Two Days in Munich

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e5116
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Two Days in Munich

Post by e5116 »

I'm going to Switzerland on a business trip soon and have basically two full days in Munich (long layover) over the weekend before. Suggestions or helpful hints? Must sees? I'd like to go to Dachau, but not sure if that's enough time or worthwhile since my time is so limited. I arrive very early on a Saturday and leave late Sunday night. Booked a hotel near the Nordfriedhof metro stop for the night, but can change that if necessary. Also if you have any suggestions of places to go in Basel, Switzerland, let me know. Thanks!
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Steelersfan
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by Steelersfan »

The Treasure Museum, if you like expensive jewels, goldsmith's work, enamels, crystal objects and ivories from previous rulers of Bavaria. I've been to a few of those and that's the best one I've ever seen. You'll be in awe of the wealth and craft it took to make the pieces.

http://www.residenz-muenchen.de/englisc ... /index.htm

The Deutsche Museum is huge and very interesting, and focuses on science related stuff.

http://www.deutsches-museum.de/en
livesoft
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by livesoft »

Deutches Museum for sure.

Just walking around the Marienplatz can be fun.

Frauenkirche is my favorite cathedral.
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gkaplan
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by gkaplan »

Dachau
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VictoriaF
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by VictoriaF »

You will be jet-lagged and sleep deprived. Don't plan too much.

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Toons
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by Toons »

"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity" –Bruce Lee
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VictoriaF
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by VictoriaF »

Toons wrote:Dachau would be on my list
It gives a nuanced meaning to the bucket list,

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Steelersfan
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by Steelersfan »

The Hofbrauhaus is fun if you like to eat German food and drink their beer in an a large, loud and rustic beer hall.

http://www.hofbraeuhaus.de/en/index_en.html
stan1
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by stan1 »

I would recommend a small group tour of Dachau as the information signs throughout the camp can only convey a fraction of what happened. I can't give you advice on a tour guide as I joined a group that had originated on Marienplatz as they were entering the Dachau visitor center. I asked the guide if I could join, and he said yes. The tour lasted almost 3 hours and was well worth the 15 Euro price. The guide was an American history student enrolled in a Ph. D. program at a university in Munich and gave a very good tour. You can easily get to Dachau by S-Bahn and a well marked city bus. A visit to Dachau will take most of the day.

If you enjoy cars a visit to the BMW Welt could be on your list (include a plant tour and it will also take most of the day; without a plant tour you can see the Welt and Museum in about three hours if you move quickly).

If you enjoy art museums I would also recommend the Pinakothek. There are three buildings -- Alte (Old), Neue (new) and Moderne. The Neue is relatively small but has a large number of famous paintings in it. I enjoyed the Moderne as there was a variety of 20th century pop culture/design including furniture.

Personally I would skip the Residenz. It is large and much of the building was leveled in WW II. There are many "better" palaces/castles to visit in Europe (although I would agree the "Treasury" part had a great collection of gold objects and other handcrafts).

Public transit is very easy as the S-Bahn comes directly out of the airport.
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Taylor Larimore
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DACHAU

Post by Taylor Larimore »

I'd like to go to Dachau, but not sure if that's enough time or worthwhile since my time is so limited.
e5116:

I will never forget our morning in Dachau. It was one of the most meaningful days of my life.

It will help you understand why more than 50 million people died during World War II.

Best wishes.
Taylor
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Steelersfan
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by Steelersfan »

This company offers walking tours at reasonable prices. I've done several. Most are excellent, a few have been duds.

http://www.munichwalktours.de/en/dachau ... tion-camp/

I have not done their Dachau tour, but it gets excellent reviews on TripAdvisor. i did their concentration camp tour in Berlin and thought it was great, albeit depressing.
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DiscoBunny1979
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by DiscoBunny1979 »

Taylor Larimore wrote:
I'd like to go to Dachau, but not sure if that's enough time or worthwhile since my time is so limited.
e5116:

I will never forget our morning in Dachau. It was one of the most meaningful days of my life.

It will help you understand why more than 50 million people died during World War II.

Best wishes.
Taylor
---------------

On a more pleasant note, since Oktoberfest is over, I'd venture on over to the Munich BMW factory and see how excellent cars are put together. lf Stuttgart, it would be the Mercedes Benz Factory/Museum. Also in Munich would be the Olympic stadium where If you wanted the trip to be really on a somber note see both the Stadium and Dachau.
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Watty
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by Watty »

The Deutsche Museum is huge and very interesting, and focuses on science related stuff.

http://www.deutsches-museum.de/en
FYI, they have ample exhibit signs in English so language is not a problem there. It is more than your typical science museum, and more or less at the same level as the Smithsonian.



Neuschwanstein castle is overrated.
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e5116
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by e5116 »

Thanks for the thoughts and recommendations! Certainly gives me things to think about - I'm leaning towards taking it relatively easy the first day, walking around Marienplatz, hitting up the Hofbrauhaus or something similar at night. Then probably Dachau on Sunday...

And, of course, enjoying what Germany is great at: :sharebeer
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Watty
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by Watty »

e5116 wrote: And, of course, enjoying what Germany is great at: :sharebeer

After you have a few :sharebeer it might be good to know that in Munich that by law any place that is licensed to sell beer must provide public toilets that are available for use by non-customers. So when you need one don't just look for a restroom sign, also look for a beer sign :sharebeer

I don't recall if they were usually free or just cost a few coins but either way that is a very practical solution.
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Re: DACHAU

Post by Valuethinker »

Taylor Larimore wrote:
I'd like to go to Dachau, but not sure if that's enough time or worthwhile since my time is so limited.
e5116:

I will never forget our morning in Dachau. It was one of the most meaningful days of my life.

It will help you understand why more than 50 million people died during World War II.

Best wishes.
Taylor
And 28 million of those dead were Soviets (not sure how many Chinese). Which really does make you think.

Dachau was a concentration camp, not a death camp. So it actually wasn't a key cog in the machine of the Final Solution.

The death camps were 6 (7?) in number and all in Poland-Eastern Euroe (don't have them all to mind but they included Auschwitz, Birkenau (which is Auschwitz 3), Sobidor (site of the only successful mass escape), Treblinka). Mostly they were dynamited and buried by the retreating Germans, but the speed of the Soviet advance caught them off guard, and so Auschwitz-Birkenau was not. And so we have them as living monuments.

They are pretty grim places. Hiroshima and Dresden and Coventry have all been rebuilt, so there is less to see of the devastation of WW2. But Auschwitz? It sits there and haunts you. 1 million in, something like 1,000 survived.
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by Valuethinker »

e5116 wrote:I'm going to Switzerland on a business trip soon and have basically two full days in Munich (long layover) over the weekend before. Suggestions or helpful hints? Must sees? I'd like to go to Dachau, but not sure if that's enough time or worthwhile since my time is so limited. I arrive very early on a Saturday and leave late Sunday night. Booked a hotel near the Nordfriedhof metro stop for the night, but can change that if necessary. Also if you have any suggestions of places to go in Basel, Switzerland, let me know. Thanks!
the 2 main art museums the Neue and Alte (old) Pinakotek, have just phenomenal amounts of great paintings-- the Bavarian kings were great collectors. You could spend more than a day in either. Even a couple of hours is well rewarded.

Dachau is worthwhile, albeit depressing.

The Hofbrauhaus is incredibly touristic. Stick your nose in, see lots of American, Australian, English tourists, then go somewhere else. The old town square with the clock is neat.

People go to Neuschwanstein. It's the Disneyland castle (see 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang') and is too over the top for me (King Ludwig of Bavaria made it as a late 1800s renditinn of what he thought a castle from fairy stories should look like). But it's interesting.

Basel? There's a very nice Paul Klee museum (although some of his works are on tour, I think at the moment). It's a very pleasant town just to walk around as I recall. I also took a train to Berne, which is the formal capital (? or just the historic one?) and is quite quaint.
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by gd »

If you find yourself in the Marienplatz, which you almost certainly will, take a walk through the Victualienmarkt; it's got a very nice little biergarten under the trees. If you like going up steps and looking down, also go up the Peterskirche tower (alter Peter), small admission charged. I've never been to the Hofbrauhaus, scared off by its "must see" reputation among Americans, but often meet Munich-dwelling friends at the Augustiner restaurant on the pedestrian zone just by the train station. It's very loud inside but lots of character, even though they renovated the toilets a few years ago and removed the puke bowel (your guide book may be confusing, as they've got several other bierhalls as well, away from the central pedestrian zone). It's the kind of place where you generally end up sharing the large tables with strangers (your choice if you want to stay strangers). Study your guidebook instructions on eating weisswurst before ordering.
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by dickenjb »

Don't miss Dachau. A must see and easily accessible by public transport.

Marienplatz, the glockenspiel, Hofbrauhaus. Get the Schweinshaxe, it is not to be missed.
2retire
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by 2retire »

It sounds like you already have a plan in place, which sounds resonable way to handle your time there. I'll just throw in a few more bits of info.

Deutches Museum - In the late 80's this was the largest Natural History museum in the world. I have probably been to it five times and still haven't seen the whole thing. There are even parts of the building I could never find again. It has lots of interactive exhibits and the basement used to be set up as mines to show you how various types of mining are done.

Dachau - Although not technically in Munich, everyone should really visit an old concentration camp site once in their life.

Hoffbrau House - Although this is popular with tourists, you may just want to skip it unless you like loud places and drunk people. There is a Hoffbrau House in Las Vegas that somewhat lives up to the real thing. One of the primary reasons to go to the Hoffbrau House other than beer is the food. You should try a Schweinshaxe (pork hock) while you are in Munich. They normally only appear around festival time, but since the Hoffbrau is a fest all year long, they have them there year round. I believe there is also a restaurant near the Oktoberfest grounds, that specializes in haxen all year long. By the way, you can get haxen in Vegas on Saturday night, but when they run out that is it. They also fly in the giant pretzels from Germany for Saturday night there too.

Marienplatz - This is just the downtown walking district. Like a lot of European cities, the downtown is designed for walking. Car are prohibited on the streets during daytime hours. Everyone just walks in the streets and shops and visits restaurants. This is where you'll also find the Glockenspiel, the famous animated clock.

Isar River and Englischer Gartens - It is probably too late in the year for this, but in the summer it is great. Munich has a river running through it. All along the river are parks and walking paths. Just a way do to more outside walking in Munich.

Nymphenburg Palace and Botanical Gardens - Although someone mentioned Neuschwanstein (the castle Disney is modeled after), it is outside the city. Nymphenburg is another one of Ludwig's castles and is inside the city. It may even be on the same subway line that takes you to Dachau. The botanical gardens are also located at the site of the castle, so you can actually do two things with one visit.

Olympic Stadium/Park - There really isn't a lot to do here other than to walk around. It is kind of just a big park. It was great when FC Bayern played their soccer games there. It gave a better reason for going there.

Bavarian Motor Werks (BMW) Museum - You used to be able to get a tour of the factory and then go into their Museum and learn all about the history of BMW. Lots of different cars, trucks, planes, motorcycles, and race cars to see.

There are a couple of more places I could recommend outside of the city a bit: Andechs Monestary and Lake Chiemsee (with another of Ludwig's castles) but that might be too much traveling.
Last edited by 2retire on Wed Nov 06, 2013 2:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Professor Emeritus
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by Professor Emeritus »

I've taught in Munich and traveled there many times.
1) Dachau is fully worth the effort to get there . buy a guide, take a tour or just look and feel.
2) The Nymphenburg gives you a sense of Bavaria as a separate country.
3) tourist Munich (Beerhalls and Marienplatz are fun but modern) but the music in the evening goes well with beer
4) Pinakotek are excellent. I prefer the Deutsches Museum but lines there can be awful
dowse
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by dowse »

Others have covered most of the high points. I've been to Munich many times, but never to Dachau. Wish I had done that. One spot that I haven't seen mentioned is Kloster Andechs. It's a monastery outside of the city, but reachable by train (S-bahn, I think). It has huge open fields, interesting chapel and of course a beer garden with great traditional Bavarian food served. Not sure if anyone mentioned the Viktualien Markt (open air and some indoor market). Enjoy your visit to one of the world's great cities.
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by chaz »

gkaplan wrote:Dachau
Yes!!
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2retire
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by 2retire »

dowse wrote:Others have covered most of the high points. I've been to Munich many times, but never to Dachau. Wish I had done that. One spot that I haven't seen mentioned is Kloster Andechs. It's a monastery outside of the city, but reachable by train (S-bahn, I think). It has huge open fields, interesting chapel and of course a beer garden with great traditional Bavarian food served.
Interesting, we always drove there that is why I thought it would probably be too far out of the city. I was last there 25 years ago and didn't remember an S-bahn going there. It is a good alternative to going to the Hoffbrau Haus if you just want to enjoy a beer garden atmosphere and food.
likegarden
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Re: Two Days in Munich

Post by likegarden »

I lived and worked in Munich 1965-1968. I liked the Deutsche Museum with all its technological displays. I actually lived close to Nymphenburg and liked walking in the park behind the palace. The Hofbrauhaus or similar beer restaurants is a must too. Then there are very good art museums, Pinakothek.
In respect to Dachau, a memorial was created in 1965, that's why I did not see much then. Here is a reference :
http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/

There are Christmas Markets in Germany over the month of December, they are lovely. In Munich there are several, Marienplatz has a Christmas Market from November 25 to Christmas Eve.
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