Accommodations
I stayed in an Airbnb that my friend booked that was a good walk from the main square and more expensive. I think a hostel would have been better.
Transportation
I flew to the airport via the Madrid airport. The cheap ticket option was late on Friday night. You can take the train into town from the airport. You can take the U-bahn (metro) or S-bahn (commuter trains) to most places in the city. The long-distance trains are also nice and you can take them to other cities.
Attractions
- My friend booked us a guided tour to Dachau, the first concentration camp, which is close by to Munich. It is a popular tourist destination and requires taking a train and bus to get to, so it takes more planning without a guide. We thought you could only reach it with a guided tour, but this ended up not being true. However, having a guided tour here was one of the highlights of my trips to Europe. I’m not good with recorded audio tours or just reading signs because I tend to gloss over things or space out. Having a guided tour who knew so much about the camp made it much easier to understand everything that happened there. Other people have certain opinions about tours in concentration camps or other similar places because they are loud. I found that everyone in our group respectful and since I got so much more out of the trip from it, it was definitely the right choice for me. It was a bit more expensive than other things I’ve done but the value of this one single tour exceeds all the small cathedrals, markets, and bell towers all combined, which probably cost more when you add it up.
- Hofbrauhaus is the most famous beer garden in Munich, and as we found out it’s the place where Hitler started the Nazi party. I found it strange that this was still a central part of the social life, but we wanted to try traditional food and drink so we went there. The food was alright (we got a potato dish that seemed like it would have been better warm) and the beer was good, but the live music and hustle and bustle of the restaurant made everything worth it. We also bought a pretzel and finished our stines.
- While waiting for dinner we stopped by the shopping market near the Marzenplatz square where they have a massive Topshop.
- Near Marzenplatz there are beautiful buildings and a market to check out.
Food
- We stopped at Cotidiano for some coffee, the service was bad, and the food was alright.
- Orleans Kebap was right outside our Airbnb and the only thing available when I arrived. It was pretty good. I’ve realized that kebab is the go-to late night food in Europe.
- Rischart is a place to get pastries in lots of train stations and urban areas. You can get a pretzel, a danish, or a drink.
- Asian Gourmet was a fast-food restaurant in the train station that was pretty good.
What I would do differently
For a day in Munich, I think we did the perfect combination of things. We could have used our time better by going to the gardens or some other place to walk around rather than shopping, but Dachau + Hofbrauhaus was a great combination for one day in Munich.