The bustling city of Munich, which is world-famous for its annual festival Oktoberfest held in of course - October, is so much more than just that. There is so much to see and do in this vibrant and historic city. We took a day trip to Munich from Zurich and during this day trip were able to explore the city centre and also do some shopping in this area. Munich is a three-hour-thirty-minute direct train ride from Zurich. Although it may seem a little long, just looking out at the scenery, a good music playlist, some tasty snacks and drinks picked up from Zurich HB and maybe even some shows pre-downloaded on your favorite streaming app, help you easily pass the time. However, I strongly advise you to check the occupancy of the train as given in the SBB official app. While traveling to Munich as we were going on a Friday, many people were heading there for the weekend so the train had a lot of reservations. You can however get a reservation in advance yourself at the station but we did not feel the need and found some free seats together eventually. Talking about Europe and its amazing train network, I thank Trainline for appreciating this post! For those of you who don't know, Trainline is Europe's leading train and coach app! Do check them out!
We left by the 9:33 AM train and reached Munich by 1 PM. The station was crowded and bustling with weekenders. Just a short walk away from the station along Bayerstrabe was Karlsplatz, the famous square featuring the Karlstor - an arched city gate that dates back to the fourteenth century! It was so amazing to see this ancient gate surrounded by modern buildings and structures. The perfect mix of ancient with modern. We walked through this arch along the main car-free pedestrian street - Neuhauser Street. This street was filled with happy weekenders and shoppers alike with all sorts of amazing restaurants, cafes and shops lining both sides. We encountered this wonderful chain of electronic stores called Saturn and we were amazed at the sheer variety and unending floors of all sorts of electronics available at this store. We spent a good 2 hours just exploring this store as there was so much to see.
Then we walked further along this street enjoying the general surroundings and took a short detour close by to have a look at the famous Frauenkirche, one of the most famous cathedrals in Munich.
Also close by was the main square of Munich - Marienplatz, home of the popular Rathaus-Glockenspiel - an extremely stunning town hall with a grand clock tower. I wanted to visit this beautiful library there called Juristische Bibliothek but unfortunately, it was closed on that day.
The best thing about this place was that we felt all the good city centre attractions were at a walking distance, so we did not feel the need to take any public transport. We then headed along Theatinerstrabe just window shopping and walking towards our next attraction the Odeonsplatz, a historic square lined with ornate buildings and monuments, one of the main being the lofty Feldherrnhalle.
And just close by was the Munich Residenz (palace) and the beautiful gardens surrounding it called Hofgarten. You can explore the interiors of this palace if that is something you would like to do, we were content with just a walk along the beautiful palace gardens.
On our way back along Theatinerstrabe, I found this amazing cafe called Maleu which was selling the most scrumptious-looking strawberry pastries so I stopped to get some for our train ride back.
On our walk back to the station we took a different route and we encountered Maximiliansplatz which had a beautiful park called Effner Park. This wasn't even on our list but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. We also got to see one of the prettiest fountains we have ever seen called Wittelsbacher Brunnen. It looked straight out of a fairy tale.
It was around an hour before our train that we started our walk back, as it took us around twenty-five minutes to walk back to the station. I admit that there were many more places I could have seen, but we got so fascinated with the stores and shopping that we felt was a worthwhile distraction from sightseeing. Back at the station, we got a bit lost as the local rail lines, the metro etc. were all in the same place and there were no clear directions to the trains. After asking a few people and getting a bit more lost, we finally reached our train with ten minutes to depart and got some good seats for our way back as there were not many reservations in the other direction.
Overall I was pleasantly surprised with Munich, there was so much to do and see other than just being a hub for an annual festival. Such amazing shopping brands and beautiful monuments. Munich pleasantly surprised me in the best possible manner ever. It is safe to say that Munich should not be visited only for Oktoberfest, there is so much to do and see here other than that and it was quite enjoyable. Can't wait to go back there!
Thank you for reading❤️
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