U3: Universität, Giselastr., or Münchner Freiheit, and head east.
Olympic Area
OLYMPIAPARK
SPORTS COMPLEX
089 30 67 27 07 www.olympiapark.de
Built for the 1972 Olympic Games, the lush Olympiapark offsets the curved steel and transparent spires of the impressive Olympia-Zentrum and the 290m tall Olympiaturm, Munich’s tallest building. A 1-3hr. self-guided audiowalk gives highlights of the entire park. Otherwise, three English-language tours are available. The 90min. Adventure Tour gives an introduction to the history and construction of the entire park with a walk through the Swimming Hall, site of Mark Spitz’s then-record 7 gold medal win, the Olympic Hall, and the Olympic Stadium. The 1hr. Stadium Tour details the large stadium. The Roof Climb, a daring two-hour exploration of the stadium with a rope and hook, is for adrenaline junkies only. Tourists can also marvel at the view from the top of the tower and stroll around the Rock (and Roll) Museum at the top.
U3: Olympiazentrum. Other tours available in English upon reservation; see website for details. Adventure Tour €8, students 5.50. Stadium Tour €6/4. Roof climb €39/29. Tower and Rock Museum €4.50, under 16 €2.80. Discounts with receipt from admission to Sea Life, BMW Welt/Museum. All tours offered daily Apr-Nov. Adventure Tour: 2pm, Stadium Tour 11am, Roof Climb 2:30pm (weather permitting). Tower and Rock’n’Roll Museum open daily 9am-midnight. Audiowalk hours vary on season, generally 9am-4:30pm (winter) to 8:30am-8pm (mid-summer); check the website for details.
SEA LIFE
Willi-Daume-Platz 1
AQUARIUM
018 05 66 69 01 01 www.sealifeeurope.com
Seahorses and stingrays and sharks, oh my! This extensive aquarium showcases organisms from many different environments, including Nemo’s cousins and fat, ugly groupers. Discovery stations along the way allow you to feel the textures of different aquatic creatures for yourself, and the grand finale—a 10m shark tunnel—will leave you humming Jaws for the rest of the day.
U3: Olympiazentrum, head towards the tower and then follow the signs. €15.50, students €14.50, age 3-14 €9.95; €5 discount if you book online. Open Apr-Sept daily 10am-7pm; Oct. M-F 10am-6pm, Sa-Su 10am-7pm; Nov-Mar M-F 10am-5pm, Sa-Su 10am-7pm. Last entry 1hr. before closing.
BMW WELT AND MUSEUM
Petuelring 130.
MUSEUM
018 02 11 88 22 www.bmw-welt.com
A marvel of architectural daring, the enormous steel and glass spiral of the BMW museum houses state-of-the-art interactive exhibits detailing the history, development, and design of Bavaria’s second-favorite export. Illuminated frosted glass walls and touch-sensitive projections lead visitors past engines, chassis, and concept vehicles with exhibits in both English and German. The award-winning kinetic sculpture features 714 suspended metal balls in a variety of shapes, many of them of historic and current BMW vehicles. Visitors can also tour the adjacent production factory with a tunnel that runs through the entire production line, or enjoy the video games and customizable test cars in the BMW Welt building.
U3: Olympiazentrum. BMW Welt will be the large steel structure on your left; a ramp accessible from inside the building will lead you across the street to the museum. Factory and museum tours available by appointment only. Museum €12, students €6. BMW Welt free. Special discounts with Olympiapark ticket or the City Tour Card. Museum open Tu-Su 10am-6pm; BMW Welt open daily 9am-6pm.
Au-Haidhausen
VILLA STUCK
Prinzregentenstr. 60
MUSEUM
089 45 55 51 25 www.villastuck.de
This elegant villa, designed by Munich artist Franz von Stuck, provides a sophisticated backdrop for the art of the early 20th-century German Jugendstil, a movement that celebrated nature and the smooth lines of the body. Gold mosaic arches, marble fireplaces, and recessed black ceilings offset the colorful landscapes and still lifes. For contrast, rotating exhibits in the basement highlight contemporary artists.
Bus #100 or Tram #18: Friedensengel. €6, students €3. Open Tu-Su 11am-6pm.
Neuhausen
SCHLOß NYMPHENBURG
Schloss Nymphenburg
CASTLE
089 17 90 80 www.schloss-nymphenburg.de
The breathtaking Schloß Nymphenburg, a favorite summer residence for Bavarian royalty modeled after Versailles, was built in 1662. Now open to the public, the palace opens with the lavish two-story Stone Hall, bursting with extravagant Rococo decor and Neoclassical themes. Make your way through electors’ apartments, including the bedroom in which King Ludwig II was born, and feast your eyes on the portraits in the Gallery of Beauties, featuring 36 of whom King Ludwig I considered to be the most beautiful women (nymphs?) in all of Bavaria. Situated in the expansive landscaped gardens are four other equally ornate pavilions: the Amalienburg, Badenburg, the grottoed Magdalenenkrause, and the oriental Pagodenburg. Summertime brings plenty of classical concerts to the park grounds; check kiosks for details. German-speaking science enthusiasts will not want to miss the Museum Mensch und Natur (Museum of Man and Nature, to the right of the palace, www.musmn.de), a two-story tribute to natural history with superb interactive exhibits.
Tram 17: Schloss Nymphenburg. The gardens are free, so you’ll often see morning joggers or bikers traversing the grounds. Palace €5, students €4; porcelain museums €4/3; pavilions each €2/1; combination ticket for palace and porcelain museums €10/8, €4/3 for all pavilions. Audio tours (English available) €3.50. Museum Mensch und Natur €3/2, Sundays €1. Everything free for under 18. Entire complex open daily Apr-Oct 15 9am-6pm, Oct 16-Mar 10am-4pm. Badenburg, Pagodenburg, and Magdalenkrause closed in winter. Museum Mensch und Natur open Tu-W 9am-5pm, Th 9am-8pm, Fr 9am-5pm, Sa-Su 10am-6pm.
HIRSCHGARTEN
Hirschgarten 1
PARK, BEER GARDEN
www.hirschgarten.com
This seemingly modest park filled with playful children and zen sunbathers is also home to Europe’s largest Biergarten, seating a whopping 8000 jolly clinkers. Grab a Maß and take a seat in the boisterously delightful atmosphere, and have your heart melted by to all the cute little kids running around the premises. During the summer, the carousel is a constant source of joy. To think, if only you had grown up in a beer garden.
Tram 17: Romanplatz, then walk south to the end of Guntherstr. Credit cards accepted in restaurant but not in the a la carte. Entrees €7-14. Maß €7.20. Kitchen open 11am-10pm.
Thalkirchen
In the summertime, Thalkirchen plays host to flurries of visitors floating (in every sense of the word) down the Isar River. The Flosslände, a natural wave along the river (from U3 Thalkirchen, take Bus #135 towards Campingplatz), sees its share of surfers and kayakers. In warm weather, look for kayak rentals along the river. Serenity-seeking visitors instead take a Flossfahrt, a day-long trip down calmer waters on an enormous rafts, complete with food, drink and music for a beer garden on the water. Most of these actually begin south of Munich and float to the Flosslände as the final stop, see www.isarflossfahrten.biz for more information.
TIERPARK HELLABURN
Tierparkstr. 30
ZOO
089 625 08 34 www.tierpark-hellabrunn.de
Munich’s zoo was created in 1911 as the world’s first “Geo-zoo,” meaning that animals are separated by their original geographic locations and kept in environments as close possible to their original habitats. Dodge the screaming four-year-olds and wander around the four continents represented. Flock with flamingos, elephants, and elks, and make sure to stop in Villa Dracula for the bat house. Vending machines distributing portions of food (€0.50) let you get up close and personal with your favorite creatures.
U3: Thalkirchen, or Bus #52 from Marienpl.: Tierpark. All explanations in German only. For a more interactive experience, check the feeding schedule at the front gate. €9, under 14 €4.50, students €6. Open daily Apr-Sept 8am-6pm, Oct-Mar 9am-5pm. Animal houses close 30min. before zoo.
Outside
Munich
NEUSCHWANSTEIN CASTLE
Neuschwansteinstr. 20, Schwangau
CASTLE
083 62 93 08 30 www.neuschwanstein.de
No visit to this castle is complete without a walk across Marlenbrücke, a slightly rickety wooden-bottomed bridge built by Maximillian, Ludwig’s father, for his wife Mary. The bridge sits over a slim and elegant waterfall and gives a stunning side view of Neuschwanstein. Also on-site at Neuschwanstein is the yellow Hohenschwangau, King Ludwig II’s favorite summer retreat in his youth. Here you can see Ludwig’s bedroom, with inlaid crystals on the ceiling to represent stars in the night sky, and the piano and bed that Richard Wagner used during his visits..
DB: Füssen (about 2 hrs.); once there, walk right across the street to take either the 73 or 78 bus (10 min., 2 per hr., €1.90 per way or free with the Bayern ticket): Königsschlößer (Royal Castles). To get to the castle, you can either walk up the hill (many routes available; 20-50min.), take a bus (up €1.80, down €1, and round-trip €2.60; 10 min.; drop-off behind Neuschwanstein between the castle and Marienbrücke), or take a horse-drawn carriage (up €6, down €3; 15min.). Purchase tickets for tours at the main ticket office located a 3-minute walk uphill. Tours available in 14 different languages, last 35min., and are required for entry into the castle. The summer months bring loads of fairy-tale-seeking tourists, so get there early to reserve your spot. Make sure to save time for some hiking to the Marienbrücke (15min. from Neuschwanstein) and other mountaintop-top destinations. Special wheelchair-accessible tours available with advance registration on Wednesdays. Guided tours of castle €9, students €8, under 18 free with an adult. Tickets can also be reserved in advance via phone for an extra €1.80 per ticket. The two castles share a ticket office, though the Hohenschwangau office is open 30min. after Neuschwanstein’s closes; combination tickets for the two castles are available (€17/15). Castle open Apr-Sept 9am-4pm, Oct-Mar 10am-4pm; ticket office open an hour before opening and closing.
DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP MEMORIAL SITE
Alte Römerstr. 75, Dachau
MEMORIAL SITE
081 31 66 99 70 www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de
The first thing prisoners saw as they entered Dachau was the inscription Arbeit Macht Frei, “work will set you free” on the iron gate to the camp. Dachau was the Third Reich’s first concentration camp, opened in 1933 to house political prisoners on the former grounds of a WWI munitions facotry. After Hitler visited the work camp in 1937, it became a model for over 30 other camps through Nazi-occupied Europe and a training ground for the SS officers who would work at them. Those who volunteered for medical experiments in hopes of release were frozen to death in hypothermia experiments or infected with malaria, all in the name of “science.” The barracks, designed for 5,000 prisoners, once held 30,000 men at a time - two have been reconstructed for visitors, and gravel-filled outlines of the other barracks stand as haunting reminders. The camp’s crematorium and gas chambers have also been restored. On the site are also Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, and Russian Orthodox prayer spaces, each designed to offer guidance and solace to visitors. The museum at the Dachau Memorial Site, in the former maintenance building, examines pre-1930s anti-Semitism, the rise of Nazism, the establishment of the concentration camp system, and the lives of prisoners through photographs, documents, videos, interactive exhibits, and artifacts. An additional display in the bunker chronicles the lives and experiences of the camp’s most prominent prisoners, including Georg Elser, the SS officer who attempted to assassinate Hitler in 1939.
S2 (dir.: Petershausen): Dachau (4 stripes on the Streifenkarte, or get a €7 Munich XXL ticket to cover all transportation for the entire day), and then bus 726 (dir.: Saubachsiedlung): KZ-Gedenkstätte (1 stripe, €1.20, or free with Munich XXL ticket). Due to graphic content, museum not recommend for children under 12. All displays have English translations. There is a small cafeteria at the welcome center, but the grounds are extensive, so bring a snack Audio guides in English, French, German, Italian, and Hebrew €3.50, students €2.50. Tours €3 per person. Museum and memorial grounds free. Open Tu-Su 9am-5pm. Tours (2.5hr.) in English daily at 11am and 1pm, in German at noon. 22min. documentary shown in German at 11am and 3pm, English at 11:30am, 2pm, and 3:30pm.
FOOD
City Center
AUGUSTINER BEERHALL AND RESTAURANT
Neuhauserstr. 27
GERMAN
089 23 18 32 57 www.augustiner-restaurant.com
Get your hearty authentic German standards here; try two weisswurst (white sausages; €4.50) with a bowl of fresh asparagus soup (€3), or go for gravy-laden roasted pork with a giant potato dumpling and sauerkraut (€10.50). Watch out: the pretzels at your table will actually set you back a little (€0.90). Enjoy the subdued beer-hall ambience in either the main hall or the picturesque courtyard with a .5L Augustiner Edelstoff (€3.60). Though this place may seem like a tourist haven with its multilingual staff and menus, rest assured that most patrons are actually faithful locals.
SB or UB: Karlsplatz (Stachus), walk past the fountain and under the arches to Neuhauser Str.; restaurant will be on right. Multilingual menu. Entrees €4-24.80. Open daily 9am-midnight.
WEISSES BRAUHAUS
Tal 7
GERMAN
089 290 13 80 www.weisses-brauhaus.de
Weisses Brauhaus has been serving up excellent renditions of traditional fare since 1540. Try the pork, braised in Aventinus beer, with a selection of house Tegernseer Hell beer (0.5L €3.50). Minimizing on meat? The Weisses Brauhaus salad (€8.90) offers a refreshing balance between leafy greens and crispy meat.
S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8, U3, or U6: Marienplatz; walk past the arches or Altes Rathaus to restaurant on the left. Multilingual menus available. Entrees €6.30-13.50. Open daily 8am-1am; kitchen open until 11pm.
CAFE RISCHART
Marienpl. 18
CAFE
231 70 03 10 www.rischart.de
Locals complain endlessly about the hordes of tourists that crowd their beloved Cafe Rischart, known for its baked goods and gelato. Thankfully for them, Cafe Rischart has several other locations around the city, but its Marienplatz location is undoubtedly the most iconic. Grab an enormous melt-in-your-mouth slice of butter cake as you people-watch from the patio. In addition, delicious sandwiches (€3-4) and pretzels (€1) make a great lunch. Definitely do not leave without a scoop of gelato (€1)! The sit-down menu is considerably more expensive than take-away, so make a picnic out of it.
S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8, U3, or U6: Marienplatz; located in the SE corner of the square. Entrees €4-9. Open M-Sa 7am-8pm, Su 9am-7pm.
University Area
BAR TAPAS
Amalienstr. 97
TAPAS
089 39 09 19 www.bar-tapas.com
Dark red walls and candlelit tables set the tone at this romantic Iberian outpost. Grab a pen and a slip of paper from the bar to make your selections from the displays of tapas. Especially recommended are the spicy chorizo and the tortilla pie with cheese, potatoes, and onions. The place fills up on the weekends, so get there early.
U3or U6: Universität. Turn west (left) onto Adalbertstr. 2-4 tapas recommended per person. Cocktails €5 daily after 10:30pm. Each tapas dish €4.20. Open daily 4pm-1am.
CAFE IGNAZ
Georgenstr. 67
VEGETARIAN
089 271 60 93 www.ignaz-cafe.de
Newton’s third law states that for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction. In the land of meat and potatoes, that equal and opposite reaction comes in the form of this quaint vegetarian and vegan cafe, its carrot logo the antithesis of Bavarian cuisine. The pastries are delicious with the savory gnocchi and crepes guaranteed winners.
U2: Josephsplatz. Take Georgenstr. west for two blocks. English-language menu. Entrees €7-12. Breakfast buffet M and W-F 8am-11:30am €7 including warm drink. Lunch buffet M-F noon-2:30pm, €6.90. Happy hour M-F 3pm-6pm, one entree for
€6. Brunch buffet Sa-Su 9am-2pm, €9. Open M, W-F 8am-11pm, Sa-Su 9am-11pm.
Au-Haidhausen
WRITSHAUS IN DER AU
Lillienstr. 51
GERMAN
089 448 14 00 www.wirtshausinderau.de
Writshaus in der Au claims to serve the largest dumplings in all of Munich, both in size and variety. Try the Original Münchner Knödel, an enormous hash of pretzel dough, roast pork, and—of course—beer (€10.50). Other favorites include the Hofente, Bavarian-style duck fresh from the oven (€13.80 per portion, €17.90 per half duck), and the chocolate dumplings served with a berry compote (€6.90).
Tram 18: Deutsches Museum, then cross the bridge and head past Museum Lichtspiele to turn right onto Lillienstr. English menu available. Entrees €7.70-18.80 Open M-F 5pm-1am, Sa-Su 10pm-1am.
CAFE VOILA
Wörthstr. 5
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