Background
For Winter Break 2023-2024, our family visited Germany and Austria! This has been at the top of our family wish list for a few years. Planning this big multi-city trip was so fun. We saw Christmas markets, snowy villages, ice-skated in 3 cities, and loved loved loved train rides with gorgeous scenery. European travel is quickly becoming one of my favorite things with family-friendly towns, easy navigating with trains and so much history and beauty. Traveling internationally with kids can be daunting but with a little preparation and research and tips from other travelers, we had a successful trip!
This post covers our 2 days in Munich.
Read all of our European Christmas Market posts at the following links:
Arrival in Munich
Munich International airport has great options for flights from the US. See this post here for more details on how we used points and miles from credit cards for our flight. At the time of our visit, the luggage was sooooo slow to arrive at the carousel. More reason to be team carry-on. Our usual routine is to take an uber from the airport to our hotel on the first day and get the hang of public transport and other options throughout the trip. A great option in Munich is the Lufthansa Express Bus. It takes you to the central train station where you would need to then transfer to your final destination. For a family ticket of 28 euro, you can get into the city (compared to $50-$80 for ubers/taxis)
Transportation in Munich
We love train-travel in Europe. We used the MVGO app and bought daily unlimited family passes. It was super easy to buy tickets for our day trips and train to Salzburg, Austria at the end of our stay. We used this website for tips and recommendations. We also just used google maps frequently which was synced to the schedules. One top tip for international travel is to download the city map to google so that it doesn’t continue to use data every time you load.
Hotel
In Munich, we stayed at the Andaz Munich. The hotel is located in the Schwabing district. Views were absolutely gorgeous and the hotel was fantastic with a lovely spa/pool area, great breakfast and bar and super kind staff. We were able to get upgraded to a suite which let the kids be on a pull-out and us be in a separate room. Plus 2 bathrooms! The hotel was a short walk and quick 15 minute bus/train combo to the city. We thought about trying to stay closer but wanted our free breakfast <3. A block away, there was a really cute playground!
Our 2 day itinerary in Munich:
Day 1: Arrival, Christmas Markets, Hoffbraus
After our afternoon arrival, we checked into the hotel (yay for free welcome drinks) and then headed out to Old Town and the main city area. The Marienplatz area was easy to get to and full and bustling with Christmas cheer. The New Town Hall (Neue Rathaus) building is a beautiful landmark and a great backdrop to our first day of adventures. One of the main reasons we visited Germany and Austria was for the Christmas markets and this area had a giant one with hundreds of little kiosks.
Marienplatz Christkindlmarkt: No trip to Munich’s Christmas markets is complete without a visit to the Marienplatz Christkindlmarkt. This iconic market, nestled in the heart of the city’s main square, is the oldest and largest in Munich. With over 100 stalls selling traditional Bavarian crafts, ornaments, and delicious treats, it’s a sensory overload in the best possible way. Be sure to soak up the festive atmosphere, with the twinkling lights and the sound of Christmas carols filling the air and try a mug of steaming Glühwein (mulled wine). At the market, you pay a pfand (deposit) of 3-4 euro and pay 4-5 euro for the actual drink. The deposit is the cost for that adorable mug. If you don’t return it, then you forfeit the deposit. However, if you return it, you get the deposit back. This is environmentally friendly and a nice way to use lots of cute little mugs. They had kid non-alcoholic punch but the kids were not huge fans. We also stopped by a cute cheese shop and sampled some fun snacks. So great!
Hofbraeuhas: For dinner, we walked a few blocks to Hofbraeuhas. This is one of the most famous breweries in the world. If you’ve ever been to a US german-themed beer hall, it is probably modeled in part on this brewery. It was founded in the 1500s and lived up to its hype. It is so touristy but that’s part of the joy. There was live tuba music, large liters of beer, pretzels and schnitzels and large tables full of tourists from all over. We chatted with another family who adventured from Australia and were on a full monthly adventure. I wish!
Day 2: Munich: Glockenspiel, Residence Palace, Viktualienmarkt, City Walking, Ice Skating, More Christmas Markets
Glockenspiel
Glockenspiel: This was our main full day in Munich so we had to make it count! After a late start and hotel breakfast (Yay for nutella croissants!), we headed to see the glockenspiel at 11a. Back at the Marienplatz main square, the large clock tower has a show at 11a, 12p and sometimes at 5p. The short 15 minute show has characters dance around and recounts a royal wedding, jousting tournament and ritualistic dance. It was a little rainy and it didn’t hold our kid’s attention span the whole time but it was fun (Get a cookie snack as a distraction/peace offering)
Munich Residence
Munich Residence: After watching the show, we walked 10 minutes to the Munich residence. It was a little bit of a rainy day so this indoor activity was perfect. Tickets were free for kids and 15 euros for adults. Munich Residence is one of the must-see sites in Munich. It’s the largest city palace in all of Germany. We spent around 2 hours. Some of the highlights include the shell room and the beautiful statues and ceilings. This area was bombed during the war and some of the ceiling paintings were repainted while some were left blank. It was really interesting to think about how this compares to France and Britain and other European palaces that were more preserved maybe due to not being on the wrong side of history.
Munich Residenz Christmas market: Near the residence, we stopped briefly at the Christmas Village at the Munich Residenz. This picturesque market, set against the backdrop of the magnificent Royal Palace, is like stepping into a Christmas carol. It had cute wooden stalls and we had some yummy crepes and more gluwhein. We didn’t buy many crafts at the various markets but enjoyed the atmosphere (and snacks!)
Self-guided Walking Tour
Afternoon walking tour: We took the train back to the Marienplatz area and had lunch in the Viktualienmarkt area. Lots of choices in the area including seafood, soups, Italian and more. After lunch, our plan was to do a mini-walking tour to hit a few highlights from this walking tour:
We passed by the coolest giant Christmas pyramid on our walk. So cool! We also stopped briefly at the Assam church. This was built by two brothers and has an impressive Baroque interior with gold everywhere. It doesn’t look like much from the outside but it was truly incredible.
After the stop at the church, we got distracted by a HARIBO gummy shop (lol) and had fun seeing and picking out new and interesting snacks. We decided at this point that we were losing steam and interest. We passed briefly by a small market at the Sendlinger Gate and took the subway back towards our hotel. We try to keep a 3p-6p no activity block in our schedule so that everyone can relax and recover.
Evening: Ice Skating and Medieval market:
We took the train to the Karlsplatz area where there was a small skating rink set up. Looking back, I would not recommend ice skating in the freezing rain, especially considering we had many other better experiences after this one. If the weather is nicer or this is the only city you’re visiting, then I would recommend it. Otherwise, this could be a skip. After skating, we visited the Medieval Christmas Market. It is a must-visit. This atmospheric market transports you back to the Middle Ages, with costumed vendors selling traditional wares, live music, and even fire jugglers! The giant vat of fire wine was truly a sight to see. We had some brats for dinner and enjoyed the smaller market and the unique atmosphere of this historical market.
Day trips from Munich
We’ve highlighted our day trip to Christmas magic in Nuremberg at this post here. It was wonderful, with kid’s activities, cute scenery and buildings, and yummy food, of course.
We also made a very quick trip to Neuschwanstein castle by public transport. A very beautiful picture postcard spot!
Departure to Salzburg
On our last morning, we departed to salzburg. If you’re hitting multiple cities, plan on giving up half the day to movement and getting settled. From Munich’s main station, it was an easy 2 hour trip to the main Salzburg station. On our trips between cities, we generally booked tickets the night before and were able to get really inexpensive tickets. On the train, operators stopped by to scan our qr-codes and give us a receipt. We used the website Seat 61 to get some guidance but it was really straightforward. The Bayern ticket is a family ticket that is a great deal for unlimited travel in Bavaria (Munich and surrounding areas) on regional trains and is good for Salzburg day trips or even one-way trips like ours.
More Christmas 2023 Posts
Read all of our European Christmas Market posts at the following links:
