munich | travelforkids

Founded in 1158, Munich is the capitol of Bavaria today. Munich with kids is a fun city, from seeing the crown jewels of Bavaria, to looking over the rooftops of the old city, visiting gold and white palaces, taking a boat around the English Garden, touring Germany's biggest technology museum, the Deutsches Museum, and enjoying the delights of Christmas markets.

Getting around the city: Munich has an excellent public transportation system (MVV), the U-Bahn (subway), S-Bahn (urban railway), trams and buses. You can get to outlying parts of the city in just minutes. Get the Tageskarte, a 24 hour ticket for unlimited rides on the U-Bahn, trams and S-Bahn within the city center.

Rent bikes - Munich is a great city to bike around. There's a lot of respect for the bicycles on city streets and wide, well marked bike lanes. Kids' bikes and bikes with child seats are available for rent in the Altstadt and near the English Garden.

City of clocks - Everwhere you turn in Munich, there's another golden clock, high up on church steeples, old towers, ancient city gates, and the clocks all the have the correct time. As you walk throughout the city, kids will have fun spotting clocks, and picking out their favorite ones.

Head over to the Viktualienmarkt, a great open air market with sausages, pretzels, fresh fruits (including fresh fruit juices), cheeses, sandwiches, snacks, everything you need for a picnic or quick lunch. Let everyone choose their own food, then grab a table and relax under the trees. The market opens early in the morning and closes in the early evening.

Dallmayrs has all kinds of chocolates, sweets, cookies, pastries, and a cafe where can get hot chocolate and pastries.

In the Christmas season, kids will want to try platzchen (different butter cookies), lebkuchen (spice cookies), chocolate santas in all shapes and sizes, stollen (fruitcakes).

Bavaria has been home to skilled craftsmen for centuries, and you'll find wonderful puppets, clocks, woodwork carvings. Pick up teddy bears dressed in traditional lederhosen (leather pants) or dirndls (traditional dress with silver buttons).

Here's our own Travel for Kids hand-picked list of family hotels, all styles and price ranges, convenient to fun things to do with kids in Munich: