Work and Play

Our Local Expert Says:

This is something you wouldn't expect to see in a city! One warm days make your way to the Southern tip of the park to watch surfers manage the river Isar.

Description:

One of the oldest English-style landscape gardens and one of the largest municipal parks in Europe, the Englischer Garten (English Garden) is Munich's crowning glory. Although perhaps best known for its nudists, the park is popular with all types of people all year round. Other features include a Chinese pagoda with adjoining beer garden, the Monopteros Greek temple, a river and a boating lake. Visitors can also attend a traditional tea ceremony in the Japanese tea house.

Description:

• Modern hotel located in the fashionable Bogenhausen district, one kilometre from the English Garden and five from the city centre.
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• Air-conditioned guestrooms have modern decor and include satellite TV, Internet connections, and minibars.
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• The hotel offers guests use of a range of amenities including swimming pool with poolside bar and specialist spa treatments.
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Description:

Marienplatz has been the central sqaure of Munich since its founding by Henry the Lion in 1158. It was originally named Schrannenplatz and once held the salt and grain market, but it is now used by the city for various concerts and events, but mainly by tourists trying to get photos of the old and new town halls. After the market was moved around the corner starting in 1807, the square was renamed Marienplatz. The statue of Mary has stood in the center of Marienplatz since 1638 and is the reason of the new name of the square.

Description:

Another of the numerous cafés in Munich's university district, News Bar is bright and comfortable, and offers the usual choice of meals, coffee and cakes. One slightly unusual feature is the enormous selection of newspapers and magazines. It's a pity that you have to buy them, but at least this place is quiet enough to read in peace. The staff are very new-Munich and slightly arrogant, just right for the high-powered student clientele who can take the opportunity to practice the assertiveness they will need later in life.

Description:

Augustiner, Munich's best selling beer, has its main beer hall right on the main pedestrian street between the train station and Marienplatz. The restaurant is located where the brewery used to be from 1817 until 1885, when it again moved further from the center of town to where it is now, just north of the Oktoberfest grounds. After 1885 it was completely renovated and turned into a beer hall, designed by Emanuel von Seidl, and has remained as such to the present day. Today, the prices are reasonable, portions are large, and the location couldn't be better for tourists. This is one of Munich's greatest and most historic beer halls with its main competition being the Hofbräuhaus, the Löwenbräu Keller, and Paulaner am Nockherberg.

Description:

Radius Tours & Bikes and its subsiduary "The Original Munich Walks" specialises in providing high quality sightseeing services for the English speaking visitor. Established in 1988 by the Brit Patrick Holder and his German wife, Gaby, Radius was the first company in Munich to specialise in providing sightseeing tours only for the English-speaking market and it is still the market leader. With offices directly inside Munichs main train station (Hauptbahnhof) Radius is ideally located to provide the visitor the best service for sightseeing.

Our Local Expert Says:

Make sure to have your picture with the two cars that were in James Bond movies! Also, make sure to have a look at BMW's hydrogen car.

Description:

The new and modern BMW museum is just across the street from the Olympic park and if you are at all interested in BMW or cars, then this is a must visit while in Munich. This multilevel museum shows you the history of BMW from its airplane engines to its motorcycles to its race cars. This is all done with amazingly well done multimedia and hands on techniques which make this museum fun for all ages and keeps the interest of even the not so museum loving crowd. All staff at the BMW museum speak English and are literally all over the museum to help you with any questions you have ever wanted to ask about BMW.

The museum has examples of nearly everything they have ever produced including prototypes.

Our Local Expert Says:

Here you can by the freshest fruit and vegetables in the whole city. The market has a reputation of having higher prices than your average supermarket but in actual fact many goods here are cheaper than elsewhere. Vikualienmarkt also has a beer garden that is more calm than those at Marienplatz.

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.

Our Local Expert Says:

If Christmas cribs isn't your thing, skip through that section quickly, there are over 180,000 things to see so there is no use in wasting your time!

Description:

The Bavarian National Museum is for those that think they have seen everything that is Bavarian, but want to see and experience more. It is more for the experienced Münchner than for the average tourist, although can be enjoyed by all. Its collection is includes everything from sculptures from the middle ages to religious objects to armor. This massive museum has something from every period in Bavaria's history, yet what most people remember is its absolutely impressive collection of Christmas cribs, the largest of its kind in Germany, if not anywhere.

Located just north of the Residenz, the closest U-bahn is Odeonsplatz.

Description:

The first and last of Munich's city gates for Munich's second set of city walls, the Isartor, was built in 1337. Kaiser Ludwig IV the Bavarian had second city wall built to protect the expanding city and the wall remained until the late 1700's. All of the other city gates were eventually torn down or dramatically modified, but the Isartor remains quite close to its original look. It was restored between 1833 and 1835 by Friedrich von Gärtner. The murals were painted in 1835 and depict the victorious return of Ludwig IV the Bavarian to Munich after the battle of Ampfing in 1322. The Isartor is today used as part of the Valentin Museum as well as a cafe.

Description:

Alter Peter (Old Peter) is the tower of the oldest parish church in Munich, St Peter's Church. The valiant visitor who manages to climb the 302 steps to the top will have an incomparable view of Munich and, on a clear day, the Alps look close enough to touch. St. Peter's was named after the old hill on which it stands, the Petersbergl. There was apparently a chapel on the site before Munich was founded, which was then replaced with a Romanesque structure in the 11th century and later a Gothic building. In the 14th century, the double-tower was redeveloped to form the single tower facade of the church which remains today. Over the centuries, St. Peter's underwent even more changes, mainly in the Baroque and Rococo periods.

Description:

This collection began as the royal herb garden in 1813, and was added to over the decades, with the legacies of several famous botanists and a collection of plants from Munich University. Today there are over 2.5 million dried plants and mushrooms, as well as numerous preserved specimens and illustrations. The collection contains almost 50% of all currently known species; most of the collection stems from Bavaria, the Alps and Chile. The research institute can also be used by private individuals who can have their plants identified here. Admission: free.

Description:

The restaurant looks like an Art Nouveau French bistro, and its nouvelle cuisine is based on traditional recipes as authentic and savory as anything you'd find in Lyon or Paris. The dining room is arranged, with banquettes and wood and glass dividers, in a way that makes it seem bigger than it is. During clement weather, there's additional seating on an outdoor terrace. Menu items are innovative, and may include tartar of herring with freshly made potato chips and salad, watercress salad with sweetbreads, cream of paprika soup, an autumn fantasy of nuggets of venison served with hazelnut-flavored gnocchi in port wine sauce, zander baked in an herb-and-potato crust, or an alluring specialty salmon with a chanterelle-studded risotto. The most satisfying desserts may include a traditional tarte tatin (a tart filled with, usually, apples) or even an old-fashioned crème brûlée.

Description:

At 287m the Olympic tower is the tallest building in Munich, just 10m shorter than the Eiffel tower. Built by the civic council in 1965-68 for the 1972 Olympics, it provides the best view of the city and surrounding area and in good weather it is possible to see as far as the Alps. It costs (EUR2) to go to the top, though it's just (EUR 1.25) for under-15s and free for kids under six. The Olympiaturm restaurant beneath the viewing platform is open from 11a-5p and 6:30p-midnight. As well as providing a stunning view, this rotating restaurant also serves very good dishes from around the world at reasonable prices.

Description:

The Munich city museum is a massive museum that attempts (quite well) at explaining to tourists not only the city's history, but where Munich fits into regional history, and what it means to be the capital of Bavaria. Everything from ancient musical instruments to puppetry, furniture, and pop culture are included within the museum's scope. Recent additions and renovations make this one of the best museums in the city if not the country. Modern representation makes the museum feel more lively and less boring than the usual with a thorough understanding of where Munich came from and what it is today.

Description:

Swim through grottoes, take part in various wellness programs and give your soul a break in the South Seas ambience. Relaxing in the sulphur spring, where natural, unprocessed water, originating from a depth of 2,350 m, will ease rheumatic and arthritic pain. Power up with pure oxygen in the unique oxygen garden. The brine grotto offers a gentle but effective cure for coughs and sneezes, respiratory and skin disorders. Fountain of youth, bubble bath, steam and warm air chambers, as well as state-of-the-art tanning areas and the opportunity to play "floor" games add flair to this thermal paradise. On a warm summer day, when Europe's largest movable glass dome slides open, you can enjoy South Seas atmosphere under blue Bavarian skies.

Description:

The history of technology: a huge subject presented in a huge museum. Since its foundation in 1906, the exhibition area has expanded to 55,000 square metres. This museum is unique in its concentration on the history and development of technology and natural science. Numerous objects and interactive models (eg. a planetarium and coal mine) are used to demonstrate mankind's progress over the centuries. Extensive library.

Description:

When one of the Bavarian royals said that he was going to the castle, he could have meant any number of places, especially if he was Ludwig II. But if he said that he was going home, he could only be referring to the Residenz. This enormous palace, with a history almost as long as that of the Wittelsbach family, was the official residence of the rulers of Bavaria from 1385 to 1918. Added to and rebuilt over the centuries, the complex is a conglomerate of various styles. Depending on how you approach the Residenz, you might first see a German Renaissance hall (the western facade), a Palladian palace (on the north), or a Florentine Renaissance palace (on the south facing Max-Joseph-Platz).

The Residenz was restored after its almost total destruction in World War II and now houses the Residenz Museum, a concert hall, the Cuvilliés Theater, and the Residenz Treasury. The Residenz Museum (tel. 089/29-06-71), the southwestern section of the palace, has some 120 rooms of art and furnishings collected by centuries of Wittelsbachs. To see the entire collection, you'll have to take two tours, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. You may also visit the rooms on your own.

The Ancestral...

Description:

• Modern hotel located in the fashionable Bogenhausen district, one kilometre from the English Garden and five from the city centre.
• 
  
  
• Air-conditioned guestrooms have modern decor and include satellite TV, Internet connections, and minibars.
• 
  
  
• The hotel offers guests use of a range of amenities including swimming pool with poolside bar and specialist spa treatments.
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Description:

The location alone is overwhelming, attached to Hotel Königshof, the restaurant overlooks lively Karlsplatz (Stachus) and the city centre. The decor is elegant and refined, and the first-rate international cuisine well and truly lives up to expectations. As you would expect from a top class restaurant, the wine list is comprehensive and guests make their selection from an impressively stocked wine cellar. The service is impeccable, both attentive and discreet.