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Summer in Munich The Best Things To Do in the City This Season

Summer in Munich 

The Best Things To Do in the City This Season

No Munich summer experience is more essential or more deeply embedded in the city's culture than an afternoon in a Biergarten. The tradition of outdoor beer drinking under the chestnut trees dates back to the early 19th century, and today Munich has over 30 beer gardens ranging from the famous and sprawling to the intimate and hidden. The Englischer Garten's Chinese Tower beer garden, the Hirschgarten with its resident deer, and the beautiful Seehaus at the edge of the Kleinhesseloher See lake are among the finest. The ritual of ordering a cold Maß of Bavarian beer, a pretzel, and a plate of Obatzda cheese spread and settling in for a long afternoon of convivial conversation is one of Munich's great pleasures.

The Englischer Garten is one of the largest urban parks in the world, larger than New York's Central Park, and in summer it is the beating heart of Munich's outdoor life. Sunbathers cover every available patch of grass, families picnic by the Kleinhesseloher See lake, the beer gardens are full from midday onwards, and the legendary Eisbach wave at the southern entrance draws a constant crowd of spectators watching the skilled surfers who ride it year-round. The park is also home to a beautiful Japanese tea house, a Chinese tower, and miles of cycling and walking paths that reward exploration in every direction. 

The Deutsches Museum on the Museumsinsel in the heart of Munich is the largest science and technology museum in the world and one of the most fascinating and absorbing attractions in Germany. The vast collection covers everything from mining and shipbuilding to aviation, space travel, musical instruments, and the history of computing, and the hands-on exhibits and demonstrations make it as engaging for adults as it is for children. Allow a full day for a thorough visit and focus on the areas that interest you most, as attempting to see everything in a single visit is a genuine impossibility.

One of Munich's greatest summer privileges is its extraordinary proximity to some of the most beautiful lakes in Europe. The Starnberger See, just 30 minutes south by S-Bahn, is the closest and most popular, offering excellent swimming, sailing, and lakeside beer gardens with Alpine views. The Tegernsee, the Ammersee, and the Chiemsee each offer their own distinct character and beauty, and any one of them makes for a perfect summer day trip. The crystal-clear, glacier-fed waters are refreshingly cool and exceptionally clean, and the surrounding Bavarian landscape is simply magnificent.

A look up to Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein castles from the nearby lake in Bavaria.

5. Visit the Marienplatz and the Viktualienmarkt

The Marienplatz, Munich's central square and the heart of the old city, is the essential starting point for any exploration of the city center. The neo-Gothic New Town Hall with its famous Glockenspiel carriage chime, the older Old Town Hall, and the surrounding pedestrian streets are all wonderfully atmospheric and enjoyable to explore. Just steps away, the Viktualienmarkt is Munich's beloved daily food market, a sensory feast of fresh produce, Bavarian specialties, cheeses, meats, flowers, and a central beer garden that is one of the finest and most atmospheric in the city. A morning combining both is one of the most quintessentially Munich summer experiences imaginable.

6. Take a Day Trip to Neuschwanstein Castle

No visit to Bavaria in summer is complete without a day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle, the extraordinary fairy-tale palace perched high above the Alpsee lake near Füssen that inspired Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle. The two-hour train journey from Munich to Füssen followed by a bus and walk to the castle passes through some of the most beautiful Bavarian countryside imaginable, and the castle itself, seen from the famous Marienbrücke bridge above it, is one of the most breathtaking views in all of Europe. Book castle entry tickets online well in advance as summer demand is extremely high.

Neuschwansteinstraße 20, 87645 Schwangau, Germany

Munich is home to one of the finest concentrations of art museums in Europe, centered around the three Pinakothek galleries in the Maxvorstadt museum district. The Alte Pinakothek houses one of the world's greatest collections of Old Masters, with masterpieces by Rubens, Dürer, Raphael, and Titian. The Neue Pinakothek covers 18th and 19th-century European art, while the Pinakothek der Moderne is the largest museum of modern art in Germany. The surrounding museum quarter also includes the outstanding Museum Brandhorst and the Egyptian Museum, making Maxvorstadt one of the most culturally rich neighborhoods in Central Europe.

8. Explore Nymphenburg Palace and Gardens

Nymphenburg Palace, the magnificent Baroque summer residence of the Bavarian royal family located on the western edge of Munich, is one of the most beautiful and rewarding attractions in the entire city. The vast palace complex, with its central building and flanking pavilions, houses an extraordinary collection of royal apartments, carriages, and the famous Gallery of Beauties commissioned by King Ludwig I. But it is the extensive formal gardens that truly come into their own in summer, with their canals, fountains, formal parterres, and romantic English landscape section providing a wonderful setting for a long morning or afternoon of leisurely exploration.

Schloß Nymphenburg 1, 80638 Munich, Germany

The Tollwood Summer Festival is one of Munich's most beloved and celebrated summer events, a large and wonderfully eclectic festival held in the Olympic Park every June and July. The festival combines world music performances, circus acts, theatre, art installations, and a fantastic international food market in a convivial and inclusive outdoor setting that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Entry to the festival grounds is free, with tickets required only for the main stage performances. The atmosphere is warm, creative, and joyfully multicultural, and the Tollwood Summer Festival is one of the highlights of the Munich summer calendar.

The Olympic Park, built for the 1972 Munich Olympics, is one of the most beautiful and enjoyable outdoor spaces in the city and a wonderful destination for a summer day out. The park's distinctive tent-roof architecture, its large lake, its rolling green hills, and its extensive cycling and walking paths create a wonderfully relaxed and open atmosphere. The Olympic Tower offers panoramic views over the city and the Alps, and the park hosts a regular programme of summer concerts, outdoor cinema screenings, and sports events. Climbing the Olympiaberg, the grassy hill at the center of the park built from Second World War rubble, rewards you with one of the finest free views in Munich.

Spiridon-Louis-Ring 21, 80809 Munich, Germany

The beautiful city of Salzburg, birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and one of the most perfectly preserved Baroque cities in the world, is just 90 minutes from Munich by train and makes for one of the most rewarding and effortless day trips from the Bavarian capital. In summer, Salzburg is at its most magnificent, with the Salzburg Festival drawing the world's greatest classical musicians and performers to the city throughout July and August. Even outside of festival time, the old city, the Hohensalzburg Fortress, the Mozart Geburtshaus, and the beautiful gardens of Hellbrunn Palace make Salzburg an extraordinary and deeply enjoyable day out from Munich.

For a uniquely Munich experience that requires no travel at all, swimming in the Eisbach and Auer Mühlbach channels that flow through the Englischer Garten is one of the most enjoyable and authentically local summer activities the city has to offer. The crystal-clear, fast-flowing Alpine water is refreshingly cold even on the hottest summer days, and the designated swimming sections of the river are a beloved institution among Munich residents. The famous Eisbach surfing wave at the southern entrance to the park, while not a swimming spot, is equally essential viewing and one of the most extraordinary urban surfing phenomena in the world.

With so much to see, do, and experience in and around Munich in summer, choosing the right hotel base is one of the best investments you can make in your trip. We recommend browsing the full range of Munich properties on 

, where competitive pricing, a wide neighborhood selection, and the Hotels.com Rewards program all work in your favor. Earn a free night for every 10 nights booked and enjoy a seamless booking experience from start to finish.

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