Quaint pubs, wacky graffiti and creative subway stations
5 Munich tips you won't find in every travel guide
You are visiting Munich and want to see something new besides the well-known sights? These insider tips are not even known to every local.
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Impressive Architecture
The Hotel Opéra (photo) at St-Anna-Str. 10 in Lehel looks like an Italian city palace with its imposing black and white façade. And the similarities don't end on the outside: the building is built over water, just like a residence in Venice. When the weather is fine, you can enjoy a decadent cappuccino in the Renaissance courtyard - the sound of the Eisbach river rushing below you is free of charge.
- How to get there: U-Bahn U4/U5 to Lehel - or tram lines 16/17 to Maxmonument
But the award for the quarter with the most impressive facades goes to Schwabing - Art Nouveau is still flourishing here. You will find exotic, unique pieces with pharaonic masks in Römerstraße 11, for example, which is not only an eye-catcher for Christians who love the Bible: in Ainmillerstraße 22, Adam and Eve smile at you personally. And along the way you will also get to know one of the oldest preserved Art Nouveau houses in the city...
- How to get there: U-Bahn U3/U6 either to Giselastraße or Münchner Freiheit - from there, you can walk through a quarter filled with impressive facades
Munich's most rustic inns
"My god, Munich is really authentic and cozy!" If there is one place where descriptions like these fit perfectly, then it is the "Tattenbach" in the Lehel district. It's not for nothing that this cult inn at Tattenbachstraße 6 is listed as a landmark building. Lederhosen are hanging from the ceiling, dancer figurines greet you from the walls, the waiters know the favorite dishes of their regular guests by heart. Mostly, it's schnitzel anyway, because that is really good here.
- How to get there: U-Bahn U4/U5 to Lehel, from there it's just a short walk
If you are looking for more rustic inns: The "Fraunhofer" in the Glockenbach district (Fraunhoferstraße 9) has been popular for decades. A little further out, the "Alter Wirt" (Old Inn) at Dorfstraße 39 in Obermenzing, dating from 1417, is worth a detour - it is considered to be Munich's oldest tavern. Although it has been renovated here and there, the flair of the former farmhouse still speaks of the coachman's table, hunting parlour and co.
- How to get there: U-Bahn U1/U2 to Fraunhoferstraße (For the "Fraunhofer"), Bus 159 to Lochhausenerstraße (for the "Alter Wirt")
Honest railway romanticism
Industrial look - sounds kind of like a hipster café. Munich's railway bridges are simple and yet beautiful. Right next to the Nockherberg hill in the Au district, you can discover a romantic view looking down from the overpass to see the trains rushing along the southern railway ring. After one or two beers, the view should be even more enchanting. But let's be honest: the view from Hackerbrücke is unbeatable - when you sit on the steel railings, the countless tracks going from and to the Munich central station are at your feet.
- How to get there: Tram line 28 to Ostfriedhof (for the overpass at Nockherberg) ; all S-Bahn lines to Hackerbrücke (for the view from Hackerbrücke)
Underground beauties
Nothing against Frauenkirche, city hall and Olympic Tower. But at some point you will have seen these Munich classics in detail more than just once. Then it's time to go underground: There, you will find completely different and pretty crazy sights! Quite a few U-Bahn (underground) stations in Munich are really something special and have been lavishly designed. At the U2 stop Josephsburg (photo), for example, the colorful walls and ceiling tiles are shining like a beacon. At the Westfriedhof station (U1 line), oversized industrial lamps hang from the ceiling, and Münchner Freiheit (U3 and U6) is actually a single, very large ceiling mirror. You will see yourself reflected everywhere at that station.
Colourful walls and bridges
Munich is a city filled with colour - even on the streets. In the 1980s, the Bavaria capital was even the hotspot of the beginning street art scene in Germany. It all started with the enigmatic word "Heiduk" on the walls of houses and Loomit's sprayed S-Bahn train, the first "Wholetrain" in Europe. But enough history - if you want to see graffiti and street art in Munich, come to the Schlachthofviertel between Sendling and Isarvorstadt! The exterior walls on Tumblingerstraße, for example, complete with rats from "Blek le Rat", bear the signature of the subculture.
- How to get there: From U-Bahn station Poccistraße (U6), a short walk down Schmellerstraße will take you to Tumblingerstraße. Alternatively, bus line 68 will drop you off at Kapuzinerplatz, which is even closer.
