The echo of a stein clinking in the Augustiner Biergarten, the yeasty warmth of fresh pretzels carried on the breeze, the sound of an oompah band warming up in the corner. Munich is the most visited city in Germany after Berlin, and it earns its visitors differently. Berlin is chaos and history and reinvention. Munich is order and tradition and a very specific form of joy, the kind that involves a litre of beer in a sunny Biergarten under a chestnut tree. The city rebuilt itself after the war with deliberate fidelity to its pre-war appearance. The result is a city that looks older than it is, but the feeling, that sense of deep, rooted, unshakeable Bavarian identity, is entirely genuine.

Marienplatz and the Glockenspiel

The central square has been the heart of Munich since 1158. The Neues Rathaus, the New Town Hall, is a neo-Gothic fantasy built between 1867 and 1909 with 400 rooms and a facade covered in statues of Bavarian dukes, kings, and saints. The Glockenspiel in the tower performs daily at 11am and noon, and at 5pm from March to October. The 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures re-enact two stories: the wedding of Duke Wilhelm V in 1568, complete with a jousting tournament, and the Schafflertanz, the coopers’ dance that celebrated the end of the plague in 1517. The show lasts 12 to 15 minutes. The crowd gathers ten minutes beforehand. The Glockenspiel is a mechanical marvel from 1908 and it is, entirely unironically, wonderful. The Altes Rathaus, the old town hall, sits at the eastern edge of the square and houses the Spielzeugmuseum, a toy museum with exhibits dating from the 19th century.

Englischer Garten

One of the largest urban parks in the world at 375 hectares, larger than Central Park in New York. The Eisbach, a small artificial river at the southern edge, has a standing wave that surfers have been riding since the 1970s. The city tried to ban it. The surfers ignored the ban. The city gave up. The wave now has official status and viewing platforms. The surfers queue and take turns. It is the most Munich thing in Munich. The Chinesischer Turm, a wooden pagoda in the centre of the park, has a Biergarten seating 7,000 people. The beer is served by the litre. The pretzels are the size of a dinner plate. The oompah band plays on summer Sundays. The Monopteros, a Greek temple on a hill in the centre of the park, offers the best view of the Munich skyline. The park stretches for 5.5 kilometres from the city centre to the northern suburbs.

Biergartens and Breweries: The Heart of Munich

Munich is the beer capital of the world, home to six major breweries: Augustiner, Hofbrau, Paulaner, Lowenbrau, Spaten, and Hacker-Pschorr. The Augustiner Biergarten at the Stammhaus in the city centre is the most authentic, serving beer from wooden barrels rather than steel tanks. The Hofbrauhaus am Platzl is the most famous, founded in 1589, seating 4,000 people across its cavernous halls, and a tourist attraction in its own right. The Paulaner am Nockherberg hosts the Starkbierzeit, a strong beer festival in Lent that predates Oktoberfest. The beer halls serve food as well: weisswurst with sweet mustard and a pretzel for breakfast, schweinshaxe (pork knuckle) with dumplings for lunch, and obatzda, a spiced cheese spread, with radishes and bread for a snack at any hour.

The Residenz and Nymphenburg

The Residenz, the city palace of the Wittelsbach dynasty who ruled Bavaria for 738 years, is in the city centre. The Antiquarium, built in 1568, is the largest Renaissance hall north of the Alps at 66 metres long, its barrel-vaulted ceiling covered in frescoes, the walls lined with antique sculptures. The Treasury holds the Bavarian crown jewels. The tour takes two hours. Nymphenburg Palace, 5 kilometres west of the centre, is the summer palace. The Hall of Mirrors, the Gallery of Beauties featuring 38 portraits of women painted by Joseph Stieler for King Ludwig I between 1827 and 1850, including the dancer Lola Montez whose affair with the king triggered his abdication in 1848, and the park behind the palace with its canals and follies, are the highlights.

Oktoberfest: The World’s Largest Volksfest

Oktoberfest runs for 16 days from mid-September to the first Sunday in October. The festival began in 1810 with the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The event now attracts 6 million visitors who consume 7 million litres of beer in 14 major tents. The Hofbrau tent seats 10,000 people. The Augustiner tent serves the only beer still drawn from wooden barrels. The Schottenhamel tent is where the mayor taps the first keg at midday on the opening Saturday with the cry “O’zapft is!” (It is tapped!). Reservations for the tents must be made a year in advance. The easiest way to experience Oktoberfest without a reservation is to arrive at 8am on a weekday when the tents open to those without bookings.

Dachau: The Memory the City Carries

Dachau, 20 kilometres northwest of Munich, was the first Nazi concentration camp, opened in March 1933 barely two months after Hitler became chancellor. It operated for twelve years and held over 200,000 prisoners. Roughly 41,500 were murdered there. The memorial site, established in 1965, is free. The museum traces the camp’s history in unflinching detail. The reconstructed barracks, the crematorium, the gas chamber that was never used for mass extermination but stands as a monument to what was planned. The gate with the words “Arbeit macht frei” (work sets you free) is the original. The visit takes three to four hours. It is not optional. Munich’s beauty and prosperity exist alongside this history. The city does not hide it. Neither should any visitor.

What is the one thing in Munich, the Glockenspiel, the surfers on the Eisbach, the Biergarten, the silence at Dachau, that you think about most?

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