Bavaria · Self-guided walk
Munich in one walk 8 sights, 65 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Munich Old Town: 8 sights on one 4.2 km loop, about 65 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 4.2 km, a loop
- Time
- about 65 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- Marienplatz
- Steps
- no streets with steps on the route
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Munich walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Munich, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. Marienplatz
the start
The middle of everything, and the place all my lanes lean towards. Do not just cross it. Stand still, let your eyes climb the long front up into the tower, and catch the right minute. Then something up there gets going.
Next: Viktualienmarkt, 300 m, about 5 min, along Rindermarkt, Petersplatz, Viktualienmarkt.
2. Viktualienmarkt
about 5 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sat 08:00–18:00, Sun closed
A whole square given over to selling food, which is why I take it personally. Everything is arranged in a ring, and the good part is whatever the ring is arranged around. This is also the one spot in the Old Town where sitting down is part of the plan.
Next: Isartor, 440 m, about 7 min, along Viktualienmarkt, Westenriederstraße.
Lunch break
Ooh Baby I Like It Raw, Rumfordstraße 39, about 110 m off the route.
A small café on Rumfordstraße, near the Isartor, done up in a playful vintage look. More on what to eat in Munich.
3. Isartor
about 11 minutes of walking from the start
The eastern gate, at the far end of the wide old street that runs towards the river. Come at it from within and watch it grow: a squat middle block, a walled forecourt, two slim ones holding the corners. And somebody with a very particular sense of humour has moved in upstairs. I am not telling you who.
Next: Alter Hof, 490 m, about 7 min, along Pflugstraße.
4. Alter Hof
about 18 minutes of walking from the start
Where the rulers first set up house in town, one turn off the busy lanes, and almost nobody walks in. A quiet yard, a crooked oriel stuck on a corner, walls that have heard things. Go in and read what is fixed to the wall.
Next: Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan, 520 m, about 8 min, along Alter Hof, Dienerstraße, Residenzstraße.
5. Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan
about 26 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 06:30–20:00
You notice the colour before anything else. It is the yellow one at the top of the shopping street, with two slim fronts and a dome behind them, and the yellow is no accident. If it is open, go in: everything in there is white, and it is the loudest white I know.
Next: Frauenkirche, 560 m, about 8 min, along Theatinerstraße, Schäfflerhof.
6. Frauenkirche
about 35 minutes of walking from the start
Big, blunt and made of brick, and you can see it from most of my lanes. That was the point of building it that way. Inside, the trick is not to look up first. Look down at what is under your feet just after you come in from the square, and give it a moment.
Next: little ART - Münchner Künstlerhaus, 440 m, about 7 min, along Löwengrube, Maxburgstraße.
7. little ART - Münchner Künstlerhaus
about 41 minutes of walking from the start
It sits at the north-west edge, where the ring bends, and looks like a Renaissance town hall that took a wrong turning. Somebody built it as a clubhouse for one particular crowd, and the scrolled gable says loudly which one. There is a courtyard behind it too.
Next: Sendlinger Tor, 750 m, about 11 min, along Herzog-Max-Straße, Herzog-Wilhelm-Straße.
8. Sendlinger Tor
about 53 minutes of walking from the start
The southern gate. Traffic goes around it and you still walk straight under the arch, which is my favourite kind of leftover. Look up at what flanks the opening before you pass. There is arithmetic hiding up there.
Back to the start: Marienplatz, 700 m, about 11 min, along Sendlinger Straße, Rosenstraße, Marienplatz.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Munich.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 132 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Munich Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.