Munich's reputation as the hi-tech and high-art capital of Germany is equalled only by the way it plays up to endless stereotypes (hence Bavaria's land of "laptops and lederhosen" moniker). It is as conservative as it is progressive, and few cities come near to matching its wealth and lifestyle. After three years researching the Bavarian capital this combination of the old and the new ensures that for me Munich remains a unique pleasure.
1. Favourite square
On one side of St.-Jakobs-Platz is the medieval City Museum, originally the city arsenal. The huge boulders beneath the new synagogue dominate the middle of the area, while further across is the equally modern Jewish museum. Both represent a return to the city centre for the Jewish community, more than 60 years after the end of the Third Reich. This is now such an uplifting space, with its open layout inviting visitors to wander, before stopping for a drink at one of the museum cafes (stadtcafe-muenchen.de; cafe-makom.de).
2. Favourite beer garden
At Wiener Platz, on the east side of the river Isar, there is a plaque commemorating the murder of 12 people during the Bavarian revolution of 1918/1919. Echoes of the city's history are never more than a street away. Next door, the 1892-built Hofbräukeller is typical of Munich's ubiquitous, and on the whole superb, beer gardens. The 20-minute bummel from the city centre, including wonderful views of the river Isar and the Friedensengel (Angel of Peace) from the Maximiliansbrücke, is worth the trip alone. The knowledge that what awaits is an extensive beer garden and a cool Weißbier makes the lingering walk on a summer's day even better.
• Innere Wiener Straße 19, hofbraeukeller.de
3. Favourite museum
I am not stating anything new in noting that the centre point of the Munich museum world is the Kunstareal (art area). But few cities can boast so much art of the highest quality in such a small area. The Alte and Neue Pinakotheks have masterpieces by Dürer, Rubens, Raphael, Cezanne and Van Gogh, to name just a few. The Pinakothek der Moderne – four modern museums in one (art, paper, architecture and design) – is a world-class recent addition, as is Museum Brandhorst, a multi-coloured container-like structure that displays everything post-modern from Andy Warhol to Damien Hirst.
• Five minutes on tram 27 from Karlsplatz to Barer Strasse
4. Favourite Wirtshaus
It would be unwise to expect polite smiles or an exchange of pleasantries in Munich cafes or Wirtshäuser (pub-restaurants). Waiting on tables is something to be taken seriously. Munich pubs are a lot more "hit" than "miss", providing you don't turn your nose up at huge quantities of meat or excellent beer. And few would disagree that the Wiener Schnitzel (€21.90) at Spatenhaus an der Oper (opposite the Bavarian State Opera and the Munich Residenz) is worth that few extra euros.
• Residenzstraße 12
5. Favourite festival
Sober, it looks like a collective form of madness. After a beer or two, the Oktoberfest appears to make perfect sense. What started as a royal wedding celebration (2010 is its bicentenary) has become a homage to over-indulgence that's not easy to resist. Many locals restrict themselves to an obligatory single visit a year, dusting off their lederhosen and dirndl for the occasion. Fabulously, the annual visit by the Bayern Munich football team sees the local heroes attire themselves in the best leather that money can buy. Whisper it, but many Münchners much prefer the altogether more modest annual March Starkbierfest festival (strong beer festival).
• 18 September-4 October, but book early. U4 train to Theresienwiese, or almost any S-Bahn to Hackerbrücke and follow the crowd; oktoberfest.de
6. Favourite shop
With the most expensive retail space in Germany located on Munich's Kaufingerstraße, shopping for anything in Munich is not cheap. If books are your passion, there are a diminishing number of good English bookshops in the city. Words' Worth is a delight. This independent shop has a wide selection of English-language newspapers, the newest book titles and offers me a necessary dose of history, politics and fiction.
• U-Bahn 3 or 6 from Marienplatz to Universität station means you'll be in the bookshop (Schellingstraße 3) within 10 minutes; wordsworth.de
7. Favourite day trip
Looking at photos of Königsee, near Berchtesgaden, a huge expanse of glistening blue water in a spectacular mountain setting, it can be tempting to think that it could not really be that idyllic. It is. From there to Austria is a few hours by foot, and from atop the Alps, Salzburg seems to be within touching distance. Hitler's Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest) adds a poignant element to the trip, even for those tired of the British obsession with Nazi history.
• Trains from Munich take less than three hours to Berchtesgaden; bahn.de
8. Favourite cafe
Few people are aware that Munich is Europe's largest publishing city. Exhibitions at Literaturhaus (literature house) are hardly ever a letdown. The perfect accompaniment is a visit to the adjoining Oskar Maria brasserie (named after 20th-century Munich, later New York, writer Oskar Maria Graf). For some, it provides a stimulating location for a post-exhibition discussion. I prefer to quietly get to work on the chef's delicious risotto (reasonably priced at €8.80), followed by the wonderful sorbet (€6.50).
• Salvatorplatz 1
9. Favourite building
Two buildings exemplify Munich's period (roughly mid-1800s to 1914) as a great Kunststadt (city of art). One is Lenbachhaus, former villa of great German portraitist Franz von Lenbach, and now a gallery space for the Blue Rider group. The other is the Müller´sches Volksbad, the "jewel of Jugendstil" swimming baths on the banks of the river Isar. Worried about changing in the vicinity of the opposite sex? Get over it, unless you want to miss the exuberant Jugendstil interior.
• Rosenheimer Straße 1
10. Favourite Münchner
Larger than anything similar in London or New York, the English Garden begins a stone's throw from the city centre and covers around 4 sq km. It is undoubtedly the favourite open space of most Münchners, not least because of its many beer gardens, the best being the Seehaus, on the edge of the Kleinhesselohe boating lake. That this oasis is bang in the centre of Germany's third largest city is in no small part due the eccentric 18th-century Sir Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford), a British citizen born in pre-revolution America, serial womaniser and one of Britain's greatest scientists. For the English Garden alone, Rumford's title of Bavarian count (to add to his knighthood from Britain) was worthy reward.
• Paul Wheatley is a journalist based in Munich and the author of a new history of the city, Munich: From Monks to Modernity
Getting there
Rail Europe (0844 848 4070) has fares from London to Munich from £161 return including travel on the overnight service from Paris. LateRooms.com have rooms in Munich from £48.21 pn.
