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The wife and I like to alternate our holidays from hot to cold.
This coming January we are hoping to visit Germany for a couple of weeks and Munich is on both our lists. Think we'll have about 7 nights there.
We will be doing the tourist stuff, museums and the like, eating and drinking huge amount of local food and beer.
For a few days we'll try to take trains south into the Bavarian alps to do some winter walking and see some pretty places.
After Munich we will head up to Berlin, we visited almost a decade ago and would like to go back. Any place else we should think about visiting or any tips and advice about Munich? Areas to stay/avoid? Villages we should visit or walks we should do?
The Schwabing area in the north of the city is a nice place to stay, near the Englischer Garten. Lots of cafes etc, nice walk through the park into town. Look for somewhere near Munchener Freiheit.
Lots of cheap hotels up near the Hauptbahnhof but it’s not particularly nice up there.
There are no areas to avoid really, it’s a great city.
@alpin has lived there for years so will be able to help a lot.
In case you don't know about it, the Bayern ticket gets you a day ticket for all but the fastest trains within Bavaria for €25 for the first passenger and then €8 for each additional one. You can actually get to Kufstein or Salzburg which are both just over the border in Austria.
Kufstein is pretty close to Kitzbuehel. Salzburg if you haven't been is a must visit.
Erding (home of Erdinger beer) is on the S-Bahn probably 30/40 minutes from the centre of Munich.
Neuschwanstein castle is an easy day trip by train although I still haven't been.
The Riedel beer makes me want to visit Augsburg.
Dachau concentration camp is near Munich and I'm sure January will make it seem especially grim.
Personally, I think 7 nights is too long in Munich but as a base probably makes sense.
Remind me in a bit....
Go for lunch at the Panorama restaurant on the Zugspitze (from Garmisch).
Dachau and the various car museums if that is your thing - especially the Porsche one (Stuttgart).
we did a £18 flight to salzburg pre covid in march time, 12 years back, a few days their the bayern train ticket to munich and onto Fussen, which is a cute little town, went to the disney castle
https://neuschwansteintickets.com/
and then back to munich for a couple of nights, very nice trip indeed.
great city, been 3 or 4 times, will definately go again
Head to Garmisch Partenkirchen for the day . Good food and drink. Head up the funicular or gondola and have lunch on the mountain.
Or head to Salzburg home of the Mozart kugel and visit his home.
Talking about it last night, I think we're going to knock Berlin off the list and concentrate on Bavaria.
Probably spend 5 nights in Munich to explore city and as a base with easy transport connections.
Looking for someplace in the hills to spend 3 or 4 nights to do some walking and take cable cars up to summits etc. Thinking GaPa?
OK, this'll be a bit rambling....
Been in MUC for too long now.
January isn't necessarily the prettiest time of year to visit town. The sun has long gone, the temperatures have dropped, but not enough for it to properly snow.
Saying that, there's generally some snow on the alps 35-45 mins south of town. Trains leave from Munich main station often enough.
Trip up the Zugspitze is OK, but watch the weather. It's not a cheap ticket to the top just for the sake of the view. There was a big train crash recently in that line, but I assume that'll be fixed by January.
If you're feeling active pick a smaller mountain around Tegernsee / Schliersee and walk up. About 500-700hm depending on what and where. Pick a hill with a hut up top.
Or go sledding at Tegernsee Wallberg or Bad Tölz... Either walk up or with gondola... Thinking about it, you get a bloody good view from Wallberg and a bloody long run down.. 😁
Plenty of museums in Munich for those rainy days. Deutsches Museum is a massive building with unzählige rooms and displays. Predominately a technical museum, think Science Museum in London.
Lots of arty fatty places. Never been in them other than the Pinothek and that was when installing an exhibition.
Another rainy day entertainment is a trip to Erding , just east of town. Not only home to one of the best Weißbiers, but also one of the largest spa/sauna/water park around. Just beware that people will expect to see your penis if you go in the sauna.
Olympiaberg in the Olympic Park for a walk or Alter Peter Church for a good panoramic view of the city and the backdrop of the alps.
BMW museum and complex is right next door if that's your thing.
Salzburg is a few hours away on the train without any changes. As alluded, the Bayern Ticket will get you there. In fact, it'll get you most places for not much cash.
Salzburg is bloody touristy, mind.
Dachau is just ****ing depressing.
Neuschwanstein is an hour or so from town. Usually full of Chinese couples posing for their wedding photos.
As far as beer is concerned, avoid Paulaner (other than their Weißbier) and Löwenbräu because they are shit.
Drink Augustiner.
Eat Schweinsbraten with Knödel.
Augustiner in the Kaufingerstrasse is worth a visit for an authentic Beer Hall. Avoid the Hofbräuhaus. Full of drunk tourists and the food ain't all that.
Take a stroll along the Isar and imagine the banks being full of young, pretty girls because that won't be the case in January.
Plenty of places to eat. Lots of decent Italian places in Munich.... Italy's most northern city.
Anything else, ask.
Going from Munich to Berlin is a bit of a shock... 😁
Me and the wife were in the area in Feb a few years ago. Travelling around by train is a breeze, much nicer than UK!
We really liked Regensburg (90ish mins North) and Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which is a cheesily picture-box Bavarian town. Looks like hell on earth in high season, but off season with no tourists it was thoroughly pleasant!
We also liked the area around Fussen - and it's only an hour's walk to Neuschwanstein Castle, which again, if not busy is pretty entertaining. 'Mad Ludwig' was indeed quite an odd lad.
Didn't massively love Munich itself tbh - seemed very nicely set up for the well-heeled middle aged crew, with lots of shops selling 500quid shoes and 20 grand watches. Bit sterile. Much prefer Berlin as a city.
But we did enjoy the Pinakothek museums in Munich - the Neue Pinakothek had one of the less famous Van Gogh sunflower paintings which was nice to see, and the Pinakothek der Moderne had some cool industrial design stuff too, some vintage Porsches and stuff.
To add to @alpin’s post, under no circumstances order a Hacker Pschorr. Effing disgusting beer. As he said, Augustiner is the boss.
Plenty of good Thai restaurants in Munich too.
If you go to Salzburg, the castle is nice, Hangar 7 at the airport is good for a few hours (Mr Red Bull’s toy collection).
The salt mines at Hallein near Salzburg are worth a visit, the ice caves are supposed to be amazing (still not been). Castle Hohenwerfen (where Eagles dare) is right there too.
Didn’t massively love Munich itself tbh – seemed very nicely set up for the well-heeled middle aged crew, with lots of shops selling 500quid shoes and 20 grand watches. Bit sterile.
Can fully understand that. Munich is well known for its high earning, aspirational Schickeria society. Lots of the shops in the centre cater to rich Volk and Arabs with oily pockets (lots of Saudis here for surgery, usually with their entire family in tow).
Take a walk along Maximilianstraße and look in the windows. Sickening.
However, eating out isn't cheap regardless of where you go. A beer generally costs >4€ in town.
Go to Schwabing, Sendling or West End for Café and bars for normal Volk. Walk through West Park and get some chips at the cafe.
If heading to Bad Tolz have a look at the SS training camp area. It also has a very pretty high street leading up from the river.
Hohe-Salzburg has a Stiegl bier keller about halfway up and a really good bier menu plus appropriate Austrian stodge to mop it up and keep you sober longer.
Many thanks for all the info folks. Especially @alpin very informative.
Feeling thirsty!
Just looking at apartments and flights now. Hopefully flights will be back to normal by Xmas!
If you're in the south of the UK/ easy access to St Pancras Station look at the train. 10 hours from London to Munich with a stop in Paris for lunch.
Just booked for August and was only 40€ more than a flight. Much more relaxed than standing in a queue for hours at an airport.
I do enjoy a train ride, but as Edinburgh Airport is an hour away it's probably my best bet.
Time off booked, just about to get flights sorted then we can spend a bit of time deciding on accommodation.
My wife is keen on staying in GaPa for 4/5 nights but I'm not sure as it seems easier to go from Munich to Fussen/Tegernser/Saltzberg etc. But it might be nice staying in the mountains for a few days.
Schliersee, Tegernsee, Spitzingsee, Chiemsee... All lakes and on the edge of the alps.
Prob with Garmisch and Partenkirchen is that the hills are big and not necessarily great for walking in winter. Steep and snowy. Garmisch has a nice centre, but it's very touristy. Partenkirchen less so.
Would struggle to think what to do for five days in Garmisch, in winter with grey skies, unless I was skiing/boarding. It's only an hour away Munich. Would rather pick a nice day and jump on the train opposed to having to sit out the crappy weather days in Garmisch. More to do in Munich on those days.
Hey folks, just another quick one. Does anyone know of any pay as you go gyms in Central Munich? My wife's not as much of a fan of the beer as I am so she's going to leave me in the pub while she gets a workout in 😂
Dachau is just **** depressing.
What were you expecting? That doesn't mean it isn't a worthwhile and thought provoking visit.