How To Spend Four Days in Munich

If you read the summary of our 11-day European vacation, you’ll know that we started the trip with an overnight flight from Washington DC. We were all a bit tired upon arrival but also ready to get the vacation started and see Munich, Germany. We were a group of 11 with ages from under 1 year old through to grandparents, so our pacing may be different than yours, however we still packed a lot into our visit!

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Head to the bottom of the post to see the ideal four-day itinerary for Munich during Oktoberfest!

Arrival & Day 1

I reserved private transportation from the airport to our hotel; I highly recommend this! We could have taken the train (2 transfers to get us to our hotel) and the bus, but after a long flight and a big group of people- private transportation is the way to go. I am all about making things easier at the start of the vacation.

We stayed at the Hilton Park Munich, which had a great location right next to the English Garden, a 1-minute walk to a bus stop and a 15-minute walk to the metro station. The hotel was able to get half of us checked in early- which was a great benefit with all of our luggage! We dropped our bags in those rooms, freshened up and headed downtown to start exploring around 11:30 am.

This Hilton had easy access to a bus route, quickly connecting us to the metro system. We did try using Bolt ride-share, but it was tough to get rides, so from this point on, we relied on public transportation. We also encountered a few Bolt drivers who were very specific about car seats, so keep this in mind if you are traveling with kids.

We used City Sightseeing (more to come on this!) to see Nymphenburg Palace and Olympiapark. This bus route runs every 30 minutes, which worked well for us! In Olympiapark, we enjoyed our first bier garten and half-liter beers before walking to the top of the hill and taking in all the views. It was so cool seeing the Olympic stadium!

Unfortunately, we missed the last City Sightseeing bus back, but it was only a 10-minute walk to the metro, which we were able to take to the English Garden. We walked through the gardens for a while and ended up near Biergarten am Chinesischen Turm.

This was a great stop for dinner, biers, desserts and sharing excitement for what’s to come over the next 10 days. There were lots of traditional German food options and beautiful views. By 7pm we were all ready to finish checking into the remaining hotel rooms, unpack and sleep! It was a very long 36 hours.

Day 2

This is our first full day in Munich! Since we’re traveling with a large group, I knew we would need more than one day at Oktoberfest. We used this first day to spend a few hours at the Wies’n, walking around the grounds to get an idea of how we wanted to start our official Oktoberfest day, and, of course, have our first few liters and pretzels!

We used a mix of the City Sightseeing hop on/hop off bus, buses and metros throughout the day.

We had our first beers in the Nymphenburg Sekt tent, which was very calm and empty the entire time we were there. They serve wheat beers in half-liters. We then went into the Paulaner tent for our first official liters. Before heading out to tour the city, we grabbed some snacks from the food stands – like potatoes- and they were delicious!

We spent a few hours touring the city via hop on/hop off bus, with a final stop in Marienplatz. It was very busy here with lots of groups shouting soccer chants back and forth…we then realized Manchester City was in town that night. We tried to get tickets but unfortunately couldn’t make it happen.

We had lunch at a sit-down spot in Viktualienmarkt (it was a bit chaotic, and the wait staff weren’t the most friendly). If we were to do this again we would have grabbed food from a stand and wandered the market more. But we were all getting hangry at this point, so a break to sit down and eat ended up being nice. We did grab some fresh fruit, olives and cheeses at the stand though- 2 euros for fresh burrata?! Sign me up!

We then took the metro back to the English Garden. We thought our train was leaving so we all ran up and down flights of stairs only for half of us to get stuck on an elevator. It was frustrating in the moment but hilarious after…we also then realized it wasn’t even our train 🤣 We made our way to the garden and and had drinks at Seehaus. This was a lovely spot along the water! It was a 15-minute walk back to our hotel…in the pitch black. Another memory made, even though it was slightly scary.

We all crashed again- excited for our full day at the Wies’n!

Day 3

I could go on and on about tips and tricks to navigating Oktoberfest– especially with kids. If visiting Oktoberfest is on your bucket list but you aren’t sure how to navigate with your family, check out this guide to find out all you need to know!

We started the morning early because, if anything, I would rather be too early than even a few minutes late. A few of our traveling party are diamond members with Hilton, so we benefitted from the free breakfast each morning. This was a great perk! We arrived around 9am and were let into the Wiesn grounds at 10 a.m. on the dot. The line started forming quickly after our arrival, so I recommend arriving early.

Since we explored a little the day before we knew where we wanted to start and a few additional tents we wanted to hit. Traveling with a group can be exhausting when it comes to figuring out the days plans but we all communicated and figured things out really well! Something to keep in mind if you decide to make this trip happen with a group!

Our Oktoberfest day:

• Coffees and pastries before the bierhalles opened. Keep in mind you will pay a deposit for your cup which will be returned to you when you bring it back.
• First stop: Augustiner Brau. We ordered a round of radlers here and we all wished we would have ordered beers. The radlers had been delicious elsewhere but several liters was too much. The tent had just opened (at 11am) but it was already starting to get busy and the vibes were vibin!
• Next stop: looking at the Clydesdales outsides a few of the tents. The horses were beautifully decorated and were very cool to see outside of where we usually see them (Anheuser-Busch). We also did some shopping!
• Then we hit Paulaner: a round of beer this time and a few pretzels!
• Around 1pm we made our way to Hofbräuhaus because we heard it was one of the more “lively” tents and we wouldn’t be able to get a seat later. This was true, however, security was on point and if you started to stand up anywhere near a bench, you were nearly kicked out. I won’t explain how we figured this out…. We decided to order food here and stayed for two rounds.
• Ride time! It was time to break up the festivities and hit some rides. My daughter wanted to ride the giant swings but I knew there was no way I could make it without ruining the rest of the day with nausea- so my best friend came to the rescue! We also did a few other rides and rode the Ferris wheel- this was an amazing view of the grounds!
• As the day went on, the tents were far more packed. It was nearing the time of day when we couldn’t get into a tent without a reservation and it was a little too crazy for the kids, so we decided to hit one more before ending the day. Our last stop was Löwenbräu around 4pm and it was a fantastic time! The music was great, we danced, had a few liters and enjoyed all the excitement around us.
• As we wandered out of the Wiesn it was sad to see the day come to an end. We made hilarious (and interesting) memories and I really hope to make it back again someday. Absolutely a bucket list adventure!

Day 4

Our only rainy day was also the day we took the train to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. This experience was heartbreaking, heavy, and raw. Dachau was the first regular concentration camp established by the Naxi government and became a model for future concentration camps.

If you are in Germany, or nearby another memorial site, I recommend visiting and learning as much as you can. It was an emotional experience and can not be repeated. While it’s impossible to summarize the experience, I hope this is an encouragement to visit and educate yourself on this portion of history. We can all partake in the fun things while traveling, but when you are near such a piece of history- I hope you feel drawn to visit. The walking tour is free and the audio guide was only a few euros.

As this memorial is not for children, we split off from these guys, and they toured the nearby BMW museum with the kids.

We all gathered again in the late afternoon and planned to take the train to Nuremberg, but the trains were running exceptionally late so we wouldn’t have made it before dark. Instead, we wandered Munich, had a delicious dinner together, and started dreaming of our next few days in Switzerland!

Tips & Tricks

• You will pay a deposit for many cups and glasses (all throughout Munich!) this will be reimbursed to you once you return the glass.
• We did not have a reservation for a seat at any tent within the Oktoberfest grounds and we did fine- even with a large group!
• Use the group ticket for public transportation. We all took turns buying a 24-hour group ticket which was an amazing deal considering how often we were taking the trains and buses.

Four days in Munich, Germany Itinerary

Day one—Arrival: Check into the hotel early or drop off bags, and then head to the city to begin the hop-on/hop-off bus tour. We used City Sightseeing for a 48-hour tour and had a great experience. Take the Purple line to see Nymphenburg and Olympiapark. If your hotel is near the English Garden, take a train to there for dinner in a biergarten.

Day two- spend a few hours at the Weisn grounds exploring to prepare for a long day tomorrow! Spend the late morning and afternoon on the red-line on the City Sightseeing bus with a final stop in Marienplatz. Have lunch and enjoy the market before taking the metro to the English Garden to Seehaus. I also recommend grabbing some cheeses, wine, and other snacks and eating them along the lake in the English Garden

Day three- Oktoberfest all day! Arrive before the gates open (arrive by 9:30 am) and plan to stay for the day!

Day four- History tour. Take the bus and train to Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial- audio guides are a few euros, or you can walk the grounds at no cost. If you are up for a 1-hour train ride, you could also visit Nuremberg in the afternoon/evening.

I hope this was a helpful, in-depth view of spending four days in Munich around Oktoberfest.

If you are looking for your next adventure after Munich, we rented cars and drove through Austria to spend a week in Zurich, Switzerland.