Viktualienmarkt

Description:

• Unless you happen to be staying in a place where you have access to a kitchen, it's doubtful that you'll want to be hauling groceries back to your hotel room during your stay in Munich. That doesn't detract, however, from the allure of wandering through the open-air stalls of the city's most prominent food market, a few minutes' walk south of the Marienplatz (there is no specific address, but the market sprawls over a wide area and can't be missed). It's composed of hundreds of independently operated merchants who maintain whatever hours they want, often closing up their cramped premises whenever the day's inventory is sold out. Most economy-minded shoppers, however, show up, shopping basket in hand, around 8am, to stock their larders before noon. By 5pm, only the hardiest of merchants remain in place, and by early evening, the kiosks are locked up tight. On the premises is a worthy collection of wine, meats, cheeses, and all the other bounty of the Bavarian agrarian world.

• © Frommer's 2013