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Munich on weekend

Our stay in Munich will be over a Saturday and Sunday. We want to spend some time in the beer halls and market places. Are any businesses typically closed on Sundays? We will arrive Friday and have Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We want to take tours of Neuschwanstein castle and Dachau Memorial as well as soak up flavor of Munich. Any advice about which days to take tours and which days to spend on the walking tour Rick Steves has designed? I see the Viktualienmarkt is closed Sunday. How important is the market to see? Are the famous beer halls open on Sundays?

Posted by
4684 posts

Germany is still very serious about Sunday closures for most shops. Most bierhalle, bars and restaurants will be open, though.

Posted by
19242 posts

Do you also have all day on Monday (stay Monday night), or is Monday the day you leave? If you only have Saturday and Sunday as full days, I would suggest you forego either Dachau or Neuschwanstein. Neuschwanstein is an all day trip; Dachau is a half day trip, but the scheduling of the tours makes it half a day in the middle, leaving only a few hours before and after to see Munich.

Posted by
16895 posts

I don't think it's particularly important to do Rick's Munich walking tour in the order described. You can fit in a stop at Viktualienmarkt and other edges of the route on different days. I love markets, but how much time you spend there partly depends on whether you're taking lots of photos or stopping to eat.

Posted by
11613 posts

If I had to give up something, it would be Neuschwanstein, but if that's the only castle on your itinerary, you may really want to see it. I think Saturday is your best bet for marketplaces, beer halls can be visited at night, and as another poster pointed out, you can arrange your walking tour(s) of Munich into segments that fit the time that you have.

Posted by
106 posts

Most of the shops in the Marienplatz area will be open on Sunday, as it's a very touristy area.

The big bier halls will also be open. Hofbrauhaus is the big one, and you do need to go there to experience it. Be prepared that it will be very crowded and loud (particularly on the weekends), but go in and order a beer just to have the experience.

I would also recommend checking out some of the smaller ones. On the last trip we took to Munich, my husband and I wandered into a small bar that was off the main road and had the best time talking to the owner, talking to locals, etc.

The market is neat to see, but if you have limited time, I would put it lower on my list of priorities. A quick walk through is all you need. There is also a beer garden in the middle of the market. It's a nice place to grab a sandwich and a bier and take a little break.

Posted by
19242 posts

If I'd give up something to have more time to tour downtown Munich, it would be Dachau. If you paid attention in history class, you already know what happened there (actually, although many died of overwork at Dachau, it was not a "death camp" per se, that is, people were not brought there to be killed as soon as possible. There were gas chambers, but test showed they had never been used.)

I'd stay in town and visit Frauenkirche, Marienplatz, the Deutsches Museum, or Schloß Nymphenurg, ? I've been to the Münchner Stadtmuseum (a little south of Marienplatz) twice and found it fascinating both times. I've walked through the Viktualienmarkt when it was operating and found it interesting, but not a must see.

Posted by
37 posts

I beg to disagree about Dachau. As the first concentration camp it was symbolic of the murderous Nazi regime. It's exhibits are worthwhile and is much easier to get to than other notorious death camps. As a family whose cousin was a liberator of the camp I disagree with your assessment of what occurred there. I feel that anyone who has the opportunity to visit it should not miss it. We all need to better appreciate what happened there.

Posted by
9165 posts

I would put Dachau at the top of the list of places to visit in the Munich area. Just because people were worked to death doesn't make it any less horrid or make their deaths less important. "Only" 41,500 died.
https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/

I would go on one of the regular Daily walking tours to get the best of Munich, rather than walking around on your own. Go to the Viktualien market before or after. It is just a market like one finds in most cities in Germany, only it has permanent stands. Everything else, like beer gardens, etc. can be seen in the later afternoon and evenings. I could live without the Hofbrauhaus. There are better places to get a real flavor of the city, and better food and service.

Only stores are closed on Sundays. Mondays most museums are closed.