MUNICH
Sofitel Munich Bayerpost
Germany
From Hotel: 🚶 18 min · 🚕 8 min → Frauenkirche
Munich's late-Gothic cathedral, built 1468–1488 in red brick with two onion-domed towers that are the unmistakable skyline silhouette. Inside, the so-called Devil's Footprint in the entry stone is part of every Munich legend told by every local.
🏛️ Daily 8:00am - 8:00pm
⏰ ~30 min
🚶 2 min · 🚕 2 min → Marienplatz
Munich's central square since 1158, framed by the Neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus and the historic Altes Rathaus. The Glockenspiel performs daily at 11:00am · noon · summer 5:00pm — 43 bells and 32 life-size figures re-enacting a 1568 royal wedding and the Schäfflertanz.
🚶 2 min · 🚕 2 min → St. Peter's Church
Munich's oldest parish church and the city's nickname namesake — Alter Peter. The 91-meter tower climb of 306 steps, no elevator, delivers the single best Altstadt panorama: Marienplatz directly below, Frauenkirche, the Alps on a clear day.
🏛️ Monday - Friday 9:00am - 6:30pm · Saturday - Sunday 10:00am - 6:30pm
⏰ ~45 min
💵 Cash Only
🚶 7 min · 🚕 3 min → Hofbräuhaus am Platzl
The Bavarian state brewery's beer hall — founded in 1589 as the royal brewhouse and open to the public since 1828. The ground-floor Schwemme seats 1,300 under vaulted painted ceilings, a brass band on the central platform, and the regulars' own steins padlocked in iron cages along the wall.
🏛️ Daily 11:00am - 12:00am
⏰ ~1.5 hr
🚶 9 min · 🚕 3 min → Munich Residenz
The Wittelsbach dynasty's seat of power for 500 years and one of Europe's grandest urban palaces — Antiquarium hall is the single-room highlight, a 70-meter Renaissance gallery of antique busts beneath ceiling frescoes. Treasury and Court Church round out the visit.
🏛️ Daily 9:00am - 6:00pm
⏰ ~3 hr
🚶 4 min · 🚕 2 min → Hofgarten
The Renaissance Court Garden laid out for Elector Maximilian I in 1613 — formal box hedges, a central temple to Diana, gravel paths radiating from a circular fountain. The quiet counterpoint to the Englischer Garten's wild lawns, tucked behind the Residenz.
🚶 28 min · 🚕 7 min → hotel
From Hotel: 🚶 37 min · 🚕 11 min → Eisbach Surfers
A standing wave where the man-made Eisbach shoots out from under the Prinzregentenstraße bridge — concrete blocks sunk into the riverbed in the 1970s hold the current in one permanent break. Surfers queue on both banks and drop in by rotation, year-round, in Alpine snowmelt — permitted again under new safety rules after a year's suspension.
🏛️ Daily 5:30am - 10:00pm
⏰ ~30 min
🚶 6 min · 🚕 2 min → Haus der Kunst
A monumental colonnaded gallery on the southern edge of the Englischer Garten, built in 1937 and now one of Europe's most ambitious contemporary-art kunsthalles — large-scale international shows, no permanent collection, the building's own fraught history part of the visit.
🏛️ Wednesday - Monday 10:00am - 8:00pm
🚫 Closed Tuesday
⏰ ~1.5 hr
🚶 7 min · 🚕 2 min → Bayerisches Nationalmuseum
One of the largest decorative-arts museums in Europe — a vast Prinzregentenstraße palace of Bavarian craftsmanship: medieval ivories, Riemenschneider woodcarvings, baroque period rooms, armour, and a celebrated basement of historical Nativity crèches.
🏛️ Tuesday - Sunday 10:00am - 5:00pm
🚫 Closed Monday
⏰ ~1.5 hr
🚶 13 min · 🚕 5 min → Monopteros
Leo von Klenze's circular Greek-temple folly sits on an artificial hill that hands you Munich's best skyline view: Frauenkirche's two onions, the Theatinerkirche's yellow flank, the Alps in the distance.
🚶 5 min · 🚕 2 min → Chinesischer Turm
A 25-meter wooden pagoda raised in 1790 on the model of the tower at Kew Gardens and rebuilt after the 1944 bombing. The beer garden at its foot seats 7,000 under chestnut trees — Munich's second largest — with a brass band playing from the tower's first gallery.
🏛️ Monday - Friday 11:00am - 11:00pm · Saturday - Sunday 10:00am - 11:00pm
⏰ ~1.5 hr
🚕 13 min → hotel
From Hotel: 🚕 14 min → Olympiapark
The 1972 Summer Olympics grounds — Günter Behnisch and Frei Otto's acrylic tent-roof structures still read as the future of architecture half a century on. The park is a public Munich playground now: lake, hills, the stadium where Mark Spitz won seven golds.
🚶 3 min · 🚕 2 min → BMW Welt
BMW's flagship delivery hall and brand experience — Coop Himmelblau's twin-cone steel-and-glass building is itself the attraction. Free walk-in showroom with current models, motorcycles, and the M division floor; the BMW Museum next door is the paid deep-dive.
🏛️ Daily 7:30am - 12:00am
⏰ ~1.5 hr
🚶 5 min · 🚕 2 min → Olympiaturm
The 291-meter Olympic Tower — Munich's tallest structure and the city's most committed viewpoint. Elevator to the observation deck at 190 meters runs every few minutes; on a clear Föhn day the Alps stretch the entire southern horizon.
🏛️ Daily 9:00am - 11:00pm
⏰ ~45 min
🚕 15 min → Nymphenburg Palace
The Wittelsbachs' summer residence — a baroque palace stretching 700 meters across formal gardens. The Gallery of Beauties commissioned by Ludwig I — 36 portraits of women he admired, including Lola Montez — is the room everyone remembers; the park itself is enormous and free.
🏛️ Daily 9:00am - 6:00pm
⏰ ~3 hr
🚕 15 min → hotel
From Hotel: 🚶 3 min · 🚕 2 min → München Hauptbahnhof
7:54am München Hbf → 9:43am Salzburg Hbf
8:54am München Hbf → 10:43am Salzburg Hbf
9:54am München Hbf → 11:43am Salzburg Hbf
ARRIVE Salzburg Hbf: 🚶 29 min · 🚕 8 min → Hohensalzburg Fortress
The largest fully-preserved medieval castle in central Europe, perched on the Festungsberg over Salzburg's old town. Built 1077, expanded through the 16th century, never taken by siege — the Princes' Chambers and Salzburg Bull organ are the room-by-room highlights.
🏛️ Daily 9:00am - 7:00pm
⏰ ~2.5 hr
🚶 16 min · 🚕 5 min → Mirabell Gardens
Baroque parterre gardens commissioned by Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich in 1606 for his mistress, redesigned by Fischer von Erlach. The Pegasus Fountain steps where Maria sings "Do-Re-Mi" — every Sound of Music tour group on the planet ends up here.
🏛️ Daily 6:00am - 9:00pm
⏰ ~45 min
🚶 9 min · 🚕 3 min → Salzburg Altstadt
UNESCO-listed historic core — narrow Getreidegasse with its iron guild signs, Mozart's birthplace at no. 9, the cathedral square where The Sound of Music's Maria leaves the abbey. The whole district is pedestrian; one slow loop is the way.
🚶 4 min · 🚕 2 min → Salzburg Cathedral
The Baroque cathedral where Mozart was baptized in 1756 — rebuilt 1614–1628 after fire, the twin towers close the Residenzplatz. The frescoed nave by Mascagni is one of the grandest Baroque interiors in the German-speaking world; the baptismal font where Mozart was christened sits in the left aisle.
🏛️ Daily 8:00am - 6:00pm
⏰ ~30 min
5:15pm Salzburg Hbf → 7:05pm München Hbf
6:15pm Salzburg Hbf → 8:05pm München Hbf
7:15pm Salzburg Hbf → 9:05pm München Hbf
ARRIVE München Hbf: 🚶 3 min · 🚕 2 min → hotel
From Hotel: 🚶 3 min · 🚕 2 min → München Hauptbahnhof
6:53am München Hbf → 8:58am Füssen
7:52am München Hbf → 9:58am Füssen
8:52am München Hbf → 10:58am Füssen
ARRIVE Füssen: 🚕 12 min → Hohenschwangau Castle
The yellow Neo-Gothic castle where Ludwig II grew up — built by his father Maximilian II on medieval ruins. Visit Hohenschwangau first to understand the boy-king's romantic obsessions before the bigger castle across the valley puts them into Disney scale.
🏛️ Daily 9:00am - 4:30pm
⏰ ~1.5 hr
⚠️ Timed-entry only. Buy at the central ticket center, not the castle gate.
🚶 35 min · 🚕 6 min → Neuschwanstein Castle
The most photographed castle in the world — Ludwig II's love letter to Wagner, built 1869–1886 in dramatic Romanesque revival. The interiors are unfinished and theatrical: a Throne Room with no throne, a Singers' Hall inspired by Parsifal, the king's bedroom in carved Gothic.
🏛️ Daily 9:00am - 6:00pm
⏰ ~1 hr
⚠️ Timed-entry guided tour only. Reserve weeks ahead online — same-day tickets sell out before noon.
🚶 12 min · 🚕 3 min → Marienbrücke
The iron bridge over the Pöllat Gorge that delivers the postcard view of Neuschwanstein — the one in every search result, every poster, every screensaver. Built for Maximilian II's wife Marie in 1866 and refurbished in 2015; the wait can be brutal in season but the angle is unbeatable.
🏛️ Daily 8:00am - 8:00pm
⏰ ~30 min
⚠️ Closes in winter or after heavy snow — check the day's status at the Hohenschwangau ticket center.
🚕 8 min → Füssen Altstadt
The compact medieval town at the end of the Romantic Road — Hohes Schloss rises above the Reichenstraße, the former Benedictine monastery of St. Mang anchors the far end. The painted Renaissance facades and the Lech waterfall beneath the old town bridge make this the natural last stop before the train home.
4:05pm Füssen → 6:08pm München Hbf
5:05pm Füssen → 7:08pm München Hbf
6:05pm Füssen → 8:08pm München Hbf
ARRIVE München Hbf: 🚶 3 min · 🚕 2 min → hotel
From Hotel: 🚶 3 min · 🚕 2 min → München Hauptbahnhof
7:00am München Hbf → 8:08am Nürnberg Hbf
8:00am München Hbf → 9:08am Nürnberg Hbf
9:00am München Hbf → 10:08am Nürnberg Hbf
ARRIVE Nürnberg Hbf: 🚶 22 min · 🚕 7 min → Kaiserburg Nuremberg
The Imperial Castle that every Holy Roman Emperor between 1050 and 1571 stayed at — the sandstone keep, the deep well, and the Sinwell Tower form Nuremberg's defining skyline. The Imperial Apartments and Romanesque Double Chapel are the interior payoff.
🏛️ Daily 9:00am - 6:00pm
⏰ ~2 hr
🚶 10 min · 🚕 4 min → Albrecht Dürer's House
The half-timbered four-story house where the Northern Renaissance's biggest name lived 1509–1528. Period kitchen, the original printing press, and the recreated workshop where Melencolia I was cut into copper — small museum, outsized weight.
🏛️ Tuesday - Sunday 10:00am - 5:00pm
🚫 Closed Monday
⏰ ~1.5 hr
🚶 9 min · 🚕 3 min → Hauptmarkt
Nuremberg's central square — the Gothic Schöner Brunnen fountain from 1396, gilded, 19 meters of stone tracery; the Frauenkirche church with its mechanical Männleinlaufen clock that performs at noon; and the wide market square that hosts the world's most famous Christkindlmarkt in December.
🚶 7 min · 🚕 3 min → St. Lorenz Church
The Gothic twin-tower church begun in 1250 — the Angelic Salutation carved by Veit Stoss in 1518 hangs suspended in the nave in polychrome limewood, one of the finest late-Gothic sculptures in Germany. The Krafft Tabernacle rises 18 meters beside it. Five minutes south of the Hauptmarkt.
🏛️ Monday - Saturday 9:00am - 5:00pm · Sunday 1:00pm - 4:00pm
⏰ ~45 min
5:51pm Nürnberg Hbf → 6:58pm München Hbf
6:51pm Nürnberg Hbf → 7:58pm München Hbf
7:51pm Nürnberg Hbf → 8:58pm München Hbf
ARRIVE München Hbf: 🚶 3 min · 🚕 2 min → hotel
From Hotel: 🚶 3 min · 🚕 2 min → München Hauptbahnhof
6:32am München Hbf → 7:54am Garmisch-Partenkirchen
7:32am München Hbf → 8:54am Garmisch-Partenkirchen
8:32am München Hbf → 9:54am Garmisch-Partenkirchen
ARRIVE Garmisch-Partenkirchen: 🚶 5 min · 🚕 2 min → Zugspitze
Germany's highest peak — 2,962 meters, the border with Austria runs across the summit. Two ways up: the Bayerische Zugspitzbahn cogwheel railway from Garmisch via Sonnalpin, or the direct Eibsee-Seilbahn cable car from Eibsee. Glacier, panorama platform, four-country view on clear days.
🏛️ Daily 8:00am - 5:45pm
⏰ ~4 hr
⚠️ Last cable car down departs at 5:45pm — miss it and there is no road off the summit.
🚶 5 min · 🚕 2 min → Eibsee
The turquoise alpine lake at the foot of the Zugspitze — 7.2 km shoreline trail, water clear enough to count stones at depth, the cable-car station on the south bank. The lake walk delivers the Zugspitze-from-below view that the summit never quite gives you back.
🚕 25 min → Partnachklamm
A 700-meter gorge carved by the Partnach river — narrow rock walls, walkways drilled into the cliff, mist from the cascades soaking the path. Originally cut to float timber down to Partenkirchen; the same passage today is one of the most dramatic short hikes in the Bavarian Alps.
🏛️ Daily 8:00am - 8:00pm
⏰ ~1.5 hr
⚠️ Closes after heavy rain — check the day's status at the entrance ticket office.
🚶 20 min · 🚕 5 min → Garmisch-Partenkirchen Altstadt
The Lüftlmalerei old town — Frühlingsstraße lined with 18th-century facades painted in vivid Bavarian alpine fresco: saints, hunting scenes, trompe-l'œil columns. The medieval St. Martin's Church anchors the far end and the snow-capped Zugspitze closes the sky above the market square.
5:06pm Garmisch-Partenkirchen → 6:31pm München Hbf
6:06pm Garmisch-Partenkirchen → 7:31pm München Hbf
7:06pm Garmisch-Partenkirchen → 8:31pm München Hbf
ARRIVE München Hbf: 🚶 3 min · 🚕 2 min → hotel
From Hotel: 🚶 3 min · 🚕 2 min → München Hauptbahnhof
8:25am München Hbf → 8:37am Dachau Bahnhof
9:28am München Hbf → 9:40am Dachau Bahnhof
10:27am München Hbf → 10:39am Dachau Bahnhof
ARRIVE Dachau Bahnhof: 🚕 17 min → Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial
The first Nazi concentration camp, opened in March 1933 and the model every later camp was built on. The preserved site runs from the Jourhaus gate and its iron inscription through the roll-call square, two reconstructed barracks, the bunker prison and the crematorium, with a documentation centre in the old maintenance building.
🏛️ Daily 9:00am - 5:00pm
⏰ ~3 hr
⚠️ Entry is free. Under-13s are not admitted to the guided tours.
🚶 38 min · 🚕 14 min → Dachau Altstadt
The old town on the ridge above the Amper — one sloping street of gabled burgher houses, the 1584 St. Jakob church under its onion dome, and the Ludwig-Thoma-Haus. From the 1880s this was one of Germany's largest artists' colonies, drawing painters up for the light over the moor.
🚶 5 min · 🚕 2 min → Schloss Dachau
What survives of the Wittelsbach Renaissance palace — one wing of the original four, kept when the rest came down in 1800. The banqueting hall's carved and painted Renaissance ceiling is the interior; the terraced court garden looks across the moor to Munich and the Alps.
🏛️ Tuesday - Sunday 9:00am - 6:00pm
🚫 Closed Monday
⏰ ~1 hr
⚠️ From October to March the palace closes at 4:00pm and opens an hour later.
4:22pm Dachau Bahnhof → 4:34pm München Hbf
5:24pm Dachau Bahnhof → 5:36pm München Hbf
6:22pm Dachau Bahnhof → 6:34pm München Hbf
ARRIVE München Hbf: 🚶 3 min · 🚕 2 min → hotel
👣 A Devil's Footprint, and a Shoemaker's Daughter Among Royalty
Just inside the Frauenkirche's entrance is a black mark in the floor tile that locals call the Teufelstritt — the Devil's footprint. Legend says the church's architect struck a bargain with the Devil to fund the building, on condition it be built with no visible windows. The architect cheated him: standing at the entrance, the tall pillars and the position of the altar do block every window from view — it's only once you walk further in that they come into sight. When the Devil returned to inspect the finished church and realized he'd been tricked, he stamped his foot in fury hard enough to leave the mark still shown to visitors today.
Nymphenburg Palace's Gallery of Beauties has nothing to do with royal bloodlines — King Ludwig I filled it with portraits of the women he considered the most beautiful in Munich, nobility and commoners side by side. One of the most famous faces in the room belongs to Helene Sedlmayr, a shoemaker's daughter who caught the king's eye at seventeen while delivering toys to the royal residence and ended up immortalized in oil on the same wall as countesses. The gallery's most notorious portrait, though, isn't hers — it's the dancer Lola Montez, whose affair with Ludwig I helped trigger the revolution that forced him to abdicate in 1848.