A Weekend in Munich

It might seem decadent to spend a weekend in another country but that is exactly what we did last weekend. We left after work on the Friday evening and returned on the Sunday night, spending almost a full 48 hours in Munich, Germany. We booked an EasyJet holiday (which I can’t recommend enough for ease of booking and the option to secure the booking with a small deposit), printed our boarding passes at home and walked on to the plane with only hand luggage, making it a quick and easy break.

We had a fantastic stay in the Hotel Drei Loewen, which has a fantastic location across the road from Munich’s Hauptbahnhof. 

So what can you do in 48 hours in Munich? 

You can take a walk through the historic city centre, checking out the three historic city gates (see Karlstor above, taken on Neuhauser Strasse).

You can marvel at the gorgeous architecture and the many styles including late-Gothic style, Gothic revival or the Renaissance-style domes of the Frauenkirche above. 

You can sit at a cafe on Marienplatz and listen to the exquisite sounds of the Glockenspiel at the Neues Rathaus.

You can visit the Munich Residenz, former home of the Bavarian royal family and walk through the beautiful sculptured gardens of the Hofgarten. 

You can visit one of the many beautiful churches in Munich which are ornate inside and out.  Churches do not charge an entrance fee although some may charge to access specific attractions (such as the tower in Peterskirche).

You can sample some authentic Bavarian cuisine and if you are really enjoying your meal, you can even forget to take photos of it!  As a huge fan of German food, I especially enjoyed tucking into a selection of German wurst and sauerkraut while Stephen enjoyed a roast pork knuckle.

You can take a walk through the new city centre or visit some of the well-to-do suburbs around the Nymphenburg Palace.

You can visit the Nymphenburg Palace and take a wander around the surrounding gardens and woodlands.

You can visit the home of BMW, marvelling at the BMW Four-Cylinder Tower and taking a walk around the BMW museum.  A must if you’d like to see their vintage or Art Car collection.

You can take a walk around the Olympic Park, marvelling at the Olympiaturm (if you are a tower-phile like me).  If you have enough energy, you can even take a walk up the Olympiaberg Schuttberg, the debris mountain made from the rubble left over after World War II.

And finally, if you are a true sports fan or football fanatic, you can visit the Allianz Arena, home of FC Bayern Munich and TSV 1860 München.  Do be warned,  there is absolutely nothing else here to see, so this one is for true fans only.

This, of course, is only a fraction of what you can do in the city.  There are free Third Reich tours leaving from most hotels, day trips to Dachau or even Salzburg, Austria, and scores of museums across the city.  Many museums have reduced entry on a Sunday but are closed on Mondays.  If we had another one or two days, we would certainly have liked to take advantage of some of those opportunities and for this reason, we’d definitely return to Munich.  In the next couple of posts, I’ll take you around some of these sights in more detail.

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