One Day in Munich - Access Munich

The New Town Hall on Marienplatz — Marienplatz is free, and so is the Glockenspiel that performs above it. Photograph by foundin_a_attic, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

One day is enough for the old city, because everything in it is within twenty minutes on foot and most of it is free.

The shape of the day

Munich’s rule: the parks, the squares and the market are free, the museums are cheap on a Sunday, and the beer hall charges for beer and nothing else. A single day spent on the free half is a very good day.

Stalls at the Viktualienmarkt — Bringing your own food to a beer garden’s self-service tables is a legal right in Bavaria. Photograph by Dietmar Rabich, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Morning — Marienplatz and the towers

Start at Marienplatz for the Glockenspiel, then climb St Peter’s rather than the town hall — cheaper, and it is the tower that looks back at the building you just watched.

Then the Frauenkirche, free to enter, two minutes away.

The nave of the Asamkirche — The Asamkirche is free, tiny, and easy to walk straight past. Photograph by Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Midday — the market and the surprise

The Viktualienmarkt is a minute south. Buy lunch at a stall and eat it at the beer garden’s self-service tables — bringing your own food there is a legal right in Bavaria, not a favour.

Then walk Sendlinger Straße to the Asamkirche, which you will walk past if you are not looking for it, and which is the most overwhelming small room in the city.

A surfer on the Eisbach wave — The Eisbach wave runs all year, and watching costs nothing. Photograph by Flocci Nivis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Afternoon — the park

Up to Odeonsplatz, into the Hofgarten, and on into the English Garden. Stop at the Eisbach wave on the way in — surfers, all year, for free — and walk up to the Monopteros.

Evening

The Hofbräuhaus if you want the famous one, or any of the beer gardens in the park. There is no entrance fee anywhere; you pay for the beer.

What to skip on one day

The Deutsches Museum — it needs half a day and an hour there is a waste of the ticket. Nymphenburg and the Olympiapark, both of which are trips in their own right. Two museums.

If your day is a Sunday or a Monday

Sunday: shops and the market are shut, but the museums are nearly free — so invert this plan and put a gallery in it. Monday: most museums are shut, so the plan above is exactly right.

Other lengths of trip

Two Days in MunichAdds a palace or a museum Three Days in MunichAdds the north of the city

Journey times and opening patterns as published for 2026 and checked on 4 September 2026. Timetables, fares and closing days change without much warning — confirm with the operator or the institution before you travel. All the plans are in Itineraries & Day Plans.