Munich

Alte Pinakothek

Contains hundreds of great European masterworks dating from the 14th to the 18th centuries, including the largest Rubens collection in the world. Café Klenze is its pleasant bakery cafe.

Tue Wed 10:00-20:30, Fri-Sun 10:00-18:00·Adult €7, concession €5, Sundays €1

Asamkirche

This Late Baroque confection was built from 1733 to 1746 as a private chapel by Egid Quirin Asam - he could see the altar from his house next door. His brother, Cosmas Damian Asam, did the frescoes. The church is dedicated to St John Nepomuk (1345-93), a Bohemian monk cast into the river Vltava in Prague at the behest of King Wenceslaus IV. Legend has it that Nepomuk refused to divulge the queen's confessional secrets, but his real crime was to back the wrong candidate for abbot. The church is wonderful by candlelight, especially at the Christmas Eve service, replete with Bavarian singers in the choir stall.

Sun-Thu 09:00-18:00, Fri 13:00-18:00

BMW Museum

Extensive museum displaying the evolution of motoring technology, from the earliest days to future concepts.

Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00·Adult €10, conc or child €7

Bavaria Filmstadt

Theme park in working film studios: the standard ticket is a 90-min guided tour of the sets (but only in German) and a 10-min ride in a 4D cinema. Discounts if you come by public transport or on your birthday. The studios were established in 1919 by Peter Ostermayr (1882-1967), who then moved elsewhere to make a score of films in the heimat tradition (set in a romanticized horse-drawn bygone Germany, forerunner to the US cowboy westerns). Films made here include Alfred Hitchcock's The Pleasure Garden (his first, in 1925), Lola Montez (Max Ophüls 1954), Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick 1957), One, Two, Three (Billy Wilder 1961), The Great Escape (John Sturges 1963), The Sound of Music (Robert Wise 1965), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart 1971), Cabaret (Bob Fosse 1972), The Serpent's Egg (Ingmar Bergman 1977), Das Boot (Wolfgang Petersen 1981) and The Neverending Story (Wolfgang Petersen 1984). Note: this location is outside of the city boundary (Geiselgasteig bei München, Gemeinde Grünwald)

Tue-Sun 09:00-18:00·Adult €20, child €18

Bavaria statue and Hall of Fame

Early 19th century Bavaria was a pawn in conflicts between Austria and Napoleonic France, so when Ludwig I came to the throne in 1825, he sought an iconic statue to symbolise Bavaria's strength and independence, and a hall of fame to celebrate its heroes. There was a design competition, and since Ludwig was a great admirer of classical Greece, that was the style that won. The ensemble was completed in 1850, and casting the 18.5 m female statue in bronze was a huge engineering challenge. A stairway within ascends to a viewing platform in her head, so you can see what she sees. It's mobbed and claustrophobic during Oktoberfest (when it opens late), as it looks onto the nearby Wiesn grounds. The Hall of Fame was bombed out in the Second World War but re-opened by 1972. The display of famous Bavarians is not static but evolves to recognise new stars. The Hall of Fame is closed during Oktoberfest.

Apr-mid Oct daily 09:00-18:00; in Oktoberfest statue 09:00-20:00, hall closed·Adult €5, concessions €4

Bavarian Public Observatory Munich

Bayerische Volkssternwarte München

The observatory is open to the public M-F after dark with 2-hour tours - Monday these are in English. Pick a clear night.

Sep-Mar: Mon-Fri 20:00-21:30, Apr-Aug: Mon-Fri 21:00-23:00·Adult €8, concession €5

Bayerisches Nationalmuseum

Huge and fascinating museum of European history from the Middle Ages until early 20th century. There's armour, pottery, furniture, fashions, porcelain, beer mugs, the lot; plus Oct-April a display of nativity scenes. The Bollert medieval art collection is only open Th F 10:00-17:00.

Tue Wed Fri-Sun 10:00-17:00, Thu 10:00-20:00·Adult €7, conc €6; Sunday €1; child free

Beer and Oktoberfest Museum

History of the festival, in a townhouse of 1340. The "Himmelsleiter" is its characteristic early staircase, a straight flight with no corners.

Tue-Sat 13:00-18:00·€4 adults, €2.50 concessions

Blutenburg Castle

Schloss Blutenburg

This was built in 1438 as a hunting lodge for Albert III, Duke of Bavaria. It was on a river island between two arms of the River Würm, with the east arm dammed to create an ornamental lake - leisure rather than defence was always the intention here, and the ring wall, towers and gatehouse weren't designed against serious assault. It was embellished and extended by Albert's son Duke Sigismund, the stand-out being the chapel of 1488 in late Gothic style. Since 1983 the castle has housed the International Youth Library (Internationale Jugendbibliothek) so there is limited public access to the interior. You enter through the gatehouse into the courtyard. A stepped ramp or "ox piano" leads to the upper courtyard, with the Herrenhaus or mansion. The castle often hosts concerts and other cultural events and has a restaurant. Just outside is a modern sculpture park: notable works are the Spanish stone cross, the "plastic-granite" blocks, the Joseph Michael Neustifter memorial, and the memorial to the 7000 sent on the death march from Dachau just ahead of the Allied advance.

Daily Apr-Sep 09:00-17:00, Oct-Mar 10:00-16:00·Free

Botanical Garden

Covering 21 ha, the Garden opened here in 1914 when it outgrew its original site on Karlsplatz. It holds some 19,600 species, with an alpine garden, arboretum, rose garden, and extensive glasshouse collections.

Daily Apr-Oct 09:00-18:00, Nov-Mar 09:00-16:30·Adult €6.50, conc €4.50

Chinese Tower

Chinesischer Turm

This 25 m high pagoda was constructed with the original park in 1790, and rebuilt after World War II in 1952. It has a beer garden, with a Bavarian oompah band performing at weekends from the second floor. It can feel touristy, and horse-drawn carriage and rickshaw tours through the garden start here - see below for the Kocherlball in summer and the Christmas Market. Until the end of 2022, the tower is scaffolded for re-roofing; the beer garden remains open. The tower is 1 km from the U-Bahn at Universität, but Bus 54 runs past it from Münchner Freiheit and Ostbahnhof S- and U-Bahn stations.

Deutsches Museum

German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology

Enormous museum of science and technology, needing a full day, and even then you need to prioritise which galleries to explore - though half the fun is discovering the secrets of technology you'd never considered. Themes include natural sciences (from atom physics to music), materials and energy (including robotics), transport including aerospace, environment, health, agriculture and food, IT, communications and photography. At any time, some galleries are closed for refurb (these are indicated by the ticket booths), some are fresh and exciting, and some are getting tired. The museum is very popular, buy online to avoid queuing in the rain. Verkehrszentrum is the branch museum for transport west edge of this district, Flugwerft Schliessheim exhibits aviation north of the city, and there are branch museums in Bonn and Nuremberg.

Daily 09:00-17:00·Adult €15, conc €8 (child, senior or student)

Eastern Cemetery

Ostfriedhof

This was laid out from 1817 and is still in use, so it holds a large cast of city notables. These include Duke Ludwig Wilhelm in Bavaria (1831-1920), Bernhard von Guden (1824-1886) doctor to King Ludwig II and found dead with him in unexplained circumstances, Rudolph Moshammer (1940-2005) the celebrity fashion designer strangled by a sex pick-up, and Hjalmar Schacht (1877-1970) the Weimar financier. During the Third Reich, the grave of Kurt Eisner was destroyed, while the crematorium disposed of the bodies of many thousand opponents or victims of the regime. After the war and Nuremberg Trials, it likewise disposed of ten of those hanged for their deeds (von Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenburg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Jodl, Seyss-Inquart) and of Göring who committed suicide. Their ashes were thrown in the Isar.

Daily 08:00-18:00

Frauenkirche

Church of Our Lady

This huge church defines the Munich skyline with its twin onion-domed towers, a shade over 98 m tall - the money ran out for the planned spires. It's the Roman Catholic cathedral, but always known locally as Frauenkirche. It was built from 1469 to 1488 in brick because of a lack of suitable local stone; the towers were only completed in 1525, cleverly anticipating a law of 2004 that no structure within Altstadt may exceed 99 m in height. Although its style is Gothic, it's fairly simple outside and in, without the usual ornamentation of that style. Eleven kings or archdukes of Bavaria are interred here. The church was bombed in wartime and full restoration took until 1994. Its three naves are of equal height, creating a single hall soaring so high that you can't see the windows, and light floods in from no visible source. This is in legend is the feature that caused the devil to stamp in pique, leaving a black footprint (Teufelstritt) within a yellow flagstone just inside the entrance. You can climb the south tower.

Daily 07:30-20:30, tower ascent 10:00-17:00·Free; tower ascent adult €7.50, child €5.50

Friedhof Bogenhausen

You need to be influential to earn a plot in this small cemetery. Those that did so include film producer Bernd Eichinger, director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, writer Oskar Maria Graf and writer Erich Kästner. It's by the attractive church of St Georg.

Daily 07:00-20:00

Fürstenried Palace

This was built from 1715 for Elector Maximilian II Emanuel as a hunting lodge and bling-mansion. It's nowadays an RC spiritual centre, so other visitors can only admire the exterior and gardens. One who did so was Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger (b 1927), who found his vocation for the priesthood confirmed here, and became Pope Benedict XVI.

Glyptothek

This houses King Ludwig I's huge collection of Greek and Roman sculpture: he was determined to make Munich into a new Athens, if necessary by removing the original Athens piece by piece. The principal sculptures are the Aeginetes, excavated in the 19th century from the temple on the island of Aegina. The building, in neo-classical style of course, was completed in 1830. It was bombed out during the Second World War but the sculptures had been taken to safety. There's an attractive courtyard with cafe.

Tue Wed, Fri-Sun 10:00-17:00, Thu 10:00-20:00·Adult €6, concessions €4, Sundays: €1

Haidhauser District Museum

Small display of life in the neighbourhood. Exhibitions have varying hours and prices.

Sun 14:00-17:00, Mon-Wed 17:00-1900

Hansastraße

A street that has several striking modern buildings, especially ADAC (the German Automobile Association) at No 19, and Fraunhofer-Haus at No 27 (a research institute named for the fellow who discovered dark lines in the spectrum of sunlight).

Haus der Kunst

Grand exhibition hall completed in 1937 in Nazi - Art Deco style. It doesn't have a permanent collection but mounts ever-changing graphic arts exhibitions.

Wed-Mon 10:00-20:00

Hellabrunn Zoo

This is east of the river and district boundary but easier to access from the west bank. The zoo was founded in 1911 to present animals in their habitat, and houses 19,000 animals. An extensive re-building project means that some areas will be closed, check the website for current status. Until April 2023 Jungle World is closed so you can't see the lions, and the bat grotto has permanently closed.

Daily 09:00-17:00·Adult €18, concessions €13, child (4-14 yrs) €7

Herz Jesu Kirche

This Roman Catholic church was built 1997-2000 after the previous church burned down. It's a large blue glass cube 14 m per side, which contains a wooden interior cube. The church within is spare and minimalistic. The entire glass facade can be opened like a gigantic gate. This only happens on public holidays so don't be lured by their "open door" announcements, which will engulf you in prayer and parish activities.

Thu-Sun 08:00-19:00, Mon 12:00-19:00·Free

Holy Cross Church

Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche

Gothic Revival RC church built 1866 to 1886. It was unharmed by wartime bombing and, sitting atop a hill, its 95-m bell tower is visible from afar.

Daily 09:00-19:00

Kunstfoyer VKB

Changing art exhibitions provided by the art foundation of Versicherungskammer Bayern.

Daily 09:30-19:00·Free

Kunsthalle München der Hypo Kulturstiftung

Modern art museum, no permanent collection but rotating exhibitions. It's funded by HypoVereinsbank.

Daily 10:00-20:00·Adult €15

MVG Museum

Museum of public transport in Munich housed in a former tram repair and assembly shed. They have 25 historic trams, buses and works vehicles on display, with signage in German and English. Another highlight is a U-Bahn driving simulator.

Two Sundays a month 11:00-17:00·Adult €3, concession €2

Maximilianeum

This is the grand sort-of Renaissance building closing the vista across the Maximilian Bridge, with the road and tramway dividing around it. It was built in fits and starts from 1857 to 1874, the problem being the steep riverbank site for such a heavy structure. Originally a foundation for gifted students, it was bombed in World War II, and since rebuilding in 1949 has housed the Bavarian parliament. They pay rent to the foundation, which continues to award scholarships and lodge students here. The rear (east) of the building is a jumble of modern additions. There's a gallery to watch parliament plenary sessions (by advance registration), but you can't otherwise go inside.

Michaelskirche

Grand Renaissance church built for the Jesuits 1583-1599 by Duke Wilhelm V, as a bastion of the Counter-Reformation against those awful Lutherans. The Duke nearly busted the state coffers in buying up the land and funding a construction that townsfolk reckoned was too big to stand. And down fell the tower: "I know, I'll build it bigger". This version survived until bombed in wartime and was restored in the 1950s. The facade and interior continue the triumphal theme, for example the statue of Archangel Michael slaying a demon who might be Protestant. The church crypt holds many tombs of the Wittelsbach dynasty, including "mad king" Ludwig II.

Mon-Sat 08:00-19:00, Sun 07:00-22:00·Free

Museum Brandhorst

Opened in 2009, this has a permanent collection of modern and contemporary paintings, sculptures and installations, especially by Andy Warhol and Cy Twombly.

Thu 10:00-20:00, Tue Wed Fri-Sun 10:00-18:00·Adult €7, concession €5, under 18 free, Sunday €1

Museum Fünf Kontinente

Museum of Five Continents

Omitting Europe and Antarctica, the former Museum für Völkerkunde is a global ethnological collection.

Tue-Sun 09:30-17:30·Adult €4, conc or child €3, Sunday €1