Munich this April

Here's my favorite easy day trip from Munich.

Take the S8 train southwest from Munich to the end of the line at Herrsching. Walk 500 meters to the pier on the lakefront. Take one of the elegant paddle-wheel ships across the scenic Ammersee to the authentic, untouristed lakeside town of Dießen am Ammersee. Wallk through Dießen to the ornate Marienmünster abbey (1732) that overlooks the town.

Return to Herrsching, and take Bus 951 (or hike about three miles up into the forested hills) to Kloster Andechs, where the Benedictine monks have been brewing beer since the 15th Century.

Photos here.

Or take S1 about 20 minutes from Hauptbahnhof to Oberschleißheim, and visit the magnificent, colorful Schleißheim Palaces, summer home of the Bavarian royal family. Aviation history buffs will enjoy Flugwerft Schleißheim (aviation branch of the Deutsches Museum), a short walk from the Schleißheim Palaces.

If you have a free Sunday, go to the spa town of Bad Wörishofen (about an hour by train west of Munich), birthplace of naturopathy. Therme Bad Wörishofen is a wonderful spa/sauna/waterpark complex. Then go to the open-air cafe on the small grass-runway airfield on the north side of town and watch skydivers do their thing, while you wait for your 45-minute ride in a classic 11-seat, Russian-built Antonov An-2 biplane (advance reservation required; photos here).

The self-guided Munich city walk in Rick's Germany guidebook is excellent. It can take anywhere from two hours to two days depending on your interests and curiosity level. The tour ends at Odeonsplatz; I suggest to continue by walking west along Briennerstraße from Odeonsplatz, past the small park dedicated to victims of the Nazis (Platz der Opfer des Nationalsozialismus), to the new NS Doku-Zentrum, scheduled to open April 30. It is built on the site of the wartime Nazi party headquarters, destroyed at the end of the war. Just around the corner is the three-story School for Music and Theater. During the Nazi era this building, then called "Führerbau", housed Hitler's offices. In a second-floor office (now a practice room for music students) Hitler, Mussolini and Britain's Neville Chamberlain signed the infamous 1938 Munich Pact. Across the street is the historic Königsplatz.

For deeper study into Munich's role in the NS movement, the city offers comprehensive downloadable guidebooks and maps of "Thematic History Trails".

Video of many of the above sights, from August 2014, here.

Munich also has a brand new museum of Egyptian art.

Thank you!

The BMW Museum is a good stop too; but for a quick, casual visit the BMW-Welt (the huge and glitzy auto showroom and delivery center) across the street is just about as much fun -- it's open longer hours, and unlike the Museum, it's free.

On a related note, check out the Verkehrszentrum, the transportation branch of the Deutsches Museum. Aircraft are at Flugwerft Schleißheim, as noted above, but all manner of ground vehicles are here. There's even an exhibit celebrating the American car culture -- a pink 1959 Cadillac in front of a Route 66 diorama.