Munich tourist attractions

Munich has centred on Marienplatz since 1158, when the market that gave the city its name settled here. The Neues Rathaus fills the north side, its tower carrying the Glockenspiel whose figures act out a ducal wedding and a coopers' dance to a run of bells. The golden Madonna on the Mariensaule has watched the square since 1638, and the cafes, spires and shopping streets around it make this the natural start of any walk through the old town.

Location: Marienplatz, Altstadt, at the heart of the old town.

Access: Free. The Glockenspiel plays daily at 11:00 and 12:00, with an extra show at 17:00 from March to October.

The Frauenkirche is Munich's cathedral and the defining shape of its skyline, two bare brick towers capped by green copper domes that locals liken to onions. The late Gothic hall church was raised in the late 15th century and consecrated in 1494, its whitewashed interior kept plain after wartime rebuilding. A dark mark near the entrance, the Devil's Footstep, ties the church to a legend about a bargain struck with its builder. It remains the seat of the Archbishop of Munich and Freising.

Style: Late Gothic

Location: Frauenplatz, Altstadt.

Access: Free to enter the nave. Climbing the south tower is ticketed.

Photos: "Frauenkirche seen from the Peterskirche tower" by Diliff (CC BY 2.5); "Nave of the Frauenkirche" by AuHaidhausen (CC BY 4.0).

Known to locals as Alter Peter, or Old Peter, St. Peter's is the oldest parish church in Munich, its roots reaching back to the settlement that preceded the city. Inside, a Gothic frame gathers a gilded high altar and centuries of chapels and monuments. The real draw is the tower: a climb of around 300 steps reaches a narrow gallery that looks straight across Marienplatz to the Frauenkirche and, on clear days, to the Alps on the horizon.

Style: Gothic with a Baroque interior

Location: Rindermarkt, Altstadt, beside Marienplatz.

Access: The church is free to enter. The tower climb is ticketed.

A few steps from Marienplatz, the Viktualienmarkt has traded as Munich's daily food market since 1807, when it outgrew its first home on the main square. Its stalls sell produce, cheese, flowers, spices and Bavarian specialities beneath a painted maypole, and a beer garden at the centre rotates its pour between the city's big breweries through the year. Mornings are busiest, and the market rests on Sundays and public holidays while the surrounding lanes stay open.

Location: Viktualienmarkt, Altstadt.

Access: Free to wander. Only what goes in the bag or onto the table is paid for.

Photo: "Viktualienmarkt, Munich" by Wikiolo (CC BY-SA 3.0).

The Asamkirche hides behind a narrow front on Sendlinger Strasse and opens into one of the most concentrated Rococo interiors in Bavaria. The brothers Cosmas Damian and Egid Quirin Asam built it from 1733 as their private chapel, paying for it themselves, which let them cover almost every surface in gilding, fresco and twisting marble. Public pressure later opened the church to the city, and it still holds services beneath its crowded ceiling.

Architect: Cosmas Damian and Egid Quirin Asam · Style: Late Baroque and Rococo

Location: Sendlinger Strasse, Altstadt.

Access: Free to enter.

Photos: "The Asamkirche in Munich" by Wikiolo (CC BY-SA 4.0); "Inside the Asamkirche" by Fred Romero (CC BY 2.0).

The Residenz served the Wittelsbach dukes, electors and kings as their city palace for more than four centuries, growing from a moated castle of 1385 into a sprawling run of courtyards and state rooms. It is now a museum, and the shell-encrusted Grottenhof, the barrel-vaulted Antiquarium and a treasury of crowns and reliquaries rank among its highlights. The formal Hofgarten alongside stays open at no charge between palace visits.

Style: Renaissance to Rococo

Location: Residenzstrasse, Altstadt.

Access: Ticketed. The adjoining Hofgarten is free.

Laid out from 1789 by Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, the Englischer Garten runs north from the old town along the Isar and ranks among the largest urban parks in the world, wider than several better-known parks abroad. Its lawns, beer gardens and the wooden Chinese Tower fill up all summer, while the Greek-style Monopteros temple crowns a low rise. At the southern edge, surfers ride the standing wave of the Eisbach, a fixture of the park since the 1970s.

Location: North of the old town, along the Isar.

Access: Free and open at all hours.

Nymphenburg began in 1664 as a summer villa for the Electress Henriette Adelaide and grew over the next century into a broad Baroque palace fronted by a canal and formal gardens. Inside, the Stone Hall runs the full height of the central block under ceiling frescoes, and the Gallery of Beauties holds portraits commissioned by King Ludwig I. The park behind spreads into woodland dotted with smaller pavilions, among them the Amalienburg hunting lodge.

Style: Baroque

Location: Schloss Nymphenburg, Neuhausen-Nymphenburg, west of the centre.

Access: Ticketed. The surrounding park is free.

On an island in the Isar, the Deutsches Museum is one of the world's largest museums of science and technology, holding some 125,000 objects across around fifty subject areas, from mining and aviation to chemistry and timekeeping. Roughly 25,000 are on display at any time, many of them full-size machines, from an early diesel engine to sailing ships and a walk-through mine beneath the halls. A phased modernisation keeps reopening galleries, so the layout shifts between visits.

Location: Museumsinsel, on an island in the Isar.

Access: Ticketed.

The BMW Museum traces the marque's history of cars, motorcycles and engines inside a silver bowl-shaped building at the foot of the company's four-cylinder tower. Its ramps wind past racing machines, prototypes and design studies arranged by decade. Next door, the free BMW Welt showroom displays the newest models under a swooping double-cone roof, and the two sit beside the Olympiapark on the northern edge of the city.

Location: Am Olympiapark, Milbertshofen, north of the centre.

Access: Ticketed. The neighbouring BMW Welt showroom is free.

Photos: "BMW Museum, Munich" by Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 3.0); "BMW Museum at night" by Flocci Nivis (CC BY 4.0).