How to Spend 3 Days in Munich Germany

One of the main reasons we decided to take our trip to Germany, is because we wanted to experience Oktoberfest in Munich. Although we only spent 2 of our days in the city of Munich, you could tell that it’s a city rich with charm and history. On our second day staying in Munich, we took a day trip to Fussen to visit Neuschwanstein, the castle that Walt Disney based the Sleeping Beauty Castle on. 

Arrival Day: Evening 

We had a long day of travel from Cologne to Munich. After checking into the hotel, we went to the largest restaurant/bar I have ever been to in my life. We arrived at Hofbrauhaus and immediately entered into a space where there was live music, cheering and waitresses carrying lots of beer and pretzels. The energy there was infectious and it was a special way to be welcomed into the festivities of Oktoberfest.

Day 1: Oktoberfest 

We woke up early to get to Oktoberfest right when the doors opened. We dressed up in the traditional German apparel for the festivities - I wore a Dirndl dress and Patrick wore Lederhosen. Most people wore this style of clothes during the day, but there were also people wearing everyday clothes - you really can’t go wrong, but I always think it’s fun to dress up! 

We started off at the Hacker Pschoer tent - which was the most visually unique tent out of all the ones I went to. The top of the tent was designed to look like the sky and there were murals depicting everyday life in Germany. It was a good place to start out our day, get some pictures and also eat an early lunch to prepare for our day of drinking.

We then went to the Augustiner tent -  which has my favorite beer out of all of Oktoberfest! For some reason, the Augustiner beer tastes so refreshing and light - which are words I rarely ever use to describe beer. The vibes in this tent are definitely more chill, and we were in the tent around noon. 

Our last tent we made it to was Paulaner - which ended up being my favorite tent of them all. We got super lucky to get a table at the time we did because they were just starting to restart the live music. We didn’t know it at the time, but we had entered the “party tent”. People were standing on the tables and chugging their beers - they would get huge applause if they finished it and would get boo-ed off the table if they couldn’t finish it. The band started off by playing traditional German music and then transitioned into more popular music, like Sweet Caroline and Country Roads. The first popular song they played was ‘500 Miles’ and people started standing on the tables and singing and dancing - we had to join them. Every song that we liked, we would stand on the tables for. Being at this tent was a core memory for me - everyone was just so happy to be there and having a good time. After we went to this tent, we walked around the festival before deciding to go home and chill for the rest of the night. 

Day 2: Morning/Afternoon -  Fussen 

While staying in Munich, we decided to take a day trip a few hours away to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle, otherwise known as the Sleeping Beauty Castle, because it was Disney’s inspiration for the castle in the movie. Although the train ride was about 2 hours, it was a beautiful way to see the German Countryside. Once we got to the village of Fussen, we got on a bus that took us right up to the base of the mountain that the Castle is seated. We did the hike up and saw a couple get engaged, beautiful views of the country and the castle. We didn’t end up doing the tour inside the castle, but felt like it was worth it to see the outside of it as well. We went to the bridge viewpoint and there were SO many people on it - I was terrified that the bridge would break. My fear of heights really came through. 

Day 2: Evening 

That evening, we explored the village of Fussen - as you walk around the city there are many different shops and cute restaurants you can stop in. If you get dinner and want to explore the city, I would say you only really need 2 hours as the city is pretty small and walkable. After we had finished our exploration, we decided to head back to Munich. 

Day 3: Morning - Munich 

One of the things I knew I wanted to do in Munich when I first started doing research about Munich was attend the Glockenspiel Show in Marienplatz. It is a show that is in the belltower of a church in the center of Munich that tells 2 tales: one of a battle, and the other a tale of rejuvenation in a city after a deadly plague. We got coffee at the restaurant across from the church, so we were able to drink coffee while watching the show. After the show, we made our way across town to get the BMW Museum. If you like cars or engineering, you would love this museum. I personally don’t have a strong interest in either of those things, but I do love to learn new things and gain new interests and I love my newfound knowledge about BMW. This company contributed to a lot of historical implications that I have never heard before. Super interesting. 

Day 3: Afternoon 

In the afternoon, we made our way to the English Gardens - which is Munich’s version of Central Park. It was nice to be able to compare the two different parks, since Central Park is my happy place in Manhattan. The English Garden is a lot less polished than Central Park and has more rugged nature. I feel like Munich did a better job at preserving the nature and wilderness of the area better than we did in New York, but nothing will ever compare to how Central Park makes me feel. We got lunch in the middle of the park at Seehaus. Here we had a beautiful view of the reservoir and were able to escape the city for a while. 

Day 3: Evening 

In the evening, we wanted to walk through Old Town and explore more of the city there. We took our time walking through the neighborhood and stopped into the stores that we found interesting. We even stumbled across a farmers market that popped up. After our long day of walking around the city, we decided to head home early and rest up for our last stop on the trip - Berlin.