Munich is one of the ten venues for the upcoming European Football Championships, and fans from Germany, Scotland, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia, Ukraine and Denmark will be descending on the capital of Bavaria to cheer their teams on. Also, Munich's famed Allianz Arena will see one second-round match and one of the tournament's two semi-final matches.
The 2024 tournament kicks off in Munich on June 14 when Germany hosts Scotland. But whether you are here to actually attend a match, or just happen to be in Munich, the question is - where, from the fan viewpoint, will the action be happening? Where to experience the football atmosphere away from the stadium? And besides football, what else does Munich have to offer? Here are a few tips.
1. Public screenings
The official fan zone is in the Olympiapark (venue of the 1972 Summer Olympics), where all 51 tournament matches will be shown - free of charge. The setting, located near the majestic Olympic Stadium, is the Olympic Lake, where the TV broadcasts will be projected onto a 120 square-metre outdoor screen.
2. Stadium: Allianz Arena
The Allianz Arena - home of football giant FC Bayern in the northern part of the city - is the venue for all the matches in Munich. Fans travelling from the Marienplatz square in the city centre are best advised to take the U6 subway line, a roughly 20-minute ride, to the Fröttmaning stop. During the championships the stadium will officially be called Fussball Arena München (Football Arena Munich).
If you're driving it is very important to know that beforehand you must book your parking permits for the public parking garages at the stadium. The number of permits is limited. Without advance booking you won't get in. Generally speaking, tournament organisers advise against driving with your car to the stadium.
3. Pilgrimage places for die-hard football fans
Munich stands for two major football clubs, the arch-rivals FC Bayern and TSV 1860 Munich. In the Allianz Arena, Bayern has established a museum which the club claims is the largest of its kind in Germany. You can book tickets to the museum online ahead of time and tickets can also be purchased in combination with a stadium tour.
But for some days during the tournament bookings cannot be made. A further pilgrimage point for Bayern fans is the team training quarters - with fan shop - in the Säbener Street in the southern part of the city.
TSV 1860 Munich is not the great supra-regional footballing power like FC Bayern, but the club has many die-hard fans in the city. The Grünwalder Stadion of what fans call the "Sechziger" (Sixties) is in the Grünwalder Street in the district of Giesing. It was built in 1911 and is thereby the oldest stadium in Munich. It was also the largest until 1972, when the Olympic Stadium was opened.
If the public viewing in the Olympic Park is too big for you, the "Stadion an der Schleißheimer Straße" - it's actually a pub - in the Maxvorstadt district might be a good bet. However, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, what is "probably Munich's most famous football pub" is anything but an insider tip. So it's best to book a seat early.
4. What else Munich offers besides football
The large open-air market Viktualienmarkt offers a full Bavarian experience: First Leberkäse (a kind of meat loaf) in a breadroll, then a stroll through the market stalls. If you still have time and the weather is fine, sit under the trees in the beer garden and drink a litre of beer while watching this archetypical Munich scene.
If you are already out and about in the city centre, you can also stop by Marienplatz square with the New Town Hall and carillon (daily at 11:00 and 12:00 and from March to October also at 17:00). Football fans will recognise the balcony: This is where FC Bayern celebrates the titles it has won with its supporters on the square below. Just around the corner is the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), which dominates Munich's cityscape with its two onion domes.
A dip in the Isar, the river that runs through the city, promises to cool you down in summer. The longest bathing zone close to the city centre is between Flauchersteg and Wittelsbacherbrücke.
To get a bit of fresh air and a break from the hustle and bustle, head to the English Garden, one of the largest inner-city parks in the world. It is also home to the Eisbach wave, where surfers show off their skills. If you like particularly well-kept parks, head to the west of the city to Nymphenburg Palace, once the summer residence of the Bavarian rulers.
If the weather is inclement, a magnificent indoor venue is the world-renowned museum of science and technology, Deutsches Museum, located on an island in the Isar River. There, 20,000 square metres of exhibition await you, so plan to budget a bit more of your time to take it all in.
From June 28 through July 7, a further diversion from the football frenzy will be the 41st Munich International Film festival, featuring films from around the world and screenings in several cinemas around the city.
