A Day in München!

January 27, 2009 2:11 AM

Thanks to an airline mix-up, I will be in Munich for one day before flying back to the States. Help me plan a fun day.

I'll get into the Munich airport at around 9 AM on March 7, and will then go to the city (via Bahn, I assume) and check into my cheapie hotel near the main train station. I'd love to hear your Munich favorites, including sightseeing, walks, and food. Since I only have a day, recommendations that are clustered close to the center of town would be especially helpful. I've also heard some great things about the burgeoning contemporary art scene in the city, and would be eager to check out some galleries while I am there.

I've already looked over previous AskMefis on the topic, but most of the info is geared to families and folks loking for Oktoberfest information. Thanks for any and all suggestions!

posted by foxy_hedgehog to travel & transportation (12 comments total)

Good thing about Munich (as opposed to, say, Berlin) is that there is a town center with many sights within walking distance or at least very easy to reach by public transport. The S-Bahn brings you from the airport to the city center, day tickets valid for all zones and every kind of public transport are 10 Euro. Exit at Marienplatz or Karlsplatz and start walking around, you'll find the main shopping area, the Rathaus, a few nice churches, the Feldherrnhalle, the Residenz, the Englischer Garten and glitzy Munich all close by.

I especially like the Pinakothek der Moderne and the area around the Gärtnerplatz, where lots of bars, cafes and small galleries can be found. Nymphenburg Palace is quite pretty in winter. For going out, I like Favorit Bar and Eat the Rich, both of which should be packed with mostly twenty-somethings on a Saturday. And a fun place for food is No Mi Ya, which is a sushi place and Bavarian Gasthaus rolled into one.

And from a more authoritative source: the NYT wrote about cool Munich and nice places to eat.
posted by insouciant at 3:01 AM on January 27 [1 favorite has favorites]

the Deutsches Museum (science/industry museum) rocked my nerdy world when i was there about 15 years ago.
posted by rmd1023 at 3:42 AM on January 27 [1 favorite has favorites]

Man, I loved Munich.

incouciant is right about the Pinakothek der Moderne, and there's a smaller gallery that I liked (I'll post the name for you in a few hours once I get home).

Yum, near Marienplatz was excellent when I was there, but by the sounds of things it's become a bit crowded, so show up early if you want a seat...they have a take-away place called Yum 2 Take a couple blocks away if you don't feel like putting up with the service at the main one.
posted by Kreiger at 6:01 AM on January 27 [1 favorite has favorites]

Seriously, as someone who's about to have some for dinner, get yourself a Münchner Weißwurst while you're there. Checking out the Frauenkirche wouldn't be a bad idea, either.
If you want to be depressed, you can check out Mauthausen which is about 15km north by train. Deutsche Bahn has a really good deal with their Bayernticket, which is about 22€ for a day of unlimited travel around Bavaria.
posted by dunkadunc at 6:15 AM on January 27

Hofbrauhaus.

beer by the litre.. and Schweinshaxn to eat

Its heaven on earth...
posted by TheOtherGuy at 6:24 AM on January 27

My only advice would be to be very careful. I had precisely the same scheduling problem almost exactly three years back (although it was the... hm, fourth of March, if I recall) and ended up deciding that day to find a way to cross the pond für immer.

I don't have much in particular to recommend that's not already been said. I'm definitely the randomly-exploring-the-city type person so I'd recommend after checking into the cheapie hotel (I forget the name of mine, though I do remember being surprised at how nice it was for the money), you can take the S-Bahn to Hbf to Marienplatz, or just walk a quarter mile or so down Bayerstraße through Karlsplatz. The main part of the old city stretches through Marienplatz east to Isartor, southwest along Sendlingerstraße (the standard-issue-international-shopping-street), and northeast toward the theaters and the Englischer Garten. Do what I did, and get lost.

Weißwurst, check. Also if you've never been to a beer hall there are a few around Marienplatz (on preview, yep, Hofbrauhaus, or Zum Franziskaner). They're all a little touristy, of course, but the food and beer are quite good and I met some nice people at my table (hm, I'll have to go back and check out No Yi Ma sometime...). The Frauenkirche I've heard is really nice if you're into climbing old buildings and looking out the windows, but it wasn't open when I was there, and I seem to remember that was a seasonal thing, so your mileage may vary.

Enjoy!
posted by Vetinari at 6:52 AM on January 27 [1 favorite has favorites]

"the Deutsches Museum"

It would take a day just to get round that.

insouciant has everything on the nose.
Get off at Marienplatz and start your wandering from there.

(ex-Munich resident, who also misses the place)
posted by Webbster at 6:58 AM on January 27

On a fun day you definitely DON'T want to be visiting Dauchau - just in case you were considering it.

Munich is a great city for cycling - with lots of cycle paths and considerate drivers. So if the weather looks good that might be an option. You can hire.
posted by rongorongo at 7:01 AM on January 27 [1 favorite has favorites]

Either S-Bahn line (S1 or S8) will bring you to the center of the city, though they come at it from opposite directions; you should probably count on an hour's travel time. Ticket-wise, get a day pass that covers the full network (the airport is waaay out there.)

If you like museums, the Alte/Neue Pinakotheks and the Pinakothek der Moderne could each easily eat up several full days. The Deutsches Museum has long had a reputation as one of the best science/technology museums. There are lots of neat smaller museums as well - the Filmmuseum is really cool, for example! I'd recommend against going to Dachau, simply because it's far enough away that it'll eat up a lot of time. It's worthwhile, if immensely sobering, but save it for a longer trip.

Castle-wise, I'd probably go for the Residenz over Nymphenburg. The grounds of the latter are beautiful, but odds are it'll be pretty cold, and the amount of open rooms in the palace itself can be pretty small, whereas the Residenz is enormous. Plus, the Residenz is far closer to the center of the city. If you're interested in Baroque churches, the tiny Asamkirche near Sendlinger Tor is incredible, and both it and the severe white interior of the Theatinerkirche are more interesting, I think, than the Frauenkirche. Like Vetinari, I definitely think randomly wandering around the city is great as well, as long as it's not too cold - the city's enormously walkable, and when you get tired, there are busses, trams, and S/U-Bahn stops everywhere. Oh, and if the weather's nice, go get lost in the Englischer Garten.

Food-wise, traditional Bavarian fare is good and cheap. For lunch, you might want to grab something from the Viktualienmarkt (right by Marienplatz); there's all kinds of great fresh stuff. And yes! Get some Weißwurst mit Brez'n und Senf! For dinner, depending on what's nearest to you, a few of the traditional-style restaurants I like (all a little smaller and less touristy than, say, the Hofbräuhaus) include the Gasthaus Jagdschlössl near Rotkreuzplatz, the Lindwurmstüberl right by the Goetheplatz U-Bahn station (great chicken dishes and Schweinshax'n), Andechser-am-Dom next to the Frauenkirche (one of the only places in the city with Andechser beer on tap), the small Paulaner Bräuhaus near Goetheplatz, or Der Pschorr by the Viktualienmarkt. (MeMail me if you want non-Bavarian recommendations, but if you're only there for a day, I'd definitely suggest eating local food instead of, say, sushi.)

Have a great time - and come back for a longer visit! Munich's a great city.
posted by ubersturm at 7:06 AM on January 27 [1 favorite has favorites]

Munich is a wonderful city. Don't miss Marienplatz. It is a bit touristy, but the show at 11 AM and noon is actually pretty neat. In addition to sampling the local beer, I highly recommend the white sausage, and only in the morning according to local custom I hear.
posted by caddis at 8:48 AM on January 27 [1 favorite has favorites]

I tried to mark more comments as "best answer" but was foiled! Great suggestions. Thanks everyone and I hope this is useful for others in the future.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 2:26 PM on January 27

Sorry for the late follow-up here...I was distracted by Left 4 Dead last night.
The gallery that I was talking about is called Lenbachhaus. Amongst the Kandinskys and Klees and so forth, they've got this little dude, who's one of my all-time favourite sculptures.
While you're in town, check out the Kunstbau, which I had completely forgotten about until I saw the links on the Lenbachhaus site. It's one of those large installation spaces that tends to get used for contemporary art. There was some cool stuff on there when I was in Munich.
posted by Kreiger at 5:46 AM on January 28