Munich Things to Do Tips by sabsi

I visited the famous Oktoberfest for the first time in 2006 and I expected to hate it. The thought of hundreds of thousands of drunk people didn't really sound appealing to me. We visited for an hour on a late sunday night and I was shocked. I have never seen as many drunk people on one spot before in my life than on the way from the S-Bahn stop to Theresienwiese. It was quite scary. We walked around the "Wiesn" for a while in the rain and just had a short look into the tents. While being sober I was more interested in the carousels than in the tents ;)

The day after we visited on the afternoon in order to be early enough to find space in one of the tents. Surprise Surprise! It was actually great fun. We stayed in the Hofbräu tent for a few hours and after the first litre of beer I enjoyed it very much there. Our table round was a very international affair with visitors from Australia, the UK, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, and from all over Germany. Thomas was the only native Münchener at the table, if not in the whole tent ;) Together we had a lot of fun and a lot of beers, laughed a lot and sang along to the "Wiesn-Hits"..... And when I came out of the tent after 3 "Mass" I didn't even realise all the drunk people around me anymore. Maybe that's because I was one of them... ;)

We then walked around a bit, met friendly people and even took a turn on one of the carousels, one of the oldest on the Oktoberfest, the 80 year old Krinoline. The carousel is not really spectacular but it's old, and there's a traditional "Blaskapelle" playing live while the carousel is moving. Sooo nice. And even suitable for drunk people ;)

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Address: Theresienwiese
Directions: U Theresienwiese or S Hackerbrücke

Franz von Stuck (1863-1928) was a famous sculptor and painter. His villa was built according to his plans and it hosts a museum nowadays. The exciting part of the building, however, are not the exhibitions that take place here but the interieur design and the architecture of the villa itself. Unfortunately picture taking itself is not allowed inside so you have to believe me that this place is full of beautiful art nouveau stuff as well as tons of gold and fancy wood. Apart from that there are lots of pictures (of which I loved the frames best ;) and pieces of furniture by Stuck himself to be seen here.

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Address: Prinzregentenstr. 60, 81675 München
Directions: Tram No. 18. Get off at Friedensengel and you are right there.
Website: www.villastuck.de

Ludwigstraße must be one of the nicest streets of Munich. It starts (or ends?) at Odeonsplatz and ends (or starts?) at the Siegestor.

The streets if full of Renaissance facades and with this very plain and balanced. There's no trees or anything destroying this impression.

In the middle you will find the university as well as the Ludwigskirche - my favourite church in Munich - with its two towers and massive facade. It looks most impressive when coming down Schellingstraße.

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Address: Ludwigstraße
Directions: U 3, 4, 5, 6 Odeonsplatz or Universität

Ludwigskirche which is located in the middle of Ludwigstraße is my favourite church in Munich. From the outside the neoromantic building looks almost exotic with its two byzantine towers at the sides. It looks very light from the outside, the inside, however, is quite dark and dignified with a huge wall painting behind the altar.

It's impossible to see the whole church front from Ludwigstraße by the way. You have to walk into Schellingstraße and even then it's hard to see or even photograph the whole.

Ludwigskirche is the university church by the way. The university is located just across the street from it.

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Address: Ludwigstraße/Corner of Schellingstraße

Odeonsplatz is my favourite square in Munich. It's surrounded by beautiful buildings like the Theatinerkirche or the Residenz, there's historic buildings like the Feldherrenhalle and even the pavement is worth a look.

From here you can go into the Hofgarten or down beautiful Ludwigstraße, you can hang around the cafes or stroll to Marienplatz.

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Address: Odeonsplatz
Directions: U6, U3 Odeonsplatz

Theatinerkirche or St. Kajetan is the beautiful yellow baroque church at Odeonsplatz. It was built to look a bit like the churches of Rome or Venice that's why it is one of the most beautiful churches in Munich. The inside with the big dome is worth a look as well!

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Address: Odeonsplatz
Directions: U3, U6 Odeonsplatz

Feldherrenhalle marks the end of the impressive Ludwigstraße. It was built in the 19th century - again to resemble Italian style. This time Loggia dei Lanzi was the building that was copied. There's several statues on the stairs - some show important people like General Tilly, others are the typical lions.

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Address: Odeonsplatz
Directions: U3, U6 Odeonsplatz

The Residenz must be one of the biggest buildings in Munich. It actually consists of several buildings - all with beautiful facades and probably an interesting interieur as well. In here you will find several yards, museums and even a theatre.

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Address: Max-Joseph-Platz
Directions: U3, U6 Odeonsplatz

Hofgarten is a nice little renaissance park at Odeonsplatz. Guess which style the founder of the park used to build it? Right. It's Italian!

Here you will find lots of flowers, several pavilions, many statues, nice cafes and a great view of Munich's churches.

At the western end of the garden there's the Bayerische Staatskanzlei, a very strange building that doesn't really fit to its surroundings.

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Address: Odeonsplatz
Directions: U3, U6 Odeonsplatz

Englischer Garten is a huge park in Munich's city centre. Actually I've heard that with 3,7 square kilometres it's the biggest city park in the world. On a sunny day this is the place to be. People swim in the rivers (see pic), get a tan on the huge greens and have cold beers in the beergardens.

There's also some things to see in here like the Japanese tea house, the Chinese tower, a Greek style temple called Monopteros

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Address: It's so huge you can't miss it
Directions: U3, U6 Giselastraße or Universität