"Munich At Last!" Munich by AnnS

Twenty years ago I flew into Munich Airport on a package tour to the Austrian Tyrol. As a coach was waiting to whisk us away, I didn't get to see anything of the city but did pick up some tourist information for the area and made a mental note to return. Over the years it remained on my list because there were no direct flights from my local airport.

But having become a seasoned traveller, I explored other ways to get there and finally put together a trip which involved a low-cost flight to Salzburg, a train from there to Munich, and a great deal at a 4* hotel, making the total cost for 6 nights around €300.

Aftermath of a Snowstorm

Sometimes when you've wanted to visit a place for a long time, actually doing it proves to be a bit of an anti-climax but that certainly wasn't the case with Munich. It's a truly lovely city, packed full of wonderful architecture, culture and history, loads of things to do and see, great shops, friendly and helpful people and is a great base for exploring the region.

Going in March meant there weren't a lot of tourists around so there were no queues and no need to book advance travel for day trips. The weather was very cold and it snowed at times but to me, that added to the fun.

Marienplatz, Munich

I usually only visit cities for 3 or 4 days but this time I decided to stay longer... mainly due to flight times and an excellent hotel rate. So I booked for 6 nights, wondering whether I'd find enough to occupy myself for that length of time.

As it turned out, 6 nights was not enough. I took a couple of day trips outside the city but the rest of the time was spent pounding the streets and investigating the 'must sees' in my guidebook. But even with my best efforts, at the end of the trip I still had two whole areas unexplored so I will definitely be returning to this wonderful city again soon.

• Pros:Wonderful architecture, laden with history & culture, helpful people, clean & safe environment, great shops, excellent base for exploring the area.
• Cons:None that I found.
• In a nutshell:As impressive as a city gets!