figures of the saints from the lengthy nave with its galleries. On the projecting cornice underneath the ceiling is a fantastic fresco depicting the existence of St. John. The most awesome function of the interior, though, is the excessive altar, enclosed by way of 4 twisted columns and on which sits a glass shrine containing a wax parent of the church’s consumer saint.
Address: Sendlinger Straße 32, 80331 München
- Frauenkirche
Frauenkirche
Munich’s big brick Frauenkirche – the Cathedral Church of Our Lady – used to be finished in 1488, a Late Gothic church that owes its affect to its first-rate size. Massive twin 100-meter-tall towers, with their attribute Renaissance domes, tower over a excessive constructing 109 meters lengthy by using forty meters wide.
Highlights internal the cathedral consist of the 1622 Tomb of the Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian in black marble with bronze figures, a 1620 altarpiece of the Assumption by way of Peter Candid, and the Baroque crimson marble font in the Baptistery with its early 14th-century Sorrowing Christ.
A famous curiosity is the atypical footprint in the flooring of the porch, stated to have been left by using the satan after he got here to check out the church. So delighted was once he that the home windows regarded to have been forgotten (the row of columns hides them when the church is considered from the entrance), he stamped his foot, leaving the footprint that can nonetheless be considered today.
The twin towers of Frauenkirche are a desirable landmark for orientation, seen from all over the city. You can climb to the pinnacle for views throughout the metropolis to the Bavarian Alps.
Address: Frauenplatz 12, 80331 München
Read More: Exploring Munich’s Frauenkirche (The Cathedral of Our Lady)
- Michaelskirche (St. Michael’s Church)
Michaelskirche (St. Michael’s Church)
The greatest Renaissance church north of the Alps, St. Michael’s used to be performed in 1597, with a excessive barrel-vaulted roof in the nave. The sample of the triumphal arch at the entrance to the choir is endured in the arches of the transepts, facet chapels, and galleries. The three-story-high altar has an altarpiece, St. Michael Fighting the Devil, from 1587.
The 4 bronze reliefs courting from 1595 have been supposed for the tomb of Duke William V, whilst in the facet chapels are some first-rate artwork and a treasured reliquary of Saints Cosmas and Damian from round 1400.
The church’s historic significance is in the Royal Crypt (Fürstengruft) beneath the choir, the place forty one individuals of the House of Wittelsbach – amongst them Duke Wilhelm V, the church’s patron; Elector Maximilian I; and King Ludwig II – are buried.
Address: Neuhauser Straße 6, 80333 München
- Cuvilliés Theater
Cuvillies Theater
On the east aspect of the Residenz in Munich, the Cuvilliés Theater used to be constructed in 1755 and is the greatest instance of a Rococo theater with tiered containers in Germany. The astounding carved woodwork of the auditorium, with its 4 tiers of boxes, such as one constructed particularly for the electors, was once safely saved away throughout WWII, therefore permitting its reconstruction in 1958.
Architecturally stunning, the uncommon magnificence and prosperous colours of its intimate Rococo indoors makes it a actually special putting for operas such as Mozart’s Idomeneo, which premiered right here in 1781, and which, alongside with many different Late Baroque length operas, is nevertheless carried out on occasion. You can go to the theater one at a time or on a mixed ticket with the Residenz and its museums.
Address: Residenzstraße 1, 80539 München
- The Theatine Church of St. Cajetan
The Theatine Church of St. Cajetan
The Theatine Church of St. Cajetan (Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan), a basilica constructed in the fashion of the Italian High Baroque, used to be finished in 1690, with a attractive façade, twin towers, a large 71-meter-high dome, and richly adorned interior. Exterior highlights consist of severa marble statues of saints and the lantern with a lion weathervane atop the dome.
The interior, dominated via the tall round-headed arches of the barrel vaulting and the dome over the crossing, is washed in white, with wealthy stucco ornamentation. Other indoors highlights consist of the excessive altar, with its photograph of The Virgin Enthroned with Angels from 1646 by means of Caspar de Crayer (a scholar of Rubens), and the Altar of the Virgin, with a portray of the Holy Kinship from 1676. In the Ducal Burial Vault, you may see the tombs of contributors of the House of Wittelsbach, long-time rulers of Bavaria.
Address: Salvatorplatz 2a, 80333 München