How we spent 1 day in Munich, Germany

Our family of six spent just one day in Munich, Germany, so we had to hit the highlights. Here’s everything we did!

After 10 months of traveling around Europe, it was time for our full-time traveling family to hang up our backpacks. We found the cheapest plane tickets back to the United States leaving from Munich, Germany, and we fit in a day of sightseeing there before heading to the airport.

Come along with us as we recap our day in Munich and give you some ideas of things to do on your visit to the heart of Bavaria!

1 day Munich itinerary

When I was researching things to do in Munich, it seemed like everything revolved around food! Not that I was complaining. From pretzels and beer to schnitzel and sausages…I was like, we need to figure out what we’ll be doing in between meals!

Luckily there are plenty of fun things to do and see when visiting Munich. Here’s how our day went:

10:30am: Brunch at Schneider Brauhaus

We arrived in Munich in the late evening after a very full day of activities in Salzburg, Austria, so we headed right to our hostel (we booked a private room for the six of us) and went to sleep. We even treated ourselves to a relaxing morning and a late start to the next day.

Around 10am, we left the hostel and headed for Schneider Brauhaus to enjoy some brunch to fuel our day!

To get there, we walked through Marienplatz. This was the location of our next activity, so for now I’ll just say that walking into the square felt like walking into Fantasyland at Disney, with the ornate New Town Hall looking like a gothic castle in the center of town.

We had a lovely brunch, al fresco. This was early July when the weather is just gorgeous in Munich. Pleasantly warm, not too hot.

Schneider Brauhaus offers menus in several languages, including English, so we knew what we were ordering! Most of us got the Strammer Sepp: crisp pretzel bread with slices of meatloaf and a fried egg.

12pm: Watch the glockenspiel in Marienplatz

Our next stop was just a few yards away back in Marienplatz to watch the glockenspiel. We caught the noon show, but you can also catch it at 11am and 5pm.

Marienplatz is the town center of Munich, bordered by several historic buildings. The main attraction is the New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) which is the building that reminded me of the Disney castle, with its striking Gothic architecture.

In the center of the building’s facade is the glockenspiel, a clock tower with mechanical figures that perform a show to music.

I was a little surprised that the show started a few minutes late (it is literally a clock, after all) but soon the music began and the figures started their performance!

I had previewed the show online, so I knew what would happen, but I just love how the whole crowd gasped when the one knight…well, you should just watch it on the video below!

1pm: Visit St. Peter’s Church and Asam Church

After the glockenspiel did its thing, we walked around the square and admired the other buildings. We went inside St. Peter’s church to take in the beautiful interior, as well.

St. Peter’s is one of Munich’s oldest churches, dating back to the 12th century, but it has obviously been well taken care of because it was just gorgeous inside.

At the back of the church, we found this adorable mechanical theatre. Luckily, I had a 5 eurocent, so Melody got to put in the coin and enjoy the little show.

Next, we took a stroll down to Asam Church (Asamkirche), another church I wanted to visit. This one was much smaller, but the amount of detail inside was mindblowing.

This more “modern” church, built in the 18th century, showcases the Baroque style of dramatic ornamentation. Even though the church is small, you could spend quite a bit of time in there, taking in all the details of the artwork and sculptures.

To get to Asam Church, you’ll walk down Sendlinger Strasse, a bustling street with lots of shops. If you’re wanting to do some shopping, now might be the perfect time!

2pm: Browse Viktualienmarkt and enjoy a sweet treat

After our tour of the churches, we headed over to Viktualienmarkt to explore this famous, open-air market.

Side note: I should mention that Munich is very walkable. From the main train station, to our hostel, to all of the must-visit locations in the city center — you can walk from place to place pretty quickly and easily.

Munich also has a fantastic tram system, for locations that are a little further out or if you get tired of walking.

Viktualienmarkt is a farmer’s market, open Monday–Saturday with lots of stalls where vendors sell fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, cheese, baked goods, flowers, and lots of other Bavarian specialties.

We were ready for an afternoon treat, soooo we went for the baked goods! I couldn’t tell you exactly what we had, but one was a type of chocolate cake and one was like a berry crumble cheesecake. I’d share a picture, but we ate those so fast I didn’t even have time to take one!

You can spend plenty of time in Viktualienmarkt, browsing the goods or enjoying a beer in one of the beer gardens in the center of the market, among the shady chestnut trees. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon!

3-5pm: Choose your own adventure

If you’re planning your own trip based on our itinerary, you’ll have to get creative for your mid-afternoon. We really went wild and spent our mid-afternoon either relaxing back in the hostel room or doing laundry!

I know, pretty exciting. But we had the time and wanted to take the opportunity to fly home with all clean clothes! While waiting on the clothes, Carter and I enjoyed some loaded fries from a stand just outside the train station, which I had spied the night before!

Here are a few things that we didn’t do, but you could!

• Visit Deutsches Museum, an interactive science & technology museum
• Browse the artwork at Neue Pinakothek, a 1800s art museum
• Climb St. Peter’s bell tower — if you’re up there at 5pm, you could watch the glockenspiel from a unique vantage point!
• Tour the Munich Residenz (Residenz München), a historic palace complex that was the seat of the Bavarian monarchs for centuries. Today, it’s a top cultural attraction that offers visitors a glimpse into the lavish lifestyle of Bavarian royalty.

6pm: Dinner at Hofbräuhaus

While in Munich, you should definitely enjoy a meal at Hofbräuhaus! Not only is it completely worth it for the atmosphere, but it was some of the best food I ate in Europe, full stop.

I do recommend making a reservation! You can show up and just grab any available table, but you’ll be competing with others (tourists and locals). We wanted to sit outside in the biergarten, and we did eventually manage to grab a table, but it took a little while of waiting and finally being quick on our toes!

I got some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever had, with these delicious sides that I can’t specifically remember! Everything was so good though.

Daniel ordered a beer that said it was “for two,” thinking it was like a pitcher we could share. Well, we did share it, but it all came in one stein!

Even the kids had beer! Okay, just kidding, they had apple juice, but they clinked their glasses and said “Prost!” (And probably pretended they were drinking beer.)

We had a great, leisurely dinner, followed by an order of apple strudel! All while being outside in the lovely weather, enjoying the live music performed by a traditional Bavarian band.

7pm: Watch the surfers and the sunset in Englischen Garten

To cap off our day in Munich, and our final day in Europe(!), we took the tram over to the Englischen Garten (English Garden).

Our first stop was a popular spot on the Eisbach River where we could watch surfers attempt to ride the standing wave.

This was so fun. A long line of surfers wait alongside the river for their turn to jump into the water and attempt to surf the endless wave that’s generated on this spot. Most of them hilariously fall in rather quickly and then get swept back to the end of the line, but we saw a few skilled surfers who were able to ride the wave for quite a while!

As the sun got low in the sky, we headed to Monopteros, a Greek-style temple on a nearby hill in the park where we could watch the sunset.

Our time in Europe had finally come to a close, and while we were excited about heading back to the States, we knew we’d miss the amazing adventures we had overseas.

Luckily, we had a fantastic final day in Munich, and the next morning we headed to the airport for a long day of travel back to America!

If you’re heading to Munich soon, I hope this post helped you plan a fun day there. And if you’ve just been following along on our travels, now you know how we closed the chapter on our European adventure.

Happy travels to you, and prost!