Munich is the capital of the state of Bavaria in southeast Germany. It is famous for Oktoberfest, a large 16 day public festival that is held in September and early October. At Oktoberfest, people from around the world come to enjoy beers from around Munich and a variety of Bavarian food. Apart from Oktoberfest, the city has many breweries, beer halls and beer gardens (Open air locations where beer is served) and is a popular destination for beer lovers, earning it the moniker “Beer capital of the world”. Hofbrauhaus, an old beer hall and restaurant is one of the most popular and well known of Munich’s beer halls.
In the centre of Munich is the plaza “Marienplatz”, which is a good place to start a tour of Munich from. Marienplatz features great architecture and many notable buildings and churches including the old and new city halls (Altes and Neues Rathaus), a golden statue of the virgin Mary (Mariensaule), and the churches Frauenkirche and St Peter’s church (Peterskirche). The glockenspiel or carillon in the tower of the new city hall is one of the major tourist attractions in Munich. At 11 a.m everyday (And 12 p.m and 5 p.m in summertime), carillon music plays and various figures in the carillon move and dance. A short distance from Marienplatz is the Englischer Garten, a large public park with a lake.
There are many museums in Munich. These include the Deutsches Museum, a science and technology museum with a wide variety of interactive exhibits and also an underground mining exhibit, and many art museums that exhibit art, paintings and sculptures both historical and modern such as the Bavarian National Museum, the Haus der Kunst and three Pinakothek museums (Alte Pinakothek, Neues Pinakothek and Pinakothek der Moderne).
There are many other activities that visitors to Munich can engage in. Those interested in skiing and snowboarding can visit one of the many ski areas around Munich on the Bavarian alps, while Sports fans can visit both the Allianz arena, which is home to the famous Bayern Munich soccer team and also the famous Olympic stadium (Olympiastadion). For those interested in ballet and opera, the National theatre of Munich, the Prinzregententheater and the Residenz theater offer performances around the year. Shopping enthusiasts can go to either the Olympic shopping mall where clothing, food and books are available or the well known Viktualienmarkt where a large variety of food and drinks are sold. Finally those interested in cycling around Munich can get a guided bike tour from Mike’s Bike tours.
While at Munich, one can also visit many castles and palaces. Castle Neuschwanstein, a fairy-tale castle in a beautiful setting is extremely popular and gets over a million visitors every year. Castle Neuschwanstein is situated about 130km from Munich near the village of Schwangau. In Munich proper, there is the Nymphenburg palace and the surrounding gardens (Hofgarten), which are major tourist attractions. The Nymphenburg palace features great architecture as well as many beautiful frescoes and decorations. Another highly visited palace in Munich is the Residenz where treasures and other items of historical Bavarian royalty are displayed. Other famous palaces near Munich include the old Schleissheim Palace, the new Schleissheim palace and the palace of Lustheim.
So while Munich will always be known for it’s beer festival, the city has much more to offer the visitor.