Food Tours in Munich

If you're going to eat in Munich, you can't do it without a good beer- didn't you know that it's known as the beer capital of the world? Many say that it is. Taking a gastronomic tour and having a beer is one of the best things to do and see if you are in Munich.

German taverns are traditional places, and in the city of Munich is where you can taste the tastiest and most popular Bavarian beers, as well as its varied Bavarian and German gastronomy. Here are the best gastronomic tours so that you know what to order when you visit the most emblematic pubs.

Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner and Spaten-Franziskaner are some of the most outstanding beers in Munich and a beer tasting tour is one of the things you have to do if you're staying in the city for two days. On this tour, I invite you to visit the traditional Biergarten, where you can sample the distinctive taste of each of these beers in one afternoon.

Biergartens are breweries, but with their own distinctive characteristics. It is customary for each Biergarten to have its own brand of beer, so you will experience each one uniquely. Some may be located outdoors and shaded by trees or are indoor beer gardens, but they tend to have wooden tables and benches, so you'll love being in such an indigenous place.

My advice is to start at the Hofbräuhaus, a biergarten with almost 500 years of history and located on Platzl 9, a 4-minute walk from the historic Marienplatz. You can end your brewery day by sampling one of their authentic beers for less than €12.

When you've finished checking out Hofbräuhaus, head to the Park Café at Spielplatz Alter Botanischer Garten, Sophienstraße. Here you can be served the delicious Löwenbräu, Franziskaner, Beck's beers. This place is known to be a favourite when the German national team plays a football match or Bayern Munich has important jousts.

Conclude your tour with a last beer and a good Pretzel Biergarten from the Chinese Tower in the Englischer Garten or English Garden. Once in the Englischer Garten, the largest and most famous garden in the city, look for the Chinese Tower in the centre of the park. Enjoy the walk up to the tower where you will find the largest pretzels in the city as well as their dark beer, strong in aroma but refreshing in taste.

By law, in Bavaria, you are free to bring your own food in a container and consume only the beer on offer. This cultural aspect of Bavarian breweries is little known to foreigners.

Interesting details

• Price: average cost per beer is 10-15€.

• Duration: 2 to 3 hours - Means of transport: take the underground from lines U3 and U6 to Marienplatz and from there walk through the various biergartens.

• Advantages of this option: beer gardens and biergartens are very popular with locals and tourists. You will have the chance to socialise with other cultures while sharing a good mug of beer.

• Disadvantages of this option: the beer portions are large and if you are sensitive to alcohol then it is preferable to order small beers.

Fruits, cheeses, flowers and lots of colourful products meet in the heart of Munich. Visit the Viktualienmarkt, the city's largest and most popular market, where 140 shops open and offer their wares to visitors every day. Here you can eat traditional pretzels, apricots, pickles, chocolates and even beer, all in a place designed for today's tourists.

Start your walk at the Marienplatz. You can reach it from the same underground stations that share its name on the U3 and U6 lines. Around the square you'll find street vendors offering hot and crunchy pretzels to enjoy with a nice fizzy apple juice from the vegetable stalls.

You can take a chance and try a special pickle board from Wilde Zeiten offering assortments of venison, wild boar, goat cheese and orange marmalade. If you're hungrier, you can order a venison or wild boar burger or try the Tölzer Kasladen, the market's finest artisan cheeses.

In the Biergarten, the beer garden located right in the centre of the market, you have access to a menu offering a mix of traditional Bavarian dishes and typical German food. This establishment is a good choice if you want to enjoy an amazing lunch or a warm snack in the open air.

Conclude the tour after strolling through the rest of the market and shopping for souvenirs with a dessert. You can sweeten the tour with a Bavarian cream at Chocolaterie Beluga and ask them to serve you a tasting of their best chocolates. The market's chocolate and chocolate shops are known for fusing the bitterness of their beers with bitter and sweet chocolates.

Interesting details

• Price: the market is free to visit, but depending on the dishes and products consumed the average cost can be between 20 and 80 € - Duration: 2 to 3 hours - Means of transport: take the metro from lines U3 and U6 to Marienplatz and from there walk to the market.

• Advantages of this option: this market specialises in providing local and hard-to-find products. What you see here will be hard to find elsewhere in the city.

• Disadvantages of this option: as it is a popular and central location, the prices of the products and dishes may be a little higher than usual.

There is no way you can pass through Munich without tasting one of the characteristic symbols of its gastronomy and national identity: sausage. From the Marienplatz you can take a tour that will take you to different types of sausage such as Weisswurst, Bierwurst or Bratwurstherzl. Are you up for a tour full of sausage?

There's nothing like starting your tour with a typical Bavarian breakfast dish. At the Schneider Bräuhaus they serve Weisswurst, an indigenous German white sausage made by combining veal with pork, mixed with spices and then boiled in broth, accompanied by Bavarian-style sweet mustard. This breakfast is accompanied by Brezenknödel, which are dumplings or pretzels, and a local Weißbier, a wheat beer served for breakfast that Schneider Bräuhau has been brewing since 1872.

Follow the Kaufingerstraße to the Augustiner Stammahaus, where you'll eat a platter of the typical German sausages: Bierwurst and Bratwurstherzl. The former, although literally called beer sausage, has no beer in it, but is its ideal companion and is made with garlic and pepper. Bratwurstherzl, on the other hand, can be made from cow or sheep and is stuffed into the animal's natural casing. Going to the Augustiner Stammahaus is one of the things to do and see in Munich in winter because it is so popular for its Christmas dishes.

400 metres from where you are, walk down Heiliggeiststraße to the former Bratwurstherzl, this brewery is adjacent to the Viktualienmarkt and is famous for having been in business since 1633. Here you will order the signature dish, the Bremen Bratwurst. It is a platter of only German sausages, including the Thüringer Rostbratwurst, a secret recipe sausage from the central-eastern state of Thuringia.

Everywhere the sausages are accompanied by a mug of beer. This tour concentrates on the historic city centre and you will only have to take the underground from the central station to the Marienplatz station and then walk to your next destinations. The prices of the tray vary and you can order each sausage separately and it usually comes with a portion of sauerkraut and potatoes. The price can be around 30 €.

Interesting details

• Price: between €20 and €30 - Duration: 3 to 4 hours - Means of transport: use the underground from lines U3 and U6 to Marienplatz.

• Advantages of this option: the sites are popular so you can get to know the customs of residents celebrating and sharing their meal times.

• Disadvantages of this option: the venues can get quite crowded.

Sugar, sugar and more sugar is what you get on this tour of Munich's most popular bakeries, one of the best things to do with kids in the city. On this tour you'll get to eat strange and traditional fruit cakes as well as various pancakes to sweeten your palate.

We start, of course, at the Viktualienmarkt in the centre of Munich, a four-minute walk from the Marienplatz. Here I'm going to recommend a few places where you can indulge in German and Bavarian desserts. Let's start with the handmade cakes from Lea Zap Markpatisserie.

The magic of pastry craftsmanship together with traditional recipes, with 100% organic and Munich-sourced ingredients are feted in this place. Don't miss the opportunity to try the Rhabarberkuchen or rhubarb pie, a fruit-vegetable unknown to tourists, but coveted by the locals for the freshness of its taste.

A few metres away from the Lea Zap Markpatisserie, you will find the Konditorei Cafe Vienna. This café specialises in traditional Viennese pastries and cakes. Here, as they say, they don't make cakes, they create them. Try the exquisite imperial pancakes and indulge in a dark coffee.

Finally, you can go to the Schmalznudel Cafe Frischhut. You'll be entering one of Munich's best cafés because of the awards it has won at municipal and national level. Here you will find the best traditional Bavarian pastries. Order the Baiser-Käsekuchen, a one-of-a-kind cheesecake. If this is not enough for you to try Austrian pastries, I recommend the excursions to Salzburg from Munich, where you can also visit various bakeries.

Interesting details

• Price: sweets in Munich are cheap, it is very difficult for small portions of the ones I recommended to you to cost more than 6 € - Duration: 3 to 4 hours - Means of transport: use the underground from lines U3 and U6 to Marienplatz and from there walk to the market.

• Advantages of this option: you will get to know the gastronomic sins of the locals.

• Disadvantages of this option: If you get a quick boner or are lactose intolerant, then consider this when ordering a dessert.

Munich has a catalogue of top restaurants. I propose an unconventional tour: eat starter, main course and dessert in different restaurants, so that you get the best of each one.

Below the heart of Munich, specifically in the New Town Hall, on the Marienplatz, you will find the renowned Ratskeller. To get there, you must go down some stairs that will take you to the old medieval wine cellars of the city, now converted into the Ratskeller. Typical German dishes are on the menu, but I recommend that you start your tour with an aperitif platter. Here you can nibble on the best German sausages and cheeses of the highest quality.

Now it's your turn to try a restaurant that is popular with the city's residents. Just a 5-minute walk from the Marienplatz you will find the Opatija Easy. This restaurant is known for serving Italian and Balkan dishes in a fast-food style with a German flavour. I suggest you order an Italian salad with boiled cabbage, which can be a side dish. The place, apart from being generous with portions, is cheap: an expensive dish won't cost more than 30 €.

Now, without leaving the centre, head to Schwanthalerstraße where you will find Steinheil 16, the most popular place in Munich for its cheap prices. This restaurant is the best place to grab a main course and became popular for offering hearty portions at affordable prices in a university student area. The most popular dish is their giant schnitzel with fries and salad which costs no more than 13 €. Will you miss it?

Interesting details

• Price: you'll be in the cheapest restaurants in the city centre so it might be between 60 and 90 € depending on the dishes and drinks you order inside the venue - Duration: 3 to 4 hours - Means of transport: use the metro from lines U3 and U6 to Marienplatz, but the tour is mainly done on foot - Advantages of this option: you will be able to taste different dishes from a melting pot of local cuisines for a small fee - Disadvantages of this option: if you want to taste all the dishes of the places you are going to, remember that you can order a takeaway so you won't be sick with so much food.

Traveller Tip

The central area of Munich, which is the tourist area, is quite compact. You can easily walk around this area without using the underground, which I only recommend for getting there.

Eating is a unique experience and like everything else, there are advantages and disadvantages to hiring a guided tour, but if it's gastronomic you have to keep in mind that Munich is a city that is very open to tourists. But here you will have to prioritise: do you prefer to approach each place on your own and order what you like or do you want a more rigid planning where everything is already paid for and taken care of?

My advice is that, if you know German or some English and have the time, go on your own at your own pace. The best thing when it comes to food is to be able to take it easy and enjoy every bite, without the pressure of the group not going at the same pace as you. If you want to book guided tours, there are fantastic excursions from Munich to Berchtesgaden or even to Rothenburg, so you could spend your resources there.

However, if you have just enough time and a fixed budget, then booking a guided food tour will be a very attractive option for you. In general, the guides will give you the details of each dish you eat and the costs will be included in the package, so you won't have to worry about extra expenses.

Eating is a pleasure, but you have to be comfortable to do so. Transportation can't be a problem to get to the restaurants and breweries I've recommended here, so the best way to get around is the underground, which in Munich is known as the U-Bahn. You can also use the local train system, the S-Bahn, if you're staying in the suburbs. Buses and trams are also good options so that your tours focus on the sites and the food and not the stress of getting there.

But you can also mix in other possible alternatives, such as some of Munich' s best sightseeing buses, which can drop you off in the city centre and you can take them at the end of your tour. There are even great tours in Munich from the comfort of a bicycle that can be dedicated to gastronomy, but in that case you have to consider if your stomach is adapted to cycling after eating.

You have to consider that if you are not used to different flavours or ingredients, it is possible that digestion becomes a bit complicated, so you have to avoid major obstacles and do not mix too many flavours. Additionally, if you drink beer you should be aware that you can't drive, so public transport or a tourist bus will be your best option to get back.