Itinerary · Munich Beyond the Old Town

After the Old Town Walk: What Else Is Worth Your Time in Munich?

A Korean Munich local’s practical way to choose what to add after the old town walk: BMW, Allianz Arena, museums, church walks, Maxvorstadt, and Schwabing.

If this is your first time in Munich, start with the old town walk.

After that, Munich becomes more personal.

The old town gives you the first shape of the city. The next choice should depend less on what is famous and more on who is travelling with you.

Some visitors want BMW. Some want football. Some want art. Some want a science museum. Some want a church walk that gives the old town more meaning. Some travel with children, parents, teenagers, jet lag, or rain. Some are here for BTS Munich 2026 and have a free day before or after the concert with no clear plan.

This is not a list of Munich attractions. It is a practical way to decide what is actually worth adding, based on who is in your group and what the day can realistically hold.

The better question is: what is worth your time, for your trip?

01Do not add places. Choose the purpose of the day.

After the old town walk, the biggest mistake is adding famous places because they appear on travel lists.

A good second Munich day usually has one clear purpose.

If someone loves cars, go north toward BMW Welt, BMW Museum, and Olympiapark. If football is the reason someone is excited, make Allianz Arena the centre of the day. If the weather turns bad, choose one museum properly instead of trying to collect three. If you want to understand the old town more deeply, build a short church walk. If children or parents are tired, the best Munich choice may not be another landmark. It may be a shorter route, a park, a café, or simply stopping before the day turns bad.

That is not a failed travel day. That is good travel judgement.

02BMW Welt, BMW Museum, and Olympiapark

BMW is one of Munich’s strongest modern identities. For visitors who love cars, engines, design, or German engineering, the BMW area can be a very satisfying half day. A teenager who looks half asleep in a church may suddenly become very awake around BMW.

BMW Welt is closer to a free showroom and brand experience. You can walk in, see current models, enjoy the architecture, and get a feel for the brand without a long commitment.

BMW Museum is the slower, paid visit: the history of the brand, older models, design changes, and the story behind BMW. For car fans, the museum has more depth. Before going, check the BMW Welt official site and BMW ticket shop for current opening times and tour options.

Olympiapark gives the area breathing room. BMW Welt alone can feel short. With the museum added, it becomes more substantial. With Olympiapark, the whole area becomes a proper northern half day: BMW Welt → BMW Museum → Olympiapark.

Olympiapark is one of the places where Munich feels less like a historical city and more like a city where people live, walk, run, and spend long summer evenings outside. If the weather is good, walk toward the lake, the hill, or the open viewpoints. After indoor displays and crowds, open space helps. Children can move. Adults can slow down.

In warm weather, the beer garden inside Olympiapark works well as a rest point if you are already in the area. Carry a little cash even when card payment is possible. Sea Life München is also nearby, useful for families with small children on a rainy day, but not the main reason to come here for most visitors.

BMW Welt and BMW Museum around Olympiapark. Topfklao / Wikimedia Commons.

03Allianz Arena: make it the centre, not a casual add on

Allianz Arena is not a casual add on.

For football fans, it can be one of the strongest Munich experiences. For people who do not care about football, it may feel like a long ride to a large stadium. That does not make it bad. It means you should be honest about who the day is for.

If you have a Bayern match ticket, the stadium becomes the main event. Do not stack a heavy old town walk, museum visit, shopping session, and football match all into the same day. Match day has its own rhythm: travel to Fröttmaning, crowd movement, entry, food, fan shop, atmosphere, the match, and the return after the final whistle.

For BTS Munich 2026 visitors, Allianz Arena is already the reason for the trip. But the stadium is still not a casual add on. On major event days, the journey, crowd flow, waiting, bag rules, entry checks, and the return are all part of the plan. The U6 ride is only one part of the experience. Plan to arrive earlier than you think necessary.

Allianz Arena at night.

For football tickets, start with the official FC Bayern ticket page. Be careful with unofficial resale sites, especially for popular matches and major events. If a match ticket is not realistic, a stadium tour and FC Bayern Museum can still be worthwhile. Check Allianz Arena tours and museum and the FC Bayern Museum for current access and ticket conditions.

04Museums: choose one that matches your group

Munich has excellent museums, but trying to visit too many is one of the easiest ways to make the day heavy. The museum district around the Pinakothek museums, Kunstareal, is especially good on rainy days. But for art lovers, it is not just a shelter. It can be the purpose of the day.

Alte Pinakothek

Alte Pinakothek is usually the safest first choice for visitors who want classic European art: Dürer, Rubens, Rembrandt, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci. Do not try to finish it. Choose a focus, give it 60 to 90 minutes, and leave before you are tired of paintings.

Alte Pinakothek exterior. Markus Würfel / Wikimedia Commons.

Pinakothek der Moderne, Museum Brandhorst, and Lenbachhaus

Pinakothek der Moderne is the choice for modern art, design, and architecture. Museum Brandhorst is stronger for contemporary art, Warhol, Twombly, and others. Lenbachhaus is excellent for Der Blaue Reiter and Munich’s own modern art story: Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Gabriele Münter.

For Sunday admission rules and opening times, check the Pinakothek visitor information before going. One good museum hour is better than three tired museum hours.

Deutsches Museum

Deutsches Museum is a completely different choice: a major science and technology museum covering aviation, physics, energy, instruments, and hands on displays. Excellent for families, curious children, engineers, and science minded visitors. But it is large. Go in with a plan, choose a few areas in advance and treat the rest as optional. This is not a quick rainy day filler.

05Churches: walking through Munich’s historical layers

Munich’s churches are easy to treat as quick photo stops. But if you like history, architecture, or the feeling of walking through different layers of a city, they can give the old town a second rhythm.

A practical route starts at Sendlinger Tor and moves north:

Asamkirche: private baroque theatre in a narrow street

Walking along Sendlinger Straße, the space suddenly tightens. Asamkirche, built by the Asam brothers between 1733 and 1746, feels almost theatrical inside: dark and bright, crowded and vertical, intimate and dramatic at the same time. This is a good first stop because it tells you something important about Munich: the city sometimes hides intensity in narrow streets.

Asamkirche exterior. Fentriss / Wikimedia Commons.

St. Michael: Jesuit scale and Counter-Reformation Munich

From Asamkirche, the rhythm changes. St. Michael, built between 1583 and 1597, is not about compression. It is about scale. Asamkirche pulls you inward; St. Michael expands the room and changes the tone.

Frauenkirche: Munich’s visual compass

Frauenkirche, built mainly between 1468 and 1488, is Munich’s visual compass. The twin towers help you understand where you are throughout the old town. After the theatrical narrowness of Asamkirche and the institutional scale of St. Michael, Frauenkirche gives the walk a centre.

St. Peter: the older parish core

St. Peter / Alter Peter brings the walk back to Munich’s older parish core. The tower gives one of the classic views over the old town. The climb is not mandatory. If your group is tired, the street level is enough.

Theatinerkirche: courtly Munich and the royal quarter

If you still have energy, continue toward Theatinerkirche near Odeonsplatz. Built mainly between 1663 and 1688, the yellow baroque façade belongs to courtly Munich and Wittelsbach patronage. This is a good place to end the church walk, because the city opens up into Hofgarten and the wider royal quarter.

06Maxvorstadt and Schwabing: Munich beyond postcard tourism

Maxvorstadt and Schwabing are not usually the first places a first time visitor should prioritise before the old town. But after the main route, they can be very good.

This is the Munich of universities, museums, cafés, bookshops, students, older apartment streets, and a more lived in atmosphere. LMU, TUM, Kunstareal, cafés, small restaurants, and residential streets make this area feel different from Marienplatz and Hofbräuhaus.

German universities often do not look like a closed campus behind a gate. In many cities, including Munich, university buildings, libraries, cafés, bookshops, student life, and ordinary residential streets are mixed into the same urban fabric. For families curious about studying abroad, or for children who may one day think about university in Europe, Maxvorstadt gives a quiet first impression of how academic life can sit inside a city.

If you visit the Pinakothek museums, you are already near Maxvorstadt. Add a café, a short walk, or a relaxed dinner instead of rushing back immediately. Schwabing works well if you want a less touristy late afternoon or evening. It is not about one single must see sight. It is about atmosphere.