Munich is two days in the city and three in the mountains.
Which Neuschwanstein trip actually gets you inside the castle. What a beer-hall evening costs before the second litre. Whether Salzburg is worth the border run when you only have one spare day. Reviews of every tour you can book in Munich.
Four bookings that hold a first Munich weekend together.
The Altstadt on foot, the market at lunchtime, the city by bike and the old town after dark. What each one costs and what the people who took it say.
01The first morningMunich Old Town Walking TourMarienplatz, the Frauenkirche and the lanes behind them. Two hours that make the rest of the map legible.
02Lunch, standing upViktualienmarkt Food TourThrough the Viktualienmarkt stalls with someone who knows which butcher to queue at. Come hungry, skip breakfast.
03The flat cityMunich 3-Hour Guided Bike TourMunich is level and full of cycle lanes. Three hours covers the Residenz, the Isar and the English Garden.
04After darkNight Watchman Walking TourA night watchman walks the old town with a halberd and a lantern. Silly on paper, genuinely good in the dark.
Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, or the whole Alpine run. Pick your day.
The castles are the reason half of Munich’s visitors book anything at all. Interiors are seen on a timed guided slot, the coach leaves early, and the difference between the options is how much of Bavaria you see on the way.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day Trip
The castle dayCoach south, timed entry at Hohenschwangau, back for the evening.
Two palaces in oneLinderhof and its gilded grotto bolted onto the Neuschwanstein run.
The alpine oneKönigssee by electric boat, then the salt mine at Berchtesgaden.
Over the borderSalzburg’s fortress, the old town and the lakes behind it.
Every day trip out of Munich →
Everything worth leaving Munich for is back by dinner.
Ludwig’s castles sit two hours south, Salzburg two hours east, and the Alps fill the window for most of the way. Six destinations that run as a single day out of the Hauptbahnhof.
The Munich days more travellers take than any other.
Every Munich tour we have reviewed →Castles, the memorial at Dachau and the beer halls, in the order Munich’s visitors actually book them.
1
Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day Trip
Spend 10.5 hours visiting Linderhof Palace and Neuschwanstein Castle, with time in Hohenschwangau for lunch and photos. Your guide handles timing and optional castle tickets, while live commentary is offered in English or German. Premium tours may include refreshments and audio options.
Read our review →
2
Third Reich & WWII Walking Tour
from $31
3
Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site Tour from Munich by Train
from $64
4
Neuschwanstein Castle Tour from Munich
from $95
5
Third Reich Walking Tour Munich
from $45
6
Neuschwanstein Castle Full-Day Trip
from $93
7
Dachau Memorial Site Day Tour
from $49
8
Dachau Memorial Site Half-Day Trip
from $62
In Munich the meal is the plan, not the interval.
Beer halls that hold three thousand people, a market that has fed the city since 1807, and evening tours that treat both as a single subject. Book the market walk before noon and the beer-hall crawl after six.
- 1Bavarian Beer and Food Evening Tour in Munichfrom $87
- 2Classic Mike’s Bike Tour daily @ 11.30 incl Beer Garden & Surfersfrom $42
- 3Viktualienmarkt Food Tourfrom $50
The old town is small, and that is the whole trick.
Marienplatz to the Hofbräuhaus is a seven-minute walk, and almost everything a first visit wants sits inside that circle. Guides fill it in: the Glockenspiel timings, which church has the view, and what the Feldherrnhalle was used for.
What a day out of Munich actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. The city itself is cheap to see; the money goes on the coach south.
Old town walks, market mornings, museum entry and the hop-on bus ticket.
The standard full days out: the castles, Salzburg, the Alpine lakes and a proper beer-hall evening.
Small-group and private castle runs, the Zugspitze in winter, and a car with a driver for the day.
The city where the party began, and the camp thirty minutes north.
Munich was the seat of the NSDAP from 1920 and called itself the Hauptstadt der Bewegung. The buildings are still standing: Königsplatz, the Feldherrnhalle, the Führerbau. Walking tours cover what happened at each of them.
Dachau opened in March 1933 as the first Nazi concentration camp and ran for twelve years. The memorial site is free to enter; guided visits from Munich cover the journey, the grounds and the documentation.
Four Munich bookings that run on a calendar, not on your mood.
Most of this city can be arranged over breakfast. These four are governed by timed entry slots, an alpine road that closes with the snow, and two festivals with fixed dates.
- 01Neuschwanstein Castle Full-Day TripThe castle interior is seen only on a timed guided slot with a fixed number of places, and summer slots are taken weeks ahead.
- 02Munich City Walk and Oktoberfest Tour With Beer Tent ReservationOktoberfest runs from late September into the first days of October. Anything built around it goes months in advance.
- 03Berchtesgaden and Eagle’s Nest Day Tour from MunichThe road up to the Kehlsteinhaus opens roughly mid-May and closes in late October. Snow shuts it for the rest of the year.
- 04Original Munich Christmas Market Tour with Festive Wine and FoodThe Christkindlmarkt stands from late November to Christmas Eve, and the stalls come down the same night.
Rain, snow, or the flat grey that sits on Munich until March.
The city is unusually well set up for a wet afternoon: a royal palace with a hundred and thirty rooms, a science museum nobody finishes in a day, painting galleries three streets apart, and a beer hall at the end of every one of them.
Three things that only happen in Munich.
Old towns and breweries exist all over Europe. A standing river wave in a public park, a watchman still doing the rounds, and a fortnight that shifts the city’s population do not.
The Wave in the Park
A metre-high standing wave runs under a bridge at the south end of the English Garden, fed by a diverted arm of the Isar. Surfers queue on the bank in wetsuits all year, take one ride each and swim out downstream. It is cold, it is free to watch, and it is the strangest thing in any European city park.
- 1Classic Mike’s Bike Tour daily @ 11.30 incl Beer Garden & Surfers★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,246 reviews
- 2Mini Classic Bike Tour @ 4pm incl. Beer Garden & Surfers 2,5 hrs★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 251 reviews
- 3Eisbachwelle River Surfing Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 9 reviews
The Nachtwächter
The night watchman patrolled Munich until street lighting made him redundant, calling the hours and checking for fire. Guides revive the job with a halberd, a lantern and a horn, walking the lanes after the shops close. The route is the real one; the jokes are older than they look.
- 1Night Watchman Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,092 reviews
- 2Middle Ages Tour with Night Watchman★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 652 reviews
- 3On the road with the night watchman★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 142 reviews
The Wiesn
Oktoberfest is not a beer festival bolted onto Munich, it is Munich for a fortnight from late September. Six breweries build temporary halls on the Theresienwiese, the beer is brewed stronger for it, and a table without a reservation is a fantasy. Tours handle the reservation and the etiquette.
- 1Beer and Food Tour with Dinner & Oktoberfest Museum★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,086 reviews
- 2Munich City Walk and Oktoberfest Tour With Beer Tent Reservation★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 275 reviews
- 3Oktoberfest Experience and Lunch in Tent★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 120 reviews
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