What to do in Andechs

Considered the heart of Munich, Marienplatz is a busy square full of pedestrians, street performers and tour groups. Peaceful protests often take place here, as do rowdy celebrations when one of the local soccer teams wins.

Olympic Park was built for the 20th Summer Olympic Games, which Munich hosted in 1972. The site chosen for the event lies around 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) northwest of Munich’s city center. A massive tensile roof canopy links many areas of the park, including the 69,000-seat Olympic Stadium, the Olympic Hall and the Olympic Swimming Pool. Today, the Park continues to host German and international sporting events. The outdoor Olympic Stadium and the indoor Olympic Hall are also venues for regular international concert acts.

The Olympic Stadium is an innovative and all-encompassing arena for music and sports. It is part of the vast Olympic Park Munich complex that comprises a lake, a hall and a swimming pool. Admire the design of this large stadium, with its sweeping, round terrace and the scalloped netting that serves as a partial roof.

The Hofbräuhaus was founded all the way back in 1589. When the royal court in Munich became dissatisfied with the local beer, Bavarian Duke Wilhelm V agreed to establish a brewery that would produce beer especially for the court.

In 1807, King Maximilian I decreed that Munich’s food markets needed to be moved from the Marienplatz to a larger area, which is now known as the Viktualienmarkt. Viktualien is an old German word meaning “victuals” or “provisions.” Today, this market is still the place to stock up, although there is now a much wider range of provisions to choose from.

The genesis of the Englischer Garten came in 1789, when a wild area along the River Isar was set aside to become gardens. The garden’s current look can be attributed in large part to the landscape gardener Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, who envisioned a garden with sweeping English landscape components. The English Garden runs from the city center to the northeastern limits of Munich, covering a total area of around 1.4 square miles (3.6 square kilometers).