The Beetle recently visited Munich for shell repairing and discovered
that it is a really nice, friendly, pretty and interesting city, easy
to get around with some surprising touches – beautiful architecture,
outdoor markets, fountains and sculptures.
How to get there: the airport at Munich is vast and well served.
From London you can take Lufthansa and British Airways. It’s a short
hop – around 1 ¾ hours. To get into the city centre, there are two
S-Bahns – the slow one, the S1 and the faster S8. Either journey
takes less than an hour. Tickets costs 9 euros and can be used on your
next journey to complete your destination, e.g. the bus. You can buy tickets
on the platform or from the airport information counter. The S-Bahns are
excellent, cheap, clean, completely safe and frequent. Both go directly
from the airport via many stations around the city to the central train
station where you can make your connection with one of the other many
S and U-Bahns.
When to go: well, the Octoberfest jumps out as a good time to
visit Munich, which takes place over four weekends in September/October.
Otherwise, any time, although July is very, very hot! There are good Christmas
markets in November and December. There is almost always a large festival
taking place in Munich during any given month.
What is there to see and do: lots and lots. You can stay in the
city centre and easily spend a weekend prowling around the baroque churches,
museums, art galleries, the town hall, theatres, outdoor fresh produce
market, the Residenz, botanical gardens, the Olympic stadium and the English
Gardens. One of the oddest sights was muscle-bound tanned men surfing
on an artificially made wave of the Eisbach, about 5m wide in the English
Garden. For major label shopping, all of the posh shops are rather conveniently
concentrated on one street, Maximillian Strasse, otherwise, there’s
plenty of high street shopping to do around Marienplaz and some wonderful
off beat shops in Munich’s back streets.
Is there more to do than just a weekend? If you want! You can
take self guided walking tours around the city, or join one of many walking
tours, run in many different languages, or alternatively, there are a
variety of day trips that you can do, solo or in an organised group, including
one to Dachau, one of many Bavarian palaces, or even the Alps.
Food and Drink? Large portions seem to be the norm. If you like
pork, you’ll be very happy here. There is a wide range of restaurants
from the usual fast food outlets to upmarket French, Italian, Thai and
local Bavarian speciality restaurants. The Hofbrauhaus may be a little
touristy, but it’s well worth a visit for a beer and some local
food if you are strolling around the English Garden.
Prices? Eating out is generally very reasonably priced, but hotels
can be a little pricey. Search on the internet first and contact the tourism
agency.
Language: don’t worry if you don’t speak German, a
few basic words go a long way, but most people you will encounter speak
some English, and menus written in English are widely available.
