Munich Overrated and alternatives

What is the source of your information?
I find Munich to be a wonderful place and not just as a “jumping off place”. My travels take me there, by choice, at least three times a year.
You did not give any information about what you are looking for in a destination and what interests you.
I would suggest reading some good guidebooks and checking out the official Munich tourism website.
www.muenchen.de

Munich has lots to offer, it depends on what interests you. Your posting is just too vague to offer any advice, more specifics are needed.

If you're personally interested in a place, why care about what others say about it? See it for yourself and make up your own mind. I happen to really like Munich - great airport, nice parks, lovely altogether. I went to Oktoberfest there which also garners "overrated" reviews, but I had a blast.

I guess it depends on your expectations. Much is made in travel literature about Munich's attempt to rebuild its historic character after the war, but that might set up an inaccurate mental image. Munich certainly didn't go the hypermodern route of Frankfurt, Berlin, or Düsseldorf, but its reconstruction wasn't a piece-by-piece reassembly like Dresden much later either. So perhaps travelers plan to visit thinking it will look something like the Gemütlichkeit-City of their imagination, but being somewhat disappointed that Munich is a functioning modern metropolis.

I admit, I was a little let down on my first visit, partially because I had the wrong expectation, and partially because I had just visited a string of other large cities, and by that time, I was dying to escape into the countryside.

But I visited frequently when I later lived in Germany for several years, and the city really grew on me. It has its scenic highlights like any other popular destination, but what gradually dawned on me is why it usually ranks so highly on livability scores. There's just something about the city that feels so... I don't know... civilized?

The one major advantage of using Munich as a base is that it functions as the transit fulcrum for southern Bavaria, and your easiest access point for destinations further north in the Franconia and Oberpfaltz regions.

If you're looking for a more a little more overt Gemütlichkeit, maybe Landshut, Landsberg, Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen or Mittenwald could be a better base, but if you don't have a car, none provides a better step-off point using public transportation than Munich.

Yep it. Seems overrated looks better in pictures but don't let opinions guide you see for yourself

Make sure you purchase RSEs Munich guide so you can take his self-guided waking tour and don’t miss anything. You can buy an electronic version from his app.
What’s great about Munich is it’s location. Dachau is a 20m train ride from Munich. Fussen and Salzburg are 2h away. It also has an international airport making it convenient to get to.

One person's "third rate destination" (to borrow a phrase bandied about by one of my esteemed fellow forum members) is another person's favorite place. I spent 3 nights in Munich in 2016; that was plenty for me; I don't feel a need to go back. I talked to someone a few days ago who adores Munich and goes there every year just to hang out. Your perception will depend on your interests and reasons for traveling.

"It seems to be a wonderful jumping off point for day trips..."

Right, but you must be a little careful...

Munich is indeed a major transportation hub - with lots of "spokes" heading in every direction. But it wasn't designed specifically for tourists doing day trips... those spokes got there in part so that residents of suburban and rural areas - both close to Munich and far away - can reach the big city when they need to.

So while it's true that SOME day trips from Munich work alright, others are just too far out. Herrenchiemsee (Prien Station), Augsburg, Landshut, Andechs, and a few other places are close enough so that you don't need to spend more than 2 hours of your day getting there and back on public transport. But many tourists attempt to prolong their stay in Munich and use those spokes for ridiculously long round-trip journeys... for example...

Neuschwanstein = 5 hours on trains and buses (plus 1.5 hours of walking to the entrance and back for your 30-minute tour)
Salzburg = 3.5 hours on trains (and Salzburg really does require a full day or longer.)
Berchtesgaden = 5 hours on trains

Garmisch-Partenkirchen might look kinda doable on paper (2.75 hours on trains round trip) but it's really not - once there, you're going to want to see things on the periphery as well.

Füssen (the normal Neuschwanstein base town) is a very nice place to stay for all the other things you can see and do in this area as well. To visit this area on a day trip from a Munich base is a very peculiar choice.

I always feel a little sad for people who stay in Munich when they shouldn't and shortchange their time in these nice places. And staying in these smaller places usually adds to the cultural experience as well.

Many thanks for the feedback.

As I am in the early stage of planning -- for now it is all about acquiring information.
I do have RS's book on Germany and find it most helpful.

I have settled on Berlin and Nuremberg -- the first two stops on our adventure.
We certainly intend to take RS 's walk through Munich and visit the Englishcer Garden -- perhaps ride bikes.
As we will be using trains -- choosing Munich as a point from which we can plan excursions is most helpful.
I anticipate my husband's cousin will be instrumental in planning our time in Baden Wurtemberg -- her family is from this area as our my ancestors and my husbands. She intends to take us to the family home in Simmersfeld.

Sadly, it has been 70 years since my father's experience in Germany -- except for his recollection of being stationed in Darmstadt -- he has no memories save for his comments on the beauty of Germany.
So forward I go with Rick Steve's help, this forum and my husband's cousin!

BTW, the center of Darmstadt is worth a look. A lot of the city got heavily bombed during the war and rebuilt in a functional modern style, but much of the turn of the century Jugenstil buildings remain (or were rebuilt).

Last time I checked, a tiny contingent of the US army garrison there still remains open, surprisingly.

We've only been once. It was a good base for day-trips, especially Nuremburg (more interesting than Munich), and a good jumping off point for Salzburg, our next stop. But Munich itself didn't impress. They're some sights, but it certainly had no charm. Happy to have spent a day or so there, but won't be going back. From our (limited), experience in Germany, Hamburg is much better big city once you've done Berlin.

Ok well -- we may give Munich a miss!

Back to the drawing board!

You should also consider travel time in evaluating cities. Lukewarm Munich is also a long detour. (I didn't call Munich lukewarm until I'd spent about 15 weeks all over Germany. Of course that's an opinion.)

I've been to Munich twice and I love it. It's a great base city for visiting the area and taking day trips to other places. I don't know what it is that people don't like. The old town area is great, may not be the most picturesque, of which there are many in Europe, but it has a couple of churches worth visiting and the Marienplatz and the city hall. Munich also has a fantastic botanical garden and the Englischer Garten is not to be missed. It has several worthy museums, especially the Deutsches Museum and the Alte Pinakothek. And even if it is kitschy and touristy I love the Hofbrauhaus, and there are other beer halls and the viktualienmarkt is worth a visit for a quick lunch and a beer.

I lived in Augsburg, 50 miles west of Munich for 4 years and loved the entire area of Bavaria. There is much to see in both cities as well as many more places in Bavaria and nearby Austria.

No way I would call Munich overrated.

I go to Munich, like going there, and would go back (time permitted) as i would do returning to Hamburg, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Kiel, Koblenz, Mainz, Berlin, Dresden, Greifswald, and other German cities.

I would call people who pan Munich "overrated critics". They are people who feel that the way to prove they are smarter than most people is to be critical of places that those people like.

In general, I am not fond of large cities. I grew up in one, and whenever we had family vacations, it was always to natural sites - Yosemite, Calif. redwoods, Lassen, Crater Lake, Grand Canyon, etc. Only once, while we were visiting the Calif. redwoods outside of Santa Cruz, did we make a day trip into San Francisco to see the aquarium there.

I've continued the same Modus for my vacation trips to Europe. Since retiring 20 years ago, I've spent almost 6 month in Europe, and 52% of my nights have been in towns of 8000 people or less. Other than Munich, I've spent just 2 nights in one city larger than 1 million, only 7 in cities larger than 50,000. I just don't find large cities appealing.

But Munich is the exception. Somehow to me, it doesn't feel that large. In the last 20 years I've spent 4 nights in the old town, and another 12 in the suburbs, but coming in 20 minutes on the S-Bahn to visit the old town.

Too many people think that Germany is just a dozen or so large cities, separated by uninhabitable desert. But 2 thirds of Germans actually live in that desert - in cities with less than 120,000 inhabitants.

Flew into Munich Sept 2019 - stayed 4 days before taking the train to Salzburg - absolutely loved Munich - could have stayed another week - hope to return one day.

I made my first visit to Munich in 2013 , and instantly fell in in love with the place . I have made five visits , each , staying ten days . I never get bored with the place , and always find more to see , in addition to making repeat visits to many sites . As I frequently visit Central Europe , my trips always wind up with sojourns in Munich and Vienna. I can't get enough of either .

We too loved Munich. We rented bikes and biked around the city, went to the English garden, town hall, the Viktualienmarkt, beautiful city, my wife and I loved it immensely.

Just curious as to why Munich is considered to be overrated.

I always wonder this as well (full disclosure I used to live in Munich so I'm biased), but if you look hard enough on the internet you will find someone being critical of any subject.

One cause is people might have different expectations about a big city vs what Munich has to offer. While there are museums and palaces to visit in Munich they are not top tier (except the Deutsches Museum, on par with the Smithsonian for Science Museum), so if you are going to Munich looking for these types of cultural activities you will be disappointed. If you are going there to experience small town charm in a big city then you will be rewarded.

Another issue might be the location I see many people pick for their stay in Munich, near the Hauptbahnhof. This are is more geared to business travelers who need something close to the station or backpackers needed a cheap room. There is nothing wrong with this area but this is like staying near the airport in a major US city when you are on holiday, not ideal.

So if you do go to Munich here is my advice:
- Stay somewhere central close to the sites you want to see, not near the Hauptbahnhof
- If the weather is good, spend a whole day exploring the Englischer Garten (by bike if you can). Just search this site for recommendations on what to see and do there
- Spend some time exploring one of the many great neighborhoods in Munich.

DJ

Hi Russ, you can travel between Munich and Salzburg within two hours.

MaryPat,

Russ is giving round-trip times... the total travel time invested to see a site/place from Munich.

Herrenchiemsee (Prien Station ) ... [is] close enough so that you don't need to spend more than 2 hours of your day getting there and back on public transport.

Prien station, yes, not more than 2 hours, but Prien station is not Herrenchiemsee palace. It only take 55 minutes by regional train from Munich's Hbf to Prien Bhf, but the train gets there at 51 minutes after the hour. If you left Munich just before 9:00, you'll get to Prien station at 9:51. The next boat to the island is at 10:00, not enough time to get to the harbor by streetcar or on foot. The next boat is at 10:30 and takes 15 minutes to the island pier, from which it is a 16 minute walk or carriage ride to the palace. So from Prien Bhf to the palace takes 1:10; it takes 2:05 from Munich Hbf to the palace - one way.

If you have a tour reservation, you have to pick it up from the kiosk next to the pier when you arrive, 45 minutes before the tour. Figuring a wait in the line at the kiosk ('cause the boat just arrived with lots of people with reservations), the tour will start one hour from your arrival on the island and runs 30 minutes. With the walk back to the pier, you'll only be able to catch the boat that leaves 2 hours after your arrival. You'll still spend almost 1½ hr at the palace for the 30 minute tour.

If you go without a reservation, like I did, you might get lucky, like I did, and get a tour within a ½ hour of arriving at the palace, and be able to get back in time to catch the boat a half hour earlier. Still you'll be at the palace for an hour. ( Actually, I stayed longer at the palace, because it was around noon, and I had lunch there.) But if you don't have a reservation, and it's crowded, you might wait more than an hour for a tour.

The trip back to Munich, considering the timing of the boat and train will take at least 2:40 from when you leave the palace, so, with a reservation, you'll spend over 6 hours, 4¾ hours of it traveling back and forth, for a 30 minute tour of a poor copy of the real palace at Versailles.

If you are on the way from Munich to Salzburg, as I was, it won't be so bad - a four hour (min.) stop over to see the palace, but as a day trip from Munich, no.

Herrenchiemsee is a very popular day trip from Munich. It does require most of a day. But I think the many people who visit look at the steam-train shuttle to Prien-Stock (the harbor area,) some time over a meal in one of the waterfront restaurants, the ferry crossing to the island, the island walk to/around the palace, the views of the surrounding countryside and the Alps, and the palace itself, not just as a dull sequence of transport duties, but as a pleasant package of activities that, taken together, is worthy of a day's time.

Gray Line and Viator sell day trips from Munich - I know zero about those options, but they surely bypass the train station and the steam train shuttle and will probably drop you right at the harbor - perhaps that will speed up your day. But I think most people heading there are just looking for a slow kind of day.

Have a look HERE to read visitor comments/reviews of Herrenchiemsee.