Relaxing

Munich has a great choice of public swimming pools run by the city’s utilities provider SWM. Dantebad, located in the Gern neighborhood north-west of the city center, is a special one. It is a swimming pool (and stadium, originally built for the ’72 Summer Olympics’ diving and water polo competitions) that unlike most other outdoor pools runs year round.

The water at Dantebad is heated to above 30 degrees Celsius even if it is snowing (not so likely these days…) or raining outside. Doing your laps out in the cold is extremely refreshing – for those who want to relax afterward, there’s also a wellness pool with water massage jets and chairs. On warm and sunny days, the stands of the stadium are a popular place for sunbathing.

The admission fee (7.10 Euro, no time limit) is on the higher end, but I guess that’s what heating a huge pool all year round costs these days. To save money, go early (up to 2.5hrs after opening) or late (1.5hrs before closing) and you pay only 3.70 for 90 minutes of swimming – which is usually enough to get some exercise. During the summer, the cheaper “Freibad” is also open, which shares some of its facilities with the “Warmfreibad”. This one though is only open between 09:00 and 18:00.

To get there, take tram lines 20 or 21 and get off at “Borstei” or ride the U1 to Westfriedhof.

Beach 38° is basically an old industrial complex near Ostbahnhof filled with sand, heaters and beach volleyball nets.

It’s really a lot of fun and playing there when it’s cold and raining outside this is like entering another world. While around € 40 per hour might sound like a lot, it’s not that bad since you’ll be dividing this by at least four. The atmosphere is nice and relaxed, balls can be rented on site if needed. Plus, there’s some decent food and drinks at the “beach” to relax afterwards – if you don’t want to stay, you can just as well head over to nearby O Castelo for some Portuguese treats.

For those who are into climbing, there’s a boulder hall next door that I haven’t been to yet, since I am a lot more into sports involving a ball.

Hint: If you can’t get a reservation because all courts are booked, try Roberto Beach in Aschheim next to the Wakeboard lift (Erding-bound S2). It’s more remote and I think a little pricier but still a good alternative to not playing at all.

Viktualienmarkt, the famous food market in the city center, is great and all but it is loud, expensive and packed. Just as its larger sibling downtown, Elisabethmarkt is a permanent market, meaning the vendors have their own stands which look like miniature houses.

Elisabethmarkt always seems sort of busy, also thanks to the many students of the nearby high school. However, it really stayed a chill neighborhood market with exceptional food. I like the Spanish deli best – lots of wine, Iberic ham and chorizo. Elisabethmarkt is also one of the best places to get fresh fish or poultry.

The market is – more than anything else – perfect to grab some snacks or hang out at. The Milchhäusl not only shows soccer games inside, it also has great deals like Weißwurst breakfast at just under 1 Euro per sausage. So if you are into really good food and have a morning to spend or are just looking for super fresh produce and meat, go here.

One of my favorite places in Munich is the Olympiapark – and when I am there, I almost always stop by the BMW World, which serves as a museum and delivery center for the car maker.

Ever since they started building this thing, I’ve been strangely drawn to it. I do like BMWs as cars, but I wouldn’t consider myself a fan. The museum is just a cool place to have a coffee, enjoy the architecture (check out some good shots on flickr) and see some nice cars on the way.

Beside the latest and greatest, there are always some vintage models on display. Also you get to play around with a couple exhibition items explaining the technology behind some of BMW’s new features.

Admission is free, and there is a lot of other stuff to do around it, like having lunch at the rotating restaurant inside the Olympic tower or just exploring the park.

Most visitors are impressed by Munich’s big central park: Englisher Garten, which is indeed beautiful. Nevertheless, I am a fan of another park that is almost never mentioned in guide books: the Westpark.

It lies in the west part of the city, well connected with the public transportation network, around 5 minutes from the centre and it’s mainly visited by people living in the neighborhoods surrounding it.

It is ideal for a relaxing walk and a small break away from the city’s streets. Enjoy the rose garden with more than 20.000 roses and 500 different rose species, have a look at the lake stage (a stage area in the western lake which usually hosts open air movie screenings, live music and theater shows during summer), visit the Little Asia (an ensemble that consists of a Chinese garden, a Japanese garden, a Thai sala and a pagoda) and end up at the lake in the eastern section of the park to enjoy the model boat enthusiasts who test their model boats there.