Munich, Germany

In 1812, King Maximilian I decided beer gardens could sell drinks but not food, so Munich’s residents started bringing their own bread, radishes, and cheese and just buying the beer. That law is gone, but the custom stuck, and it’s still legal at every proper beer garden in the city today, provided you sit at a bare wooden table rather than one with a tablecloth. Nobody explains this to visitors, who then wonder why the table next to them is covered in home-packed sausages while a waiter pointedly ignores them.

Getting into the city

Munich Airport sits about 30 kilometers northeast of the center, and you’ve got two solid options in. The S-Bahn lines S1 and S8 run every ten minutes or so and reach the main train station, the Hauptbahnhof, in around 45 minutes for a single ticket priced at 13.60 euros, or 23.40 euros for a group ticket covering two to five people, which is usually the better deal if you’re not traveling alone. The Lufthansa Express Bus is the other nonstop option, running every 20 minutes for 13 euros one-way, and it’s worth it if your hotel sits closer to a bus stop than a train station. Skip the taxi unless you’re arriving very late; it costs several times either option for the same trip.

Where to base yourself

Altstadt, the old town around Marienplatz, puts you within walking distance of the New Town Hall’s Glockenspiel, the cathedral, and most of the postcard sights, which makes it the easiest first-visit choice even though it runs more expensive and more touristy after dark. Glockenbachviertel and Isarvorstadt, just south of the old town, are where Munich actually goes out: better restaurants, the city’s LGBTQ+ nightlife scene, and still only a ten-minute walk back to Marienplatz. If you’re coming for Oktoberfest specifically, expect every category of accommodation to triple in price and book six months out rather than six weeks.

The sights worth your time

Marienplatz is the obvious start, and the Glockenspiel show on the New Town Hall, which reenacts a 16th-century royal wedding with mechanized figures, runs several times daily and costs nothing to watch. The Englischer Garten is larger than Central Park and has a standing crowd of surfers riding a permanent wave on the Eisbach River right at the park’s edge, a genuinely strange sight for a landlocked city. Nymphenburg Palace, the Wittelsbach family’s summer residence, is worth the tram ride out for the gardens alone even if you skip the museum inside. The Deutsches Museum holds the title of world’s largest science and technology museum and easily swallows half a day. If you’re a football fan, catching FC Bayern at the Allianz Arena is one of the better live sport experiences in Europe, tickets allowing, though they sell out fast for anything beyond mid-table opponents.

Neuschwanstein Castle, the fairytale structure that inspired a certain theme park logo, sits about two hours south by train and is genuinely worth the day trip, but go early: tour slots sell out and the approach on foot up the hill takes longer than photos suggest.

Where to eat and drink

Gaststätte Fraunhofer, near Sendlinger Tor, is the kind of unglamorous, rustic Wirtshaus that does Bavarian classics properly without playing to a tourist crowd. For beer gardens, Hirschgarten in the Nymphenburg district is the largest in the world, with around 8,000 seats between its self-service and table-service sections, and it feels distinctly more local than the central options. Chinesischer Turm, under the pagoda in the Englischer Garten, is the postcard version of a Munich beer garden and earns the crowds it gets. The beer garden at Viktualienmarkt is the most central of all and the only one not tied to a single brewery, since the city’s six major breweries rotate serving duties there, which makes it a good spot to sample more than one without moving tables. If you want the bring-your-own-food experience described above, buy your Brotzeit ingredients directly from the surrounding Viktualienmarkt stalls, then find a bare wooden table before ordering just a beer.

Practical details

Germany uses the euro, and while cards are more widely accepted than a decade ago, plenty of smaller Bavarian establishments, including some beer gardens, still expect cash. Tipping 5 to 10 percent in restaurants is standard, done by rounding up or telling the server the total you want to pay rather than leaving cash on the table. The MVG transit network covers the city thoroughly with U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams, and buses, and a day pass for the inner zones runs about 9.90 euros, which pays for itself after two or three rides. Consider the Munich Card if you’re planning to hit several paid attractions, since it bundles transport with discounted or free entry to a long list of museums and sights.

Rush hour, roughly 7 to 9am and 5 to 7pm, is worth avoiding on the U-Bahn if you’re carrying luggage, since the trains fill up fast with commuters. And if you do end up seated at a beer garden table with a cloth on it, know that the bring-your-own-food rule doesn’t apply there, so order from the kitchen rather than unpacking a picnic and getting a pointed look from the staff.