City of Munich

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Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria. Located at the river Isar in Southern Bavaria, it is famous for its beautiful architecture, fine culture, history and the annual Oktoberfest beer festival.

*Altstadt (Old City, map). The city centre with a pedestrian zone that is one big shopping street, and the majority of Munich’s most famous travel sights around Marienplatz (map).

*Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt (map). Night-life area immediately south of the centre, home to many cafés, restaurants, bars, clubs and theatres, hotels and hostels, and the focal point of Munich’s gay scene. Here find Munich Central Station, the Oktoberfest grounds and, last but not least, the Deutsches Museum, the world’s biggest museum of science and engineering.

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At the centre of the city is the Marienplatz (map), a Marian column in its centre – with the *Old Town Hall (map) and the New Town Hall (map). Its tower contains the *Rathaus-Glockenspiel.

The Peterskirche (map) close to Marienplatz is the oldest church of the inner city. It was first built during the Romanesque period, and was the focus of the early monastic settlement in Munich before the city’s official foundation in 1158.

The Frauenkirche (map) serves as the cathedral for the Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. The nearby Michaelskirche (map) is the largest renaissance church north of the Alps, while the Theatinerkirche (map) is a basilica in Italianate high baroque, which had a major influence on Southern German baroque architecture.

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The large Munich Residenz complex (begun in 1385, map) on the edge of Munich’s Old Town, Germany’s largest urban palace, ranks among Europe’s most significant museums of interior decoration.

Two large baroque palaces in Nymphenburg Palace (map), some 6 km (4 mi) north west of the city centre, is surrounded by an park and is considered to be one of Europe’s most beautiful royal residences. Schloss Fürstenried (Fürstenried Palace, map), a baroque palace of similar structure to Nymphenburg but of much smaller size, was erected around the same time in the south west of Munich.

The second large baroque residence is Schloss Schleissheim (Schleissheim Palace, map), a palace complex encompassing three separate residences: Altes Schloss Schleissheim (the old palace), Neues Schloss Schleissheim (the new palace) and Schloss Lustheim (Lustheim Palace). Most parts of the palace complex serve as museums and art galleries.

MUSEUMS

The Deutsches Museum (map) or German Museum, located on an island in the River Isar, is the largest and one of the oldest science museums in the world.

The city has several important art galleries, most of which can be found in the Kunstareal (map), including the Alte Pinakothek (map), the Neue Pinakothek (map), the Pinakothek der Moderne (map) and the Museum Brandhorst (map). The Alte Pinakothek contains a treasure trove of the works of European masters between the 14th and 18th centuries.

An important collection of Greek and Roman art is held in the Glyptothek (map) and the Staatliche Antikensammlung (State Antiquities Collection, map). Another important museum in the Kunstareal is the Egyptian Museum (map).

Another area for the arts next to the Kunstareal is the Lehel quarter (map): the Museum Five Continents (map) is the second largest collection in Germany of artefacts and objects from outside Europe, while the Bavarian National Museum (map). Bavarian State Archaeological Collection (map) rank among Europe’s major art and cultural history museums. The nearby Schackgalerie (map) is an important gallery of German 19th-century paintings.

Seasonal and flea markets

Auer Dult. A week-long market and festivity, that takes place three times a year (spring, summer and autumn) in Haidhausen primarily dealing in household goods and antiques but also offering beer and amusement rides.

Theresienwiese. This is supposedly the largest annual flea market in Europe, taking place on the first Saturday of Frühlingsfest (Spring Festival – occurs in the middle of April) on the same site as the Oktoberfest in Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt. There are generally several thousand citizens offering up their second-hand goods while dealers of new wares are forbidden. A yearly highlight for flea market and antique lovers, if the weather is reasonable.

Hofflohmärkte. This is where particular Munich city quarters encourage their residents to open up their courtyards whereby entire sections of the city become a combination flea market and private courtyard siteseeing—very interesting for viewing corners of the city one usually would not see.

FESTIVALS > Tollwood – this three-week-long festival combines ethnic food, souvenir shops, concerts & theater. Streetlife Festival – This two-day street festival takes takes place twice a year, showcases live music, handcraft and other arts on Munich’s car-free streets. St. Patrick’s Day Munich – The parade of Irish and Scottish unions attracts 30,000 visitors and is said to be the largest Irish event east of Dublin.

Christmas Markets > muenchen.de

Public transport of Munich

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Munich MVV • routes and maps

CityMapper – Munich | The ultimate transport app and technology for mobility in cities.

If you plan to explore Munich and see all the sights and tourist attractions, buy the EasyCityPass. This is valid for all public transportation services in Munich and a discount card for many tourist attractions like museums, sights, shopping or gastronomy.

The public transportation agency has a journey planner app called MVV-Companion journey planner for public transport in Munich.

BUS > Munich Central Bus Station. MeinFernbus | Stations & Destinations — Germany’s largest long-distance bus company. + Flixbus • Berlin Linien Bus • Postbus • MeinFernbus • DeinBus. Information on almost all bus routes in Germany – BUSRADAR.com. >> (*Intercity buses in Germany)

RAIL > Deutsche Bahn | German Rail Pass • VGN • RailEurope >> (*Rail travel in Germany)

AIRPORTS > Berlin Airport • Cologne Bonn Airport • Frankfurt Airport • Stuttgart Airport • Hamburg Airport • Munich Airport • Düsseldorf Airport

WATERWAYS > –

Germany is, in general, bicycle friendly, with many bike lanes in cities. There is also a substantial network of well signed, long distance bike routes BICYCLE ROUTE PLANNER GERMANY + Germany – EuroVelo)