Munich & Berlin

Munich is such a beautiful city for the day-1-explore. Its red-topped buildings provide for beautiful scenery and architecture, and there's lots to do. My dad is a huge beer fan, so naturally, we had to go to the famous Hofbrauhaus for lunch.- a HUGE communal beer hall & traditional German restaurant that sports like polka music, waitresses donned in drindls, and steins of beer. Try the Werner schnitzel and sit with some locals if you can. It’s an awesome experience. There are no private tables! We were there for a couple hours, as it’s wildly entertaining, before we continued to make our way across the city.

Marienplatz is one of Munich’s most bustling squares right near there, with a ton of shopping, food, and more. We marveled there for a bit before making our way to the Neues Rathaus, a Gothic style cathedral with an 85m tour that you can go up for aerial views of the city. You can see the Alps on a clear day. St. Peter’s is another church you can do this in. After this, per my request, we headed over to Eisbachwelle River, famous for its surfers - in the middle of the city! I love to surf, but even if you don’t, this is such a cool thing to go and spectate. We grabbed some drinks and watched the surfers over the bridge at sunset. We stopped for dinner on our walk back to our hotel to get traditional beef & potato stew (and of course, a complimentary pretzel), then headed home for the night.

Dachau is an old concentration camp from WW2 that is about a 30 minute train ride from Munich, and an experience i highly recommend. It’s heavy, but impactful and felt necessary for us to do. You can take a self guided tour through most of the grounds and learn about what went on there. Some areas a guide will walk through it with you and give you history and facts. If this is something that feels triggering or too sad for you, of course maybe choose another activity for this day, but we felt it imperative for us to go. We spent most of the first half of the day there, then chose some easier activities for the evening to decompress. A nice walk at the English Gardens, dinner, and an early turn in to get ready for Oktoberfest!

Oktoberfest is amazing - really it’s like a big carnival. Families bring their small children, as there are rides, fun houses, food stands, etc on top of the beer tents. There are about 9 huge beer tents, all belonging to a different brand of beer that you can go to. I recommend getting there EARLY (like 8:30 am) to get into the tent of your choice. As the day goes on, it gets a little less crowded, but in the mornings the lines can be really long.

We spent a lot of time in the beer tents hanging with other people at the festival, talking to locals, drinking beer and eating traditional snacks. We walked through the grounds as well and tried our hands at some of the games and fun-housers. Leiderhosen and drindls are expensive when made well, but honestly, well worth the buy for us. It’s really fun to really immerse yourself in the experience and dress up! The best part is, the festival is 3 weeks long from 9am-12am every day, so you can take breaks in the middle of the day to nap, recover, or just do something else. Especially if you’re there for a few days. Entry to the festival and tents is free! The beer in Germany for Oktoberfest is around 14%, so drink responsibly and know you’ll feel it WAY faster.

Berlin is doable by train from Munich, but it’s a long ride. The flight is only an hour and relatively cheap, so this is what I recommend. Berlin is another bustling city, but very different from Munich’s Bavarian feel. We stayed with my cousin a little outside of the city, but an easy metro ride in. On our first day there, we of course did some sights and exploring. First up, the Holocaust memorial and the Berlin Wall, as they are fairly close to one another. Another heavy, but we felt necessary, thing to see while in Berlin. The wall is perhaps the most shocking visually, but of course now, half of it is covered with beautiful murals. I recommend walking it to see all the different art and messages painted on it.

After this, we met up with my cousins friends at a swanky bar where we specifically could get cocktails with absinthe (it’s illegal in most of the US). I cant remember the name, but it was a very industrial, modern-looking bar with super fun cocktails. We had drinks and socialized for a while, soaking in the afternoon. That night, we went to one of Berlin’s most poppin’ clubs - Matrix. It’s HUGE, and very popular. Its less of a local spot, but fun to check out for a night. The custom in Berlin is to stay out until 8am, so naturally, we obliged. This also means a ton of food spots are open late, so no fear.

After our morning naps, we headed to the Reichstag (basically German national government) and took a guided tour. Get these tickets in advance, as they do often sell out for the day. This took up most of the morning, and for lunch, we picnicked at Tiergarten, an expansive park in the middle of Berlin. It’s gorgeous. We hung there for a while, and then we headed to a beach club on the River. It is either Charlie’s Beach Club or Rocky Beach Club, but there are a ton you could check out. Most have covers and can be a little pricey, but we had a blast. They have small beaches, floating docs and floaties to chill in the water, and great drinks. Berlin can get HOT, so this was an amazing way for us to cool down and have some fun. That night, we tired our hands at a more local club, called Ipse. This club is an outdoor techno club on the river and has a really cool vibe to it. Pro tip: If you collect empty glass beer bottles that people have left and bring them back to the bar, the bartenders will give you 2 euro for each pair. We collected like, 20, and paid for our covers to the club. If you like techno, this is your spot!
Other clubs include Berghain (WILDLY popular and notoriously hard to get into), Watergate, and Maxxim. Berlin has a bustling nightlife and you can find something for everyone.