Munich is probably one of the most famous cities to visit in Germany. It’s located in Bavaria, meaning that you’ll find all German stereotypes in Munich: Leather pants, copious amounts of beer, schnitzel, bratwurst, pretzels, beer steins (not the actual word by the way) etc. Therefore, many people have asked us to write an article, providing tips on how to have the best Munich experience.
We went and checked it out for you to come up with all of the must knows. Here are the results:
Munich Travel Tips in this Article
Munich Tips & Tricks
Food (Vegan too) & Beer
When in Munich, it is mandatory to go eat in one of the famous beer halls. We decided to go to the Augustiner Bierhalle, since we love Augustiner Bier! Obviously, the beer is delicious and the food was good too. It is just something you need to have done at least once in your life.
However, if you want to try authentic German food that is cooked on point, you need to go to “Obacht Maxvorstadt”. We couldn’t believe how delicious their food was. It’s honestly some of the best German food we’ve ever had and we’ve had plenty (especially her) throughout our lives. We found this restaurant by reading through local travel blogs. We have always found that reading authentic blog posts gives you way better tips than pages like tripadvisor, since bloggers often really know the area and what they are talking about.
So, go have some delicious Braten with Knödel and don’t forget to try some of Munich’s tasty beers. Our favorites are: Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr and Löwenbräu. Meals you need to try are: Braten, Knödel, Kaiserschmarrn and Schnitzel (with Cranberries).
Vegan Food in Munich
Some of our followers asked for some advice on this issue. Eating vegan is definitely the healthiest and most sustainable way to eat. We highly recommend and support eating vegan as its grand advantages have been scientifically proven. Luckily, Munich is very vegan-friendly and offers a variety of vegan restaurants. However, as a tourist in Munich, you probably don’t want to miss out on the delicious traditional German food. After some research, we found a restaurant called “Max Pett”. It’s a vegan restaurant that offers veganized traditional German dishes such as Schnitzel! It’s generally a little pricey (in our opinion) but they offer daily lunch deals for only €9. Therefore, we recommend going there for lunch as the prices are very low for Munich standards.
In terms of drinking beer, vegans won’t have a hard time finding vegan beer as most beers are naturally vegan. However, you need to be careful as some breweries don’t specify whether they are actually vegan or not. Therefore, we created the following list of vegan German beers that we think are super delicious:
- Augustiner
- Bayreuther
- Benediktiner
- Erdinger
- Hofbräu
- Köstritzer
- Maisel
- Paulaner
If you don’t want to drink beer because of the alcohol; don’t worry! Almost all breweries offer non-alcoholic alternatives. Prost!
Accommodation in Munich
Although we normally book a room/apartment/cabin with Airbnb, we went for a hotel this time. This is due to a specific reason. Our trip to Munich was very spontaneous—we only had a couple of weeks to plan the trip before going. Generally, Airbnb is the cheapest option. However, in an expensive city like Munich, Airbnb owners know that they can keep the prices per night very high and usually don’t change their rates. In contrast, hotels want to fill up their rooms since they rely on the business and a fully-booked hotel.
This enabled us to find Hotel Germania which offered super cheap last-minute rooms including a really good breakfast. On top of that, it was located right outside the city-center and close to the main train station, which made it possible for us to walk everywhere and save even more money. We only paid €70 per night, which is an awesome deal for the location, the time of year (summer tourism season) and the last-minute booking. In terms of location, we generally recommend staying close to the Munich main station, as this is where you will most likely arrive if traveling by train or bus. Moreover, it’s only a 5 minute walk from the main station to the old town/city center and the shopping area (located in the old town). On top of that you have the advantage of lower hotel prices and quick access to cheap restaurants and bars outside of the city center.
Things to Do in Munich
Oktoberfest in Munich
Honestly, we aren’t fans of the Munich Oktoberfest for a variety of reasons:
- Highly overcrowded
- Ridiculously long wait times in front of the beer tents
- Astronomically high prices for hotels, food and drinks during this time
- Aggressive, offensive and misbehaved visitors
Those are the main reasons why we don’t care for the Oktoberfest in Munich. Therefore, we don’t recommend visiting during this time of year (last two weeks of September and first week of October).
If you have always wanted to go to the Oktoberfest, there are countless alternatives to the one in Munich. Almost every German city and even almost every little village has its own Oktoberfest. We know that those aren’t the original, but technically, neither is the one in Munich as the first Oktoberfest took place in Füssen, but in terms of music, food, beer and atmosphere, they are absolutely the same and even better! Prices are ridiculously cheap compared to Munich and they are usually not overcrowded in the sense that you’re standing in line for 6 hours in order to even get in—do consider this option. You can still go to one in Bavaria. There are many just outside of Munich and in larger neighboring cities such as Augsburg or Nuremberg!
Things to See in Munich
If you stay in Munich, you definitely need to see the following places:
- Frauenkirche
- Marienplatz
- English Garden (Gigantic and beautiful park right next to the old town)
- Isar (the river)
- Beer hall (much more expensive in the old town! we recommend Augustiner Bräu in the Landsbergerstraße 19!)
- View from the Maximilianeum by the Isar river!
- Dianatempel in the Hofgarten
Please get up early in order to experience Munich without all the loud tourists. It’s a fascinating feeling and you’ll be able to take some awesome pictures of the beautiful old buildings in the old town. Don’t be scared of all the drunks lying around on the floor or park benches. They don’t bite. It’s Germany and they probably got super drunk the night before and didn’t find their way back home 😀 (most of them actually looked like students).
Don’t be too lazy to walk down to the river. The Isar has beautiful clear-blue mountain water and you’ll be able to see lots of fish swimming around. It’s really worth the 10 minute walk. On the way, you’ll discover more about Munich and pass museums as well as pretty old buildings that you might want to enter or capture. We took some really nice pictures on this quiet morning walk.
Likewise, escape the city by walking through Munich’s English Garden. It’s one of the prettiest parks that we have ever seen. A little river of clear-blue mountain water runs through this beautiful, green and colorful park. You’ll even find surfers surfing on wild waves. Go explore it yourself!
General Tips for Munich
- Wait for cheap room prices, they do exist!
- Get up early (6 am, not joking) in order to really experience the beauty of Munich. You won’t regret it!
- Save money by eating outside of the old town. We recommend the Augustiner Bierhalle close to the main station and Obacht in Maxvorstadt. There are tourist traps all over the place in the old town. This way, you’ll avoid them.
- Take the time to walk through parts of the English Garden and down to the Isar river, there’s lots to discover (i.e. surfers).
- We only needed one day to see Munich. So we think that two days in Munich are enough to see, eat and drink everything you want. The city is really not that big and it is easy to find your way around.
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I absolutely love Munich, especially when it comes to Southern German food and beers 🙂 Have you been to Oktoberfest?
Same here! We’ve not been to the Munich Oktoberfest, mostly because it’s quite expensive and extremely crowded, but we try to go to a local Oktoberfest if we’re home during that time of year. 🙂
Typically I’m a language guy, but I love what a detailed guide you made here today. You could learn alot from this. Very Polished detail.
Thank you! We’re glad you found our article useful. 🙂 And I appreciate the play on words. 😉
Great tips! Love Munich so much! Munich’s certainly playing catch-up. The country’s third largest city (and capital of Bavaria) has experienced a major resurgence in recent years, and not just come early autumn.
Thanks! We also really love Munich, but it’s just so expensive. XD But you’re right, it’s expanding quite quickly despite that! It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Oktoberfest this year.