Places/Germany

Bavaria

Munich

A wealthy southern city with museums, beer halls, and the Alps close enough to tempt a bad day trip.

Munich is richer, more conservative and more orderly than Berlin, and it does not pretend otherwise. The old centre is small. The museums are the reason to stay, along with food that is heavier than a hot afternoon wants.

Oktoberfest is a specific event with specific dates and specific prices. Outside those weeks the beer halls are ordinary civic rooms, which is the better way to meet them.

See

• A museum morning

  The Alte Pinakothek or the museums on the island in the Isar, one of them. Munich rewards a limit.

• The market and the square

  Marienplatz and the Viktualienmarkt, then out. The glockenspiel is a clock. You may watch it once.

• The English Garden

  A park large enough to make the city make sense. Walk, sit, do not schedule it between two palaces.

• A beer hall at lunch

  With food, at a shared table, not as a night you have to survive. Hofbräuhaus is the famous one and therefore the least like a local Tuesday.