In the summer of 2020,
I set out to rediscover my hometown, Munich,
shortly after the city had reopened most of its attractions.
In this video,
I want to show you what visiting Germany is like now
and give you some ideas on how to best spend your time
in the amazing Bavarian capital.
(gentle music)
Hi guys, I'm Max Nomad.
And today I want to show you
my top 18 things to do in Munich, Germany
during the new normal.
Marienplatz is the heart and soul
of Munich's city center.
Its main attractions are the Mariensaule,
Mary's Column from 1638
and the beautiful neo-gothic Neues Rathaus,
New Town Hall from 1909.
The facade of the Neues Rathaus
showcases the famous Glockenspiel
that shows a medieval tournament on its upper floor
and the Schäfflertanz Cooper's Dance on its lower floor.
The Glockenspiel comes to life every day at 11:00 a.m,
12:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.
- Now we're gonna walk over to the side
that is truly the symbol of Munich.
The Frauenkirche from 1488
is Munich's most famous church.
By law, no other building in the central city
is allowed to stand taller than this iconic cathedral.
Two of the most interesting sights on its inside
are the cenotaph, empty tomb of Duke Ludwig the Bavarian,
and the so called devil's footprint,
according to legend, the devil stumped his foot in this spot
in furious surprise because from this exact vantage point,
the Frauenkirche seems to have no windows at all.
(upbeat music)
All right, so I just get out of the church,
so I can take off the mask.
And now let's go to the Hofbrauhaus.
(upbeat music)
I'm now standing in front of the most famous beer hall
in the world.
I'm of course talking about the Hofbrauhaus.
It was open in 1644 and has been serving beer ever since.
So let's go inside and find out what it's like
to have a beer to know during the new normal.
(cheerful music)
- The Hofbrauhaus is one of Munich's oldest beer halls
and a symbol of German drinking culture.
It's name,
which translates to court brewing house in English
and its logo with the golden crown
come from the brewery's history
as the Royal brewery of the kingdom of Bavaria.
The beer hall became so popular with visitors
from all over the world
that there are now four hofbrauhaus franchises
in the United States, Italy, Brazil, and even Australia.
(upbeat music)
So now I'm Inside the opera house,
I had to wear my mask and register at the entrance
before they would let me in
but now I'll hopefully be able to order a beer
and I think I can take off the mask now,
because I'm seated at the table.
I think those are the rules.
(cheerful music)
The beer arrived and it's awesome.
And this is actually a Radler
since half beer, half lemonade, which is nice
because you don't get quite as fast, this is one liter.
And then of course I ordered a really traditional dish,
it's called schweinsaxe,
which is basically a roasted pork
and that comes with potato dumplings
and it's absolutely delicious with dark beer sauce,
because in Germany, you can never have enough beer, I guess.
(cheerful music)
Do you know, what's really funny, as a local
I tend to avoid going to the opera house
because it's usually so overcrowded with tourists
and I don't like the super touristy atmosphere
but now with the new normal,
it's almost completely empty and actually quite nice.
So I liked the atmosphere, it's kind of quiet, cozy,
it's great.
After a short walk,
I arrived at one of Munich's most impressive squares.
The main sites on the Odeonsplatz, are the residenz palace
the Feldherrnhalle, Field marshal's hall,
and the stunning yellow Theatinerstraße
The square is important for German history
because it was here in 1923
that the Bavarian police stopped the so-called
Beer Hall Putsch
which was Adolf Hitler's first major attempt
to seize power in Germany.
(upbeat music)
The Hofgarten is the park of the Residenz Castle
and it's a beautiful place to come
and relax in the center of Munich.
(cheerful music)
And I'm on the English garden,
which is one of the biggest inner city parks in the world,
and it's just gorgeous today with the sunny weather.
As you can see lots of people from Munich come here
to hang out and even in the new normal, it's quite busy.
(upbeat music)
I'm now standing in front of one of the main attractions
here off the English gardens, the Eisbach Welle
with the surfers.
It's an amazing site that basically holds surfers everyday,
all year round, super cool to see.
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One of my favorite ways to get around Munich
is by an e-scooter.
So we're going to take one of those here
and go to the crazy ice maker.
(cheerful music)
The Verrückter Eismacher, crazy ice cream maker
in English is an Alice in Wonderland themed ice cream shop
that offers lots of inventive flavors.
Some of which certainly can be classified as crazy.
- This is sauerkraut.
(Max laughs)
so weird, it's so weird.
That's Augustiner beer, that's actually pretty good,
that's like the best beer in Munich,
If you come to Munich, try the Augustiner,
everyone in Munich says that's the best brand.
And actually also tastes good as an ice cream.
Next I met up with my friend Jesco,
to have dinner at the Chinese Tower Beer Garden.
Okay. So I met up with Jesco and now we're ready to
get in line, because there's a huge registration line,
we have to leave our contact details
in case anyone gets sick
they could trace the people that might've been infected.
So yeah, this is going to be interesting. Let's see.
(cheerful music)
- So now we're at our tables
so we're allowed to take off the mask finally,
which is a relief and we're already got our beer. Cheers.
First time in the beer garden.
(upbeat music)
And the food arrived, and looks pretty good.
We got like about the most German things that you could get.
So Jesco's got the peri sausage
and I got the half chicken with potato salad
and it looks delicious.
Bye Jesco.
(uplifting music)
- The next morning I started my day
by visiting one of Munich's most interesting parks.
So today I'm here in the Olympic Park
which was built for the Olympic games in Munich in 1972.
The Olympic park usually draws people
all year round with concerts, sporting events and festivals.
It features lots of popular attractions
like a swimming hall, an ice skating rink
a mini golf course, a sea life aquarium
and the Olympic Lake with Pedalos for rent.
(upbeat music)
- And I'm up here on the Olympiaberg,
which is a hill in the center of the Olympic Park,
and it offers amazing views of the Olympic grounds.
And of course also of the city of Munich.
Two the main eye catches that you can see
from the Olympic Hill are the 290 meter tall Olympic tower
and the Olympic stadium where Germany,
won it's second soccer world cup title in 1974
on a clear day,
the Olympic tower office spectacular views of Munich
against the breathtaking backdrop of the Bavarian Alps.
There is a little beer garden here,
right next to the peak of this little Olympiaberg.
So this is a great place for rest and for a nice beer
on the way down,
or of course you could also have an ice cream there,
right on the edge of the Olympic park, the BMW World
and the BMW Museum are great places for car enthusiasts.
The museum comprises 17 sections that trace the development
of BMW's product line.
And it also covers the company's involvement
in motor racing.
The futuristic BMW world, acts as a massive showroom
for BMW's latest models and innovations.
(intense cheerful music)
And that is the BMW world.
And if you buy a brand new BMW, you can actually pick it
up right here and then try it out on the German highway
afterwards, where there's no speed limits.
I took the subway back to the center to visit
one of the true showstopper sites of Munich
With 10 courtyards and 130 rooms in display,
The Munich residence of the Wittelsbach rulers,
is the biggest city palace in Germany.
Tours of the palace start at
the beautifully decorated Grotto Court
and continue through the famous Antiquarium,
a barrel bolted hall that contains the Bavarian monarchs
enormous antique collection.
I'm now inside the residence
which was the home of the Bavarian rulers
from the 1508 until the first world war.
It's an amazing building and was widely considered
to be one of the most impressive palaces in Europe
during that time.
And I mean, if you look behind me, oh yes, you'll agree.
Some of the highlights of the palace
include the Electors Rooms,
decorated with stunning Italian portraits and landscapes
the exuberant Rococo style Rich Rooms,
the Rich Chapel
and the emperor's quarters called Stone Rooms
which are awash and colorful marble.
(upbeat music)
Well, this museum was a true highlight.
This castle is impressive.
The residenz is definitely one of the must sees in Munich,
and it's so cool because it's completely empty right now
with the new normal, there's no one in there.
There was maybe three other visitors apart for me,
and I really enjoyed it.
I took an e-scooter to get to another one
of Munich's main cultural draw cards.
I'm now standing in front of the, Kunstareal
which is a small area here in the center of Munich,
where you can find all of the best art museums.
The most famous ones are the Alte Pinakothek
which is right there behind me, the Neue Pinakothek
the Pinakothek der Moderne and the museum Brandhorst.
So for all of your art lovers out there,
this is definitely your area in Munich,
the Alte Pinakothek from 1836,
houses one of the most important collections
of old European masters in the world,
some of its most famous paintings include
Albrecht Dürer's Self Portrait,
Titian's Emperor Charles V,
Ruben's Last Judgment,
Murillo's, Two Children Eating a Melon and Grapes
and Francois Boucher's Marquise de Pompadour.
(upbeat music)
This is definitely the right place
if you want to see some grand masters
like Ruben's, Rembrandt, this kind of style
it's an impressive place.
I started the next day off with a visit
to Munich's biggest and most famous open air market.
I'm now in the center of the big Viktualienmarkt
which is truly a Gourmet's paradise, you can find all kinds
of fresh fruits and vegetables here
but also cheese, honey, sausages,
it's an amazing market and a great choice,
if you want to try some gourmet food in Munich.
(cheerful music)
Many of the stands here
at the Viktualienmarkt have been around for generations.
The one behind me for example
has been in business since 1903,
that's more than 117 years, crazy.
(cheerful music continues)
After a quick stroll around the market grounds
it was time for lunch.
(cheerful music)
The Viktualienmarkt also has a nice beer garden, cheers.
Really refreshing.
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Oh, here we have like an assortment of some of the most
typical dishes from Munich.
This one is cream cheese with some spices and raw onions,
it's called Obazda and it's delicious with pretzels,
and here are the Weißwurst,
the white sausages, which are super popular as well
especially as breakfast food.
Traditional Bavarian breakfast is actually
white sausages with pretzels and a beer Of course.
(cheerful music continues)
Definitely try the Weißwurst,
it's one of the best dishes there is.
I walked through Munich's busy pedestrian zone
to get to my next destination; Karlsplatz or Stachus
as the locals call it.
Together with the other big central squares,
Marienplatz and Odeonplatz and the Sendlinger Tor,
the Karlsplatz square outlines Munich's big pedestrian zone,
which is the perfect place to go shopping in Munich.
Fun fact, by the way, if we want to say
that something is really, really busy in Bavarian
which is the regional dialect here we say,
(Max speaks foreign)
and we mean as busy as the Stachus Square
here in the center of Munich.
I took the subway and a tram to get to another famous site.
Usually the best ticket for visiting Munich
is the day-pass single-tageskarte it's called.
This will get you anywhere you need to go really in Munich.
(lively music)
I'm now standing In front of the Schloss Nymphenburg,
the Nymphenburg Castle, which used to be the summer palace
of the Bavarian Kings and Queens until the abolition
of monarchy in Bavaria in 1918.
It's a perfect place for a summer stroll in sunny Munich.
Apart from the gorgeous palace grounds
that are very popular with locals Nymphenburg Palace
features sumptuous period rooms,
including the famous Schönheitengalerie,
a gallery with 38 portraits of attractive women
chosen by King Ludwig I,
the palace also hosts the Marstallmuseum
which displays Royal coaches and riding gear
and a large porcelain collection.
(upbeat music)
And as a great bonus tip,
if you're visiting the Nymphenburg Castle,
there's an excellent ice cream shop, very close to it
called Sarcletti,
it's one of the best ice cream places in Munich,
and I got with my favorite combination of
Stracciatella, malaga and Amarena cherry. It's delicious.
Sarcletti is really one of the best ice cream places
in Munich.
So good. So good.
For dinner I met up at a very special place
with my good friend Andreas.
- Hi, How are you doing?
- so now we're in my favorite restaurant here in Munich,
it's L'osteria, and it's famous for the huge pizzas
that we have here.
And the pizza I got here is Salsiccia Piccante
and Carpricciosa two of my favorite pizzas, mixed into one.
Andreas ordered Munich's most typical drink.
- I've been drinking this Augustiner Helles,
which is a local Munich brew,
and it's a brand that's been here
for maybe 700, 800 years already.
- [Max] It's the best beer in Munich.
- It's very delicious.
And yeah, it's just nice to go out again,
First time coming to a real restaurant in quite a long time,
and it's just to enjoy some Bavarian called Gemutlichkeit
just a feeling of enjoying yourself, relaxing
and having kind of a good, good time.
- So those are my recommendations for Munich.
What are yours, if you're from there
if you've been there before,
please make sure to leave your tips and advice
in the comment box below this video.
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published every day, I'm Max Nomad,
and I will talk to you soon.