How to plan the perfect weekend getaway to Munich

Oktoberfest Munich

The  Oktoberfest in Munich is said to be the world’s biggest beer festival and attracts more than 6 million people from all over the world. But, Munich is also much more than that – from  history and art to culture and beyond, there are a lot of things to do in the city.If you are visiting the Oktoberfest, here are some tips that will help you plan well. But,if you are visiting the city for the first time and want to explore more, I have some tips and suggestions for making the best of your stay in Munich. All of this is based on my experience, as I have at least been thrice to Munich and attended two Oktoberfest festivals.I am glad to partner up with Expedia in order to help you plan YOUR perfect weekend getaway to Munich! So, here we go:

1.First things first -pick a well located accommodation.

Munich is a big city and is well-connected by public transport.If you are in the city only for a weekend or so, it would be better to either stay centrally or somewhere with a good metro access.There are lots of hotels and hostels right outside the Central Station too, but personally, I prefer to stay a bit further away. If you’d like to stay near many of the tourist attractions, you can look up accommodation options near Altstadt or Marienplatz. Hostel lovers can check out places like Smart Stay Hostel,Jaeger’s Munich or 4 you Hostel & Hotel for instance. If you like comfort and wellness, I’d recommend checking out the Westin Grand Munich, which I absolutely loved on my last visit.It is located in the Bogenhausen area, next to the Sheraton Hotel, and has a U4 metro access which takes 10 minutes to the Central Station and  minutes to Theresienweise, the Oktoberfest venue.

I also liked the idea of buying a 3 day transport ticket for 16 Euros, so you don’t need to keep buying tickets each time. Of course, if you are travelling with a  Deutche Bahn train, you would already have day tickets included for the days of your journey.

 

2.Get acquainted with the city by taking a walking tour.

Even though I had visited Munich earlier, I decided to take a free walking tour with Sandeman’s New Europe Tours, and got to know so many stories about Bavaria! I think walking around a city is the best way to get familiar with it and I’d recommend taking a few hours to either join a tour or walk around Marienplatz- the Frauenkirche , Rathaus and the Viktualienmarkt yourself. For seeing Munich from above, you can also go up 289 steps of the St.Peter’s Church. There is a small entrance fee for visiting the observation deck.

And if you happen to be at Marienplatz at 11 am or 5 pm, you can see the Glockenspiel, which is an overrated attraction in the city.

3.Take a stroll in the English Garden and watch the surfers in the Isar.

The English Garden is one of the biggest urban parks in Europe and is even bigger than the Central Park in New York.You can spend your evening strolling or biking around in the freshness, check out some beer gardens and also spot people surfing in the river Isar.

4.Sample Bavarian Beer or visit the Augustiner Halle for tasting beer from the oldest brewery in the city.

Bavaria and beer go way back in time, possibly back to 9500 BC, though it was first mentioned in 3000 BC by the Sumerians. Around the 11th century, Benedictine monks had all the rights to brew and sell beer and monasteries worked as breweries. The Augustiner Brau was founded in 1328 and is the oldest brewery in Munich. In 1516, the Duke of Bavaria adopted the Beer Purity Law, which meant that beer would not be adulterated and could be made only using 3 ingredients: hops, water and barley malt. The Purity Law is still in practice and Bavarians are very proud of their beer.

5. Eat to your heart’s content

There are a lot of great places to eat at, in Munich. If you are not in the mood of visiting a brewery, you can also check out some of the restaurants or roof top bars. You will find a lot of beer gardens everywhere though, including a Paulaner at the Westin Grand itself.

The Viktualien Markt that I had mentioned earlier, is an open market near Marienplatz, with lots of food options.

Some other places you can check out are:

Hungriges Herz , Eataly, Bayerisch Hof for a fancy breakfast or drinks at the roof top bar, Glockenbach , Flushing Meadows, Vinzmur(for on-the-go food). A friend had mentioned Vegelangelo,Gratitude, Dean and David to be good for vegetarian food too.Also, while staying at the Westin Grand, I had explored the area and found an Indian restaurant called ‘Namaste’ which was pretty good.

The typical Bavarian breakfast is supposed to be a pair of white sausages , beer and Pretzels. So, if you love sausages, you can try this combination out one day.

I found a post with a complete list of budget eats in Munich, in case you want to probe around more.

 

6.Visit the Deutsches Museum and get amazed.

If there’s one museum I had to pick in Munich, it would be the Deutsches Museum.I could spend hours there, tracing the history of science and technology and getting an overview of all the developments we have seen. Ships, airplanes, trains,astronomy, chemistry,DNA,computers, environment- whatever you might be interested in, Deutsches Museum has it all, including several interactive activities.

If you are interested in art, you can consider visiting one of the Pinakothek Museums, depending on whether you’d like to see modern art, medieval art or art from the 18th to 20th centuries.

You can begin your day with one or more of these museums, stop for lunch and then continue sightseeing.

7.Visit the Nymphenburg Castle and take your time to stroll in the gardens as well as admire the castle from the inside.

The Nymphenburg Castle is a Baroque palace made in the 1600’s and was intended to be the summer residence of Maximilian II Emanuel. The huge complex and the gardens behind the castle are great to stroll around, admire the scenic beauty and spend time with your travel buddies(or just yourself). You can also pay an entrance fee to go inside the castle and get a sneak peak into how the royals lived. I would certainly recommend doing this, especially if the weather is good.

 

8.If you love cars, visit the BMW Museum/Welt or visit the Olympic Park and Tower.

Automobile enthusiasts, you will love visiting the BMW Welt and Museum and getting the feel of the cars and bikes too! This is located in the Olympic Park area, close to the Olympic Tower, where you can go up to get a view of the city and also indulge in some adventure sports like ziplining. The BMW Museum is closed on Mondays, and is open till 6 pm all other days. However, the BMW Welt is free to enter and is open till midnight everyday. You can see the car exhibitions there, including Rolls Royce and Mini.

You can also visit the Olympia Park Hill, see the Munich Olympic Walk of Stars ,  the Rock Museum, the Olympic Stadium and the SEA Life Munich, as per your interests.

9.Football fans, visit the Allianz Arena and see the stadium light up in different colours.

Munich is the home ground of FC Bayern and if you are a football fan, you might be interested in watching a match there or seeing the stadium change colours. They also have daily guided tours and the Arena is open from 10 am to 6 pm.

10.Take some day trips if you have time.

If you have time, you can choose to go for one or more day trips. One option is visiting the Dachau Concentration Camp. The other thing you can do , is visiting the famous Neuschwanstein Castle or one of the other two castles outside Munich like Linderhof and Hohenschwangau. This can really take the whole day, as you might take around 2 hours to reach the castles from Munich by regional trains and buses.If you want to enter the castles, it is only possible via guided tours which need to be booked well in advance.

The Chiemsee is yet another option- a beautiful lake that is about 1.5 hours away by regional trains. Here is a post by Wyldfamilytravels that details all the castle day trips from Munich.

One of my favourite day trips was visiting Salzburg in Austria. What a beautiful city it is!You can just take a regional train from Munich, buying a Bayern Ticket and keep to the budget very well.

Germany’s highest peak, Zugspitze can also be visited as a day trip or a 2 day trip. Here’s a guide to Zugspitze. 

If you don’t have enough time or your plans get cancelled because of bad weather, etc, you can also visit the Oberschleisheim Castle which is in Munich itself.

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A post shared by Menorca@EuropeDiaries (@europediariesblog)

 

11.Extend your travels and explore more places

If you happen to have more holidays, then you can make use of your location and visit some other places easily. For instance, you can catch a train to Innsbruck or even to Vienna easily and get there in about 4 hours. In Germany, Ulm and Nuremberg are cities nearby that you might like. It is also possible to reach Prague in about four to five hours, and there are several buses, trains that you can take.

Here are some more ideas for Germany:

Heidelberg – My favourite city, located in Baden-Württemberg -South Germany.

Stuttgart – An industrial hub in Baden-Württemberg. Houses the Mercedes and Porsche Museums.

Tuebingen : A small , historical town in Baden-Württemberg (with the best dumplings and mushroom sauce ever).

In case you decide to go to Frankfurt or Berlin, I have some tips and suggestions too!

 

 

 

More resources:

99 things to do in Munich

What to pack for Munich- for every season of the year.

The best and worst Munich restaurants

 Munich Christmas Markets

 

Hope you have a great time in Munich. Let me know when you visit the city, or what you liked doing there if you have already visited. I am always looking for vegetarian food suggestions and other cool things to see and do! If you like this post, please pin it and share it with your friends.

 

 

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This post is linked to Monday Escapes and City Tripping.

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