Alter Hof was the starter home of the Wittelsbach family and has its origins in the 12th century. The Bavarian rulers moved out of this central palace as long ago as the 15th century. Visitors can only see the central courtyard, where the bay window on the southern facade was nicknamed Monkey Tower in honour of a valiant ape that saved the infant Ludwig the Bavarian from the clutches of a ferocious market pig. Local lore at its most bizarre.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
10.32 MILES
Officially called the KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau, this was the Nazis’ first concentration camp, built by Heinrich Himmler in March 1933 to house political…
3.73 MILES
This commanding palace and its lavish gardens sprawl around 5km northwest of the Altstadt. Begun in 1664 as a villa for Electress Adelaide of Savoy, the…
0.15 MILES
Home to Bavaria's Wittelsbach rulers from 1508 until WWI, the Residenz is Munich's number-one attraction. The amazing treasures, as well as all the…
0.82 MILES
Munich's main repository of Old European Masters is crammed with all the major players who decorated canvases between the 14th and 18th centuries. This…
0.78 MILES
The sprawling English Garden is among Europe's biggest city parks – it even rivals London's Hyde Park and New York's Central Park for size – and is a…
0.68 MILES
Germany's largest modern-art museum unites four significant collections under a single roof: 20th-century art, applied design from the 19th century to…
0.67 MILES
Picture the classic 19th-century museum, a palatial neoclassical edifice overflowing with exotic treasure and thought-provoking works of art, a repository…
0.6 MILES
If you’re one of those people for whom science is an unfathomable turn-off, a visit to the Deutsches Museum might just show you that physics and…
Nearby Munich attractions
0.04 MILES
The former Münzhof (mint) has a pretty courtyard that's remarkable for its three-storey Renaissance arcades dating from 1567. An inscription on the…
0.12 MILES
The soot-blackened façade of the neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus is festooned with gargoyles, statues and a dragon scaling the turrets; the tourist office is on…
0.12 MILES
The eastern side of Marienplatz is dominated by the Altes Rathaus. Lightning got the better of the medieval original in 1460 and WWII bombs levelled its…
0.12 MILES
Spielzeugmuseum, in the south tower of the Altes Rathaus (1474), has a huge collection of toys, Barbie dolls and teddy bears.
0.13 MILES
The Glockenspiel has 43 bells and 32 figures that perform two historical events. The top half tells the story of a tournament held in 1568 to celebrate…
0.14 MILES
For pinpointing Munich's landmarks without losing your breath, catch the lift up this 85m-tall tower.
0.14 MILES
Mariensäule (St Mary's Column) was erected in 1638 to celebrate Bavaria's victory over Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War. It's topped by a…
0.14 MILES
The epicentral heart and soul of the Altstadt, Marienplatz is a popular gathering spot and packs a lot of personality into a compact frame. It's anchored…