A Weekend in Munich

So I have been a very bad blogger of late. I blame the festive season and the copious amounts of food and drink I have been consuming. However now we are in a brand spanking shiny new year, I've decided its time to give my blog a bit more TLC.

I love Christmas, love, love, love it. So it has long been on my travel bucket list to visit Germany and take part in the festivities at a traditional German market or Christkindlmarkt as they are more traditionally known.

I had heard a lot of great things about Munich and the surrounding Bavarian area, which helped to make up my mind about my chosen destination. So on the 28th November my boyfriend and I flew out for 4 days of beer drinking, pretzel eating and gluwhein drinking. Pardon the pun but I am not a fan of the funny looking white sausages they sold in Munich, so I tended to stick to more traditional food.

Whilst staying in Munich we booked into an Air B'n'B in the small town of Norbad, which is really central to the main tourist spots in Munich and has very easy access routes via the cities local tram and bus networks, (albeit we did hop on the wrong trains a few times, but hey that happens to me in England).

Our apartment was owned by a lovely Canadian guy called Michael and the place was perfect. Clean, warm and cosy. I have added the link below in case anyone is ever thinking of going to Munich and looking for a place to stay. I cannot recommend this place or Michael s hospitality enough. https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/994168?s=bzkE

Now, on to the Christmas markets. Munich has an array of markets to choose from but the most popular one is in Marienplatz, which is the main square in the city centre, and also home to the beautiful St Peter's Church. It is also between the 27th November until Christmas Eve, home to the Christkindlmarkts, where you will find endless wooden chalets offering gluwhein in every shape and form, gingerbread hearts iced with messages to your loved ones and traditional wooden trinkets. It's worth noting that the Gluwhein tastes different from stall to stall. From the very sweet, to the boozy versions with added Jagermeister!!

There was something about this place, perhaps it was the hustle and bustle, the twinkly lights adorning the huge Christmas tree in the main plaza, and also the large amount of Gluwhein that I drank, but you couldn't help but feel all Christmassy inside.

Munich and the Bavarian region is also famous for its Beer halls and we visited two of the most popular in Munich. The first being the Augustiner beer hall which is a 5 minute walk from Marienplatz and offers a great selection of Bavarian beer. This was our first pit stop on day one and after tucking into a monster pretzel and drinking a pint of white beer we were ready to do more exploring. Definitely worth a visit and swift pint if you are in Munich.

The second beer hall and probably the most famous in Munich is the Hofbrauhaus. This giant beer hall has beautifully hand painted ceilings and 2km of wooden benches serving litre sized mugs of beer (steins), and has a brass band and dirndl with lederhosen clad servers.

This place has a real buzz and atmosphere to it from the moment you step through the door, and the benches mean its easy to get chatting to other beer swillers and share stories. Be warned though, you will need strong arms to hold up your litre of beer. In my case (being the little weakling that I am), I needed two hands. :)

A few other highlights from this trip was also a visit to the Olympic Park which in 1972 played host to the games which were sadly marred by a horrendous terrorist attack which left eleven athletes dead. However it was great to wander around the park and try to imagine what it must have been like in the height of Summer '72 and the thousands of spectators and athletes that would have been wandering around. The place is still largely used for music events and the swim hall was a welcome warm up-rest bite from the sub zero temperatures we were experiencing outside. The ticket booths now look a little sad and lonely, but this place still has lots of characters and history and well worth a visit.

Next to the Olympic Park is the BMW museum and a great way to spend an hour or two wandering around the museum and looking at the classic and modern vehicles.

The final highlight of Munich and something which we had planned before we went, was a trip to Neuschwanstein Castle through Viator. I had taken a trip with Viator before when I had visited Washington DC 2 years ago, so I knew they would offer a great tour.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

The small guided tour takes you two hours outside of Munich to the small town of Fussen, and from there you make your way by foot up to the castle. The town even has its own maypole. Our tour guide was a guy called Jeff and he really knew how to tell a good story about the history of the town and the castle. It was like a short history lesson with added spooky voices and hand gestures.

I was so excited before hand as the castle really does look like something straight out of a Disney film and is even rumoured to have inspired the artists behind Disney's Sleeping Beauty's castle.

However, it seemed the weather was playing against us on this particular day and the castle itself was shrouded in this blue ethereal fog which meant the castle was only visible from right underneath, and that the picture postcard view from the bridge didn't exactly offer me the photos I would have hoped for. 

Nevertheless the trip was fun, informative and the castle itself was grand and ornate and gave a great insight into the taste and personality of King Ludwig the Seconds home. Sadly the King never lived to take residence in the castle as he died in mysterious circumstances shortly before it was finished completion.

Overall, Munich was everything I hoped it would be. Steeped in history, friendly locals, tasty beer and Christmassy vibes.

I hope you enjoyed reading and hope it inspires some of you to take a trip there in the future. I recommend downloading the Trip Advisor Offline city Munich app before you go, as this helped us to navigate our way around.

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year x