A fantastic location at the foot of the Alps: Munich without a love of the mountains and an active lifestyle is hard to imagine. München Tourismus shows you the best ways to get that Alpine feeling on a trip to the Bavarian capital: In the alpine museum, on a virtual reality flight experience, in the outdoor department store, hiking and climbing in the city or relaxing and feasting with a mountain panorama.
The Munich Botanical Garden, located right next to Nymphenburg Palace, is not only an oasis of tranquillity and diverse colors, but also a place of learning and research: the Alpinum presents over 200 alpine and Mediterranean plants. Especially in spring, visitors can marvel at a wide variety of flowers in the alpine garden. In the BIOTOPIA Lab, adults and children can get active themselves and experience science in a lively way in free experimental workshops. One highlight is the immersive VR flight simulator Birdly: all visitors with a "wingspan" of at least 1.20 m can choose from one of the four flight programs on offer and, for example, glide over the peaks of the Alps like an eagle and explore the landscape from above.
After three years of renovation, the neo-baroque building dating back to 1888 will be open to visitors again from March 10 - now via the new entrance in the west by the Isar Canal. The reopening also marks the start of a newly curated permanent exhibition: using multimedia and interactivity, it shows the fascination and attraction of the mountains that has lasted for centuries, as well as the challenges of this habitat. To celebrate the relaunch, numerous events will be held in the first few weeks to complement the extensive collection and the exhibition can be visited free of charge. Thanks to the idyllic location on Praterinsel, a green island on the Isar in the immediate vicinity of Maximilianstraße, the museum café and the idyllic museum garden with a view of the Isar round off the visit to the exhibition.
If you want to actively explore the mountains yourself, you need the right equipment - and you can find it at the traditional Sporthaus Schuster in Munich's city center. From high-quality sports and outdoor clothing to the right equipment and expert advice: the founder himself was an ambitious mountaineer and this tradition continues to this day. The employees are also passionate mountain sports professionals and often work part-time so that they can also offer courses such as ice climbing. Members of the DAV can borrow maps and equipment free of charge from the Alpine Club information point on the fifth floor of the department store.
Although Munich is close to the Alps and you can see them in many places, the city itself is quite flat - at least at first glance. Munich-based travel and outdoor journalist Johanna Stöckl has picked out the seven highest "summits" in the city and climbed them on a 42 km bike tour from south to north. Some sightseeing highlights are also part of the Munich 7 Summits adventure. Inner-city peaks are also conquered while bouldering in the "Giant Rosie": The Kraxlkollektiv of the German Alpine Club Munich & Oberland transformed a 75-metre-long underpass near the Ostbahnhof station into one of the largest public bouldering walls in the world, covering 700 m². Even the ceiling can be climbed free of charge and without registration, and the floor is covered with special mats to prevent injuries.
Anyone who can't make it to the mountains for time or fitness reasons can also experience the Alpine panorama from various locations in Munich, often including culinary delights. "Griabig", as the locals say, is the name of the game at the Olympia Alm. In the city's highest beer garden, you can enjoy a freshly tapped beer - in good weather - with a view as far as the Karwendel mountains. In the summer months, the city center offers more elegant dining: While Peruvian dishes and fancy drinks are served on the terrace of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the M'Uniqo Rooftop Bar & Terrace in the Andaz München Schwabinger Tor is known for Mediterranean-inspired dishes and fine cocktails - each with a 360-grand panoramic view over Munich to the Alps.
