Munich – Day 4 of a 10-Day Trip in Europe
Day 4 was a full day in Munich and consisted of visiting the BMW Welt + Museum,the Olympiapark München, Nymphenburg Palace, and the Alte Pinakothek. It was a cloudy day, but a warmer than usual winter day in December. So not a bad day to be out and about.
Day 4
Munich
After having a cup of tea and breakfast at my hotel, I took the train to the BMW Welt + Museum. Note during my stay at the King’s Hotel, they offered breakfast vouchers if you turned down room service for the night (which I did, so my breakfast was included in my stay). I got off at the Olympiazentrum Station and stopped at a small bakery called Ratschiller’s Backerei und Cafe im Olympiadorf for a pretzel. This pretzel was not the soft kind and it was more like a large version of the crispy snacking pretzels. I found it dry and bland, but it might be fine with a cup of coffee. The bakery has pretty good reviews, so maybe pretzels were just not the right choice.
I then walked to the BMW Welt + Museum. There are two buildings – the BMW Welt and the BMW Museum. The BMW Welt is the car exhibition area (current vehicles models), whereas the BMW Museum actually depicts BMW’s history (while also having lots of cars to admire). The two buildings are across the road from each other, but are connecting by an overhead pass. These aren’t the only BMW buildings in the area; other buildings are the BMW headquarters, manufacturing shop, and a race track for testing/experiencing their vehicles. There are different versions of tours and driving experiences that you can book. The museum is self-led and has lots to see including the original Elvis’ BMW 507, airplane motors, motorcycles, Formula race cars and lots more vintage cars! It also has descriptive history on BMW, as well as their manufacturing process.
Afterwards, I walked to the Olympiapark München. This park was constructed for the purpose of its name – the 1972 Summer Olympics. It is a nice area to walk around and you can ascend the Olympic Tower (for a fee). I opted to just walk around the park – there is a small hill which you can walk up and snap a photo of the park from.
I took the long route through the park to the bus stop to head to my next destination – the Nymphenburg Palace. The Nymphenburg Palace is about 40 minutes west of the Olympiapark (by transit). It was built in the 17th century and was a popular summer home for the members of the House of Wittelsbach. On the way between the bus stop and the Nymphenburg Palace was a cafe called Backspielhaus, which I stopped to pick up a lunch sandwich from. I picked a baguette filled with prosciutto and butter, which tasted bland – the flavour of the baguette was too dominating and masked the salty flavour of the prosciutto. I was not making great decisions on my Day 4 meals.
I munched on my sandwich while I continued the walk to the Nymphenburg Palace. The palace front is very wide and equates a distance of 632m (which surpasses the width of Versailles in France). I paid the entrance fee to visit the interior of the Palace. The Great Hall is absolutely beautiful with its high ceiling, artwork, and intricate details. The rooms are interesting to visit as well, but they felt simpler in design if comparing to the rooms in the Residenzmuseum.
Next stop the Alte Pinakothek, an art museum in Munich. It is one of the oldest galleries in Europe and has a large collection of Old Master Paintings (i.e. Paintings by artists that worked in Europe before 1800). They have a few Vincent Van Gogh paintings. I don’t have a large database of historical painters, but Vincent Van Gogh is one that stands out.
For dinner, I headed to Steinheil 16 for pork schnitzel. I arrived just before the dinner rush and was able to get a table pretty easily, but the restaurant filled up very quickly while I was there. I ordered the Viennese-Style Pork Schnitzel and a Augustiner-Bräu beer. Augustiner-Bräu is a brewery in Munich and as shown on the beer glass, it has been around since 1328! My meal came with a salad as an appetizer as well as fries. The schnitzel was so good! But it was humongous – I was not able to finish it.
I had one more stop for the evening – back to Marienplatz. I had to finish my evening with a mug of Glühwein (mulled wine) at the Christmas Market. So warm and soothing! It is crazy to think that I started this Europe trip not being a fan of mulled wine, then finding out that I actually do like it and just hadn’t had good mulled wine before.
Complete Day 4 Itinerary
*Travel times may vary. Check Google Maps for most accurate travel details.
9:00am: Visit the BMW Welt + Museum. Stop by Ratschiller’s Backerei und Cafe im Olympiadorf for a pastry ahead of visiting the museum.
11:30am: Wander the Olympiapark (11 minute walk from the BMW Museum).
1:30pm: Visit the Nymphenburg Palace (42 minute transit from Olympiapark). Stop at Backspielhaus near the palace for lunch.
3:30pm: Visit the Alte Pinakothek (42 minute transit from Nymphenburg Palace).
6:00pm: Dinner at Steinheil 16 (8 minute walk from Alte Pinakothek).
10-Day Europe Itinerary
Click “Download” below for an excel version of my 10-Day Europe Itinerary to Czech Republic, Germany, and Austria. Feel free to use the excel file as a planning template for your own trip!
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