Where to stay in Munich
Munich's quarters all lie in the inner fare zone, so you choose by what you want outside the door: museums, bars, a park or a train.
- Old town
- Everything on foot
- Maxvorstadt
- Galleries and universities
- Glockenbach
- Bars and cafés round the Gärtnerplatz
Munich has no single best quarter, only the one that fits what you plan to do. The old town puts you among the shops and the crowds of the Marienplatz, Maxvorstadt among the galleries and the students, Glockenbach among the bars, and the area by the main station on the junction every day trip starts from. All of them lie in the inner fare zone, so a ride to any of them is €4.20.
Everything on foot, and everyone else
In the Altstadt you never need to ride anywhere: many streets are pedestrianised and the others are tightly restricted, with cameras to enforce it, so Kaufingerstraße and Neuhauser Straße run on as one long shopping street towards the Marienplatz. That is where the price comes in: rooms are few, and crowds gather round famous beer halls such as the Hofbräuhaus.
Even the Marienplatz itself is not calm, since it is being dug up for the second S-Bahn tunnel. Choose it for a first short stay, when walking everything matters more than quiet.
3-star hotel, double room, per person per night
Galleries and students
Maxvorstadt lies just north of the old town and is the arts and university district: seven universities, LMU and TUM among them, and over a hundred thousand students. The Königsplatz anchors a quarter of grand museums, the Alte Pinakothek and the Pinakothek der Moderne among them, and most of what you will want lies in a strip about a kilometre wide between it and the university, so walking is enough.
The U2 and U8 stop at Theresienstraße, and the U1 and U7 run through the main station to Königsplatz. Cafés and cheaper meals cluster along Amalienstraße and Türkenstraße. It suits you if the plan is built round the galleries.
3-star hotel, double room, per person per night
The evening quarter
After dark people gather on the Gärtnerplatz, with the Staatstheater on its south side and numerous bars and cafés in the streets around, and Glockenbach is also the centre of the city's gay and lesbian life. You sleep, in other words, in the middle of what you go out for, and the streets stay awake later than in the residential quarters. If you sleep lightly, ask for a room that does not face the street.
3-star hotel, double room, per person per night
Across the Isar
Haidhausen lies about two kilometres east of the centre, on the far bank of the Isar, a residential quarter. Round the Wiener Platz is the French Quarter, which grew up after the railway arrived in 1871.
Next door is the Werksviertel, where old factories now hold clubs and bars, and Ostbahnhof is the major junction with the S-Bahn, the U-Bahn and buses. The dinner in the two-day plan is set here: the quarter has no sights, so it is a place to come back to after the galleries.
3-star hotel, double room, per person per night
The park outside the door
Schwabing runs north along the main boulevard, the Leopoldstraße, beside the vast English Garden, and the Münchner Freiheit is its junction, where the U3 and U6 meet trams and buses. It was once the bohemian quarter of artists and writers and is now so thoroughly gentrified that it counts among the dearest residential districts in the city. Choose it when the park matters more to you than a room in the centre.
3-star hotel, double room, per person per night
By the main station: early trains and late arrivals
The Hauptbahnhof is one of the busiest stations in Germany. It handles about 450,000 passengers a day, eight S-Bahn and six U-Bahn lines run through it, and every trip on the day-trips page starts there. The streets south of the station are full of hostels and hotels, but also of gambling halls, sex shops and street traders, so you come here to sleep or change trains, and leave the evening stroll to another quarter.
The S1 and S8 reach the airport in forty to fifty minutes, and the Theresienwiese, where Oktoberfest is held, is a few stops away on the U4 or U5. The station itself is a building site because of the second S-Bahn tunnel.
3-star hotel, double room, per person per night
Oktoberfest and the trade fairs
During Oktoberfest rooms in the centre cost more than double, so no choice of quarter saves the bill: book as early as you can, or come in other weeks.
If you can pick only one
- A first short stay, everything on foot: the old town.
- Galleries and a calm walk home: Maxvorstadt.
- Evenings out: Glockenbach.
- Dinner away from the sights: Haidhausen.
- A park beside the room: Schwabing.
- Day trips and the airport: by the main station.
Where to next
What to eat in Munich
→What gets ordered in Munich, what it costs in the best-known beer hall, and what you carry into a beer garden from the market.
Nuremberg · 151 km
→A city that twice became the stage of German history, both times against its will
How well does Munich suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
Nomadinho scores out of 100, the same ones behind “Where to go”.
If you like Munich
Three places with the closest scores, from any country.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Which quarter should I choose on my first trip to Munich?
The old town if you want everything on foot, Maxvorstadt if the plan is built round the galleries. All of them lie in the inner fare zone, so a wrong choice costs little in rides: one ride in zone M is €4.20, a day ticket €10.10.
Is it worth sleeping by the main station?
If your morning starts early, or a train or day trip leaves from there, yes: eight S-Bahn and six U-Bahn lines run through the station, and the S1 and S8 go to the airport. The streets to the south are mixed, so do not pick the room for its evening stroll.
Ready for Munich?
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