- Do I need a passport to travel to Germany?
- Yes. Read about getting a passport.
- Do I need a visa in Germany?
- No. Read about work visas and tourist visas.
- Do I need shots to travel to Germany?
- No. Read about travel immunizations.
- Yes. See places to stay in Munich below.
Air to Munich may be cheaper with an air/hotel package, but those stays are usually very short. If you're already in Europe, take the train to Munich -- easy, comfy -- or a very cheap European airline.
"The Tent," 15 minutes from the main train station, is Munich's May-October party campground/hostel. Camping from 5.50€ per person.
Health care is pay as you go, and your US health insurance may cover you -- check before you go. Food and tap water are perfectly safe in Munich. You don't need travel immunizations for Munich.
- Augustiner Großgaststätte -- huge, echoing hall full of hearty, no-fooling beer drinkers. Neuhauser Straße 27.
- Hofbräuhaus -- touristy, and that's the point. Brush up on beer hall songs. Neuhauser Straße 16.
- Löwenbräukeller -- nothing like drinking beer in a sunny setting all day while on vacation. Nymphenburger Straße 2, Stiglmaier-Platz.
More things to do in Munich:
- Watch for thousands of roller-bladers around town on summer Monday's Blade Night.
- See the gigundo Glockenspiel strike the 11:00 hour in the Marienplatz so you can say you did.
- Take a self-guided Munich walking tour.
- Go riversurfing (or watch) on the Eisbach river at the Haus der Kunst.
- Have a beer afterward at the nearby Englischer Garden, which borders the Schwabing disctrict, an artists' quarter perfect for cafe-lingering.
- Take a self-guided Munich walking tour from the Karlplatz to the Isartor.
Enjoy Munich!
My most searing memory of Munich came in a tour bus -- I was traveling with EF Tours and our tour guide pointed out the spot in which books were burned by students under the Nazi spell in 1933; similarly, a great burning of books happened in Berlin and Cologne. In seconds, she was on to the next sight, but I stopped breathing for a moment, pen poised over my notes, which I was free to take and write up for publication in any way I saw fit and which you're free to read. For whatever reason, it hit me hard at that particular moment that millions of words had gone up in smoke that represented the attempted theft of the essential and fundamental human right to think and learn. And should you believe that such a trampling of human rights can't happen today, think again. Don't forget to vote.
