Munich, Germany City Guide
In June 2017, my husband and I embarked on a three-week long backpacking trip of western Europe. In my first post of this series, I go through all the details about preparing for this trip from itinerary, budget, packing, riding the train, lodging, and other common questions I’m asked. Now, I’ll take you through a detailed “City Guide” of every city we visited, and my top recommendations of where to eat and drink, where to stay, and what to see in this Munich, Germany City Guide.
Before I dive into the details about what we saw and did in Munich, a little background on the travel style Curtis and I enjoy. Our favorite way to travel is to get immersed in local culture. We like to eat unique foods and people-watch. On the flip side, we don’t like to do much in the way of touring — I can’t stand waiting in line or crowded attractions. We also like to be outdoors, so one of our favorite things to do is just stroll along the city and see the sights. Our travel style is low-key, affordable, and cultural. So you’ll find a lot of these types of travel recommendations in our city guides. If that’s the type of travel you like, too, read on!
Where to Sight-See: a Munich, Germany City Guide
We found Munich so relaxing! When it comes to chilling in city parks, Munich is the absolute best. Curtis and I felt so relaxed here. We could hike, dip our toes in a stream, read a book, or even lay in the sun and take a nap. I love to get outside when we travel, and really value not moving fast all the time. On a always on-the-go backpacking trip, sometimes it’s important to just take a break and do this:
Of course, there are lots of traditional sights to see as well, like the Marienplatz, and the famous Glockenspiel.
We ate at the famous Viktualienmarkt — a daily food market near central Munich. You can buy traditional Bavarian foods like pretzels, sausage (wurst), schnitzel, spaetzel (chewy dumplings, often with cheese!), and fries. Or, shop the farmers market stalls for amazing fresh breads, cheeses, and fruits. Even though Munich was one of the more expensive places we visited in Germany (compared to Hamburg, Berlin, and Dresden) you could really save a dollar by shopping the fresh food at these markets stalls.
Then we visited the ‘park of all parks’ — The Englischer Garten. This show-stopper of a park is one of the largest urban parks in the world. You’ll find hiking, walking and biking trails, monuments, beer gardens, small food stands, and even a river where locals casually go surfing!
It was a hot summer day, but the water was still freezing cold! Even though we were in Munich on a random, summer workday, we got to watch locals swimming and surfing up and down this river. It was the perfect place to sit and cool off. I love how relaxed the culture in Munich is.
Where to Eat & Drink Beer in Munich
Ah, Munich, the king of beer gardens. Of course, we were in Germany in June, so we missed the Oktoberfest celebrations, but I’m not upset about it. Crowds tend to be a little much for me, so I was plenty happy with our more casual beer garden experience.
Our favorite Munich beer garden was Cirkuswiese, which is near the Theresienwiese (Oktoberfest grounds).
Come on in, have a whole fresh mackerel, drink a beer, and stay awhile!
Travelers to Munich will most likely visit the Munich Hofbräuhaus, a three-floor beer-hall that’s been operating 365 days a year in this same location since the 16th century. My mom talks about visiting Munich in the 1980s and seeing servers carrying 6 beer steins on each hand — it’s still like that today.
Hofbräuhaus is certainly a little tourist-y, but unlike the American Hofbräuhaus experience you can have in any big city, this Hofbräuhaus features a legitimate German polka band! And if you thought we’d leave Munich without a rousing chorus of “Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit,” you were sorely mistaken.
So, you’re getting sick of currywurst and pommes frites while in Germany? We really enjoyed Tem Thai Cooking for something a little different!
I hope you enjoyed this guide to the beautiful parks and beer gardens of Munich, Germany! For more general tips about backpacking western Europe, head back over to the travel section of my blog. For more City Guides, including what we did in Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria — press on! -Emily
