Munich Things to Do Tips by sarahandgareth

A Beer Garden with an Incredible Setting Englischer Garten Review

As you probably already know, beer gardens are a big part of Munich culture. On our Beer Tour we learned that there are two major rules for being a true beer garden. There have to be chestnut trees and people must be allowed to bring their own food (although not necessarily drinks). This means you can create your own picnic (we would suggest the market in town) and bring it to any beer garden to have with your liter of beer.

We especially enjoyed the Englischer garden. There was a band in the Chinese tower playing music for the enjoyement of all the customers. The temperature below the chestnut trees was perfect and the place was neat and clean. Plus, walking through the park to get there is a treat in and of itself.

A Street Market with a Munich Touch Viktualienmarkt Review

We love street and food markets anyway, but Munich's Viktualienmarkt was an extra special treat. This market is very good selling everything from fresh meat to fresh fruit and vegetables, gormet wine to liters of beer, and neat gifts to strange canned goods. In the center of the market is Munich's Maypole which our Beer Tour guide later explained is essentially an advertisement for Munich's famous beer.

We arrived at the market early and set about collecting ourselves a nice picnic lunch of fresh bread, locally grown tomatoes, some unusual german cheeses, german reisling wine, and delicious cherries. With all that food packed away in our new Viktualienmarkt tote bag, we were all set for the perfect picnic lunch.

Although some shops open earlier and some close later, the general openning hours are Monday to Friday 10am - 6pm and Saturday 10am - 3pm.

Directions: S-Bahn lines 1-8, U3 or U6, Bus 52 to Marienplatz, then walk towards Tal and turn right behind St. Peter's church

A Wonderful City Park Hofgarten Review

In our opinion, the Hofgarten is a real gem. Unlike lots of other city parks we've visited, this one is very good sized and right near the city center. This makes it a very popular destination for locals and tourists alike and an excellent place to get away from it all!

After collecting our lunch supplies at the Viktualienmarkt, we headed to the Hofgarten for a lovely picnic. We parked ourselves close enough to the Englischer Beer garden to hear the music, but far enough to pretend that the band was playing only for us.