What to do in Munich in a weekend, what to see low cost and characteristic, where to eat and where to drink good beer for a few euros, here is Chiara's story.
When you are talking about Monaco of Bavaria can only come to mind why it is best known: Oktoberfest. For me, until a few months ago I knew nothing about this city except that it was the seat of the queen of beer festivals, but visiting the capital of Bavaria shows how much there is actually to discover in its streets.
Avoiding visiting Munich during the Oktoberfest period is also the best choice to save a little on everything. For this city, September and October are very high season, so the prices of accommodation and flights are skyrocketing; so why not choose to do a spring or summer trip, or still focus on winter enjoying the Christmas markets?
Here are some tips to visit the city without missing the best but always traveling low cost.
As soon as you land at Munich Airport you can immediately get into the atmosphere and stop at Airbräu brewery to taste the beers produced right inside and taste typical Bavarian dishes. There is no better way to start (or finish) a trip to Munich! Single dishes are served with prices ranging between 10 and 17 €, while one half-liter beer costs € 2,75.
One of my favorite places in this city is theEnglish garden o English Garden: one of the largest city parks in the world, where you can relax under the sun aboard the Kleinhesseloher See, walk along its paths with a bike or a rickshaw, explore its most remote corners, but also stop at beer gardens which is located next to the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower). Here you buy food at the self service and sit at the tables just outside, with € 15 you can fill up and it is a great way to taste Bavarian cuisine.
Inside the park there is also one of the strangest attractions in Munich, namely theStatic Wave, on which, at any time of the year, surfers can be admired enchanting the public.
Since we are on the subject of beer gardens, we cannot fail to mention the Viktualienmarkt: in the heart of the city center there is a historic market, dating back to the nineteenth century, with local products, handicrafts, more or less exotic fruit, cheeses and cold cuts, various shops and stands where you can get food and drink. Among the benches and benches there are fountains dedicated to popular and relevant citizen characters, as well as the traditional "maypole" (as well as the cuccagna tree, in German known as Maibaum) where all the breweries now active in the city are symbolically represented.
We cannot fail to mention the historic center at least in general: with its streets, the Neues Rathaus that overlooks Marienplaz, the squares and churches such as Theatinerkirche, Frauenkirche and Michaelskirche. Everything is free and allows you to experience the city in all its beauty by discovering its history.
Although there was no time to visit the numerous museums located in the city, I found that the Picture galleries have more than affordable prices, as well as having wonderful works of art exhibited: the Alte Pinakothek, the Neue Pinakothek, the Pinakothek der Moderne, the Museum Brandhorst and the Sammlung Schack have entrance tickets that cost between € 2 and € 10 with the possibility of having cumulative daily or multi-day tickets starting from 12 € e on Sundays the entrance costs only 1 €. In these galleries there are masterpieces of art history: from Tintoretto to Rembrandt, then passing by Van Gogh, Turner, Cezanne and modern artists such as Warhol and Basquiat.
To conclude, I want to recommend a place that I never expected to visit (as well as appreciate!): The BMW world, the car manufacturer's exhibition area. It is located in a very modern glass building, there is no access cost to pay and you can freely turn between cars and motorcycles. This salon is a kind of foretaste of what is then the BMW Museum, which is located just beyond the road, where in addition to a permanent collection, exhibitions dedicated to particular themes are periodically proposed.
A short distance away is also the Olympic Park, the protagonist area of the 1972 Munich Olympics where cultural and sporting events are often held, as well as being immersed in a green area with walking paths.
Photographs: Nickay3111, DAVID HOLT, calflier001, Polybert49, Hans Porochelt, Dominik Moser
