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Munich

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Munich
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Munich Travel Guide

  • About Munich
Located in southern Germany north of the Bavarian Alps, on the River Isar, Munich is Germany’s third largest city, its most visited after Berlin, and a city that seems to revel in its contradictions.Sitting on the fringes of the snow-capped Bavarian Alps, multi-layered Munich is a city that revels in its contradictions. It’s Germany’s most visited destination after Berlin, but it presents two very different faces to the world.The first is that of a modern metropolis, driven by technology and innovation, somewhat characterised by the likes of BMW (whose high-tech HQ is a big visitor attraction) and FC Bayern Munich, the hyper-successful football team whose 21st-century stadium looms on the city outskirts like some gargantuan spacecraft.The second is that of a deeply traditional town, best known for the beer-swilling rumpus of Oktoberfest but defined year-round by dirndl-wearing waitresses, gingerbread architecture and the defiantly German strain of warm hospitality known as Gemütlichkeit.Fittingly, among the flashy new boutiques and atmospheric old bierkellers (beer halls), the local citizens are at ease with this mix of cosmopolitan consumerism and old-world customs. The immense new, energy-efficient Siemens HQ is being built on a central square that still hosts a medieval Christmas market – that rather says it all.This means finding yourself stuck for something to do is unlikely. Munich’s history is a chequered thing, ranging from neoclassicism to Nazism, but that makes it a fascinating place to explore. There are modern art galleries and glitzy nightclubs (the city being one of the original homes of disco), medieval churches and dynastic palaces, riverside cafés and historic theatres.Its museums play home to some genuinely world-class collections of art too, not least at the three superb Pinakothek galleries, set in neighbouring buildings and each showcasing different periods of art history.The most famous part of the Munich skyline is still the 15th-century Frauenkirche, famous for its twin 100m-high (328ft) towers, and it’s possible to climb to the top for far-reaching views over the city.The Residenz, or royal palace, is another big draw, giving visitors a complex of different rooms and gardens to explore. In many ways, the palace provides a neat analogy for Munich as a whole: it’s prominent, not averse to opulence, and somewhere to delve into year-round.
  • Munich History
The name München (‘home of the monks’) stems from an early monastery founded in the 8th century. The local monasteries started the beer brewing traditions for which Munich is still renowned, and beer in its many forms is still consumed and adored by the inhabitants of the present-day city (now totalling over a million).Never more so than during the infamous Oktoberfest, a celebration that sees the beverage consumed on an industrial level at what remains Europe’s largest festival.By the early 16th century, Munich’s thriving population consisted of far more than just monks and those affiliated with religious orders. The city on the River Isar had established itself as an important trade centre for centuries, and the influential Wittelsbach family, who had become the city’s de facto rulers, now had ambitions to create a centre of culture and learning to rival Paris.Theses cultural improvements included universities, libraries and museums, and would continue to be improved on for the next 400 years.At the end of WWI, Munich became a conservative stronghold and a breeding ground for many extreme political philosophies. It was in this environment that Adolf Hitler first expounded his own early extremist views around the city’s beer halls.Like nearly all of Germany’s major cities, Munich was bombed heavily during WWII. But unlike other German cities, the townspeople of Munich chose to rebuild and restore their precious city rather than level it and start again, and today it’s hard to imagine the city saw any damage at all.Munich’s post-WWII rebuild laid a template for economic success, with BMW amongst others establishing their headquarters here. Today, Munich remains an energetic and economically prosperous city, with the added benefit of glorious architecture and an enviable position nestled beneath the Bavarian Mountains, all of which continue to make it a favourite spot with tourists.
  • Did you know?
Many of the major roads in Munich’s old town were pedestrianised in 1972 for the Olympic Games and haven’t been converted back. During his days as an electrician, Albert Einstein worked at Oktoberfest in 1896. He helped set up a beer tent. While the Town Hall glockenspiel re-enacts two stories from the 16th century, the mechanical show wasn’t actually installed until 1908.
  • Weather in Munich
Sitting at an altitude of 520m (1,706 ft) and being relatively close to the Alps, Munich receives about 1,000mm (39 inches) of annual precipitation on the average. In comparison, Hamburg in the north has about 760mm (30 inches) of annual precipitation on the average while Berlin is even drier.Spring (March to May) brings rain. March sees an average high temperature of 8°C (46°F) and 65mm (2.6 inches) of precipitation. April is warmer albeit rainy – this is when the city celebrates the much acclaimed Long Night of Music (Die Lange Nacht der Musik) where stages are set up across the city from bars to churches with stars performing  anything from classical to rock. This is the best time to go for music lovers.Summer (June to August) receives more rain than other seasons so pack a raincoat with you. 24°C (76°F) is the average high in July and August.Autumn (September to November) is pleasant. The city is aswarm with visitors during Oktoberfest which starts from late September through to early October. If a mammoth beer marathon takes your fancy and you’re lucky to get flight tickets, pack a sweater with you as alcohol actually lowers your core body temperature (despite you may feel warmer). 19°C (66°F) is the average high in September.Winter (December to February) is a popular season in Munich thanks mainly to its elaborate Christingle celebrations and its close proximity to many good ski resorts in the mountains beyond. In December, the average high is 3°C (37°F) while the average low is 0°C (32°F). 

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