Munich

Cerdito

Hi,

I'm going to Munich for four days soon. Can anyone recommend some good things to do while over there?

Steveire

I was in Munich in August. It's fantastic over there.
In the centre, you'll find the Glockenspiel:



It's in front of a large public square with the usual stuff you'll find in public squares: Pretzel stalls, t-shirts, etc. The distinctive thing about the Glockenspiel is that at 5pm and 11am (while i was there at least), there is some movement in the tower like some sort of cuckoo clock. It's not as interesting a show as the crowds might lead you to believe, but have a look if you're in the area.

The Glockenspiel from the nearby Frauenkirche:


The Augustiner restaurant is on the Main Street and is very popular. You'll get authentic german cuisine there (not that that's hard to find) at a good price.

Even if you're not interested in Science, engineering or anything like that, you should check out the Deutsches Museum (I might see if there's a more accurate name for that), which is a huge transportation museum covering everything from bicycles, cars, trains, boats, and planes, helicopters, space shuttles... you get the idea. You wouldn't cover it in a day, and i remember it being cheap to reasonably priced. I there's also a couple of wierd mechanical rides to go on:

If you haven't seen one before, you can take a trip to Dachau concentration camp. Simple S-Bahn out to Dachau and then a bus ride out to the concentration camp. The camp is huge. They have a large exihibit on the history of the camp in the context of the second world war, and have preserved/restored the living quarters and crematorium. Mainly it’s the scale of the camp that’s mind blowing.



I was lucky because when i was there, a week long festival had just started in Dachau. Seemed to be something like Oktoberfest but on a smaller scale.

If you've time for a day trip outside of Munich, you should consider Bad Tolz. 1.5 hours on a train. It's smallish and unforgivably sterotypically German. That's the place to pick up your Lederhosen. They've also got the best water park I saw in Eastern Europe (I saw a lot). It has 5 heated swimming pools, indoor and out, each with jacuzzis, and plenty of water slides. The strange thing about Bad Tolz though is that there are no tourists there. We didn't see any even when we were in the water park. If you have any German, it'll help.

A view from Bad Tolz:


There's a couple of good hostels around the main train station in Munich too if that's what you're looking for. Enjoy, and report back if you can.

Cerdito

Wow...thanks for all that info!

I'm going over with my girlfriend, she has heard good things about the Christmas markets. I'm going to drag her to a match in the new Allianz Arena, 1860 Munich are playing when we're there (2nd division German football, what more could a girl want?)

That transport museum sounds good, I'm a bit of a trainspotter (see avatar) so I think I'll take that in. Dachau sounds like it's worth a visit too.

Other than that I plan on stuffing myself with lots of beer and pigmeat.

Steveire

I've just remembered that there's also an olympic stadium in Munich. I didn't manage to go, because i was only there for a couple of days, but apparently they have music and entertainment every night followed by fireworks. I'd like to know whether that's a year round thing or not myself. Maybe someone else can put clarity on that.

bullrunner

Steveire wrote:

I've just remembered that there's also an olympic stadium in Munich. I didn't manage to go, because i was only there for a couple of days, but apparently they have music and entertainment every night followed by fireworks. I'd like to know whether that's a year round thing or not myself. Maybe someone else can put clarity on that.

dunno bout that...my girlf is from munich and she never said nothing bout that....but go to the olmypic park...go up the tower...can see a lot of munich...take a city tour ..they go that way and include entrance fees (park was built on the rubble of WW2)

also go to the English gardens..there is a huge beergarden there..nice beer too!

enjoy...

BossArky

Take a day trip to Fussen, to see the Neuschwanstein castle which is in the running for modern man made wonders of the world. It is the castle which disney based their castle upon. Its about 2 hours from Munich south if I remember correctly.