Munich's old town is enclosed by a ring road that follows the line of the medieval walls, and inside that ring almost everything a visitor wants is within twenty minutes on foot. The Marienplatz, the Residenz, the Viktualienmarkt, the Hofbräuhaus, the opera house, the Frauenkirche and the main shopping streets are all inside it. The English Garden begins just beyond the northern edge.
The ring is also a hard boundary in a way that most city centres are not. Munich stayed compact, the pedestrianised core is genuinely pedestrianised, and the difference between staying inside and staying a kilometre out is the difference between walking home from a beer hall and working out a tram.
What we have left off
The Schwabing hotels north of the ring are excluded. They are cheaper, quieter and closer to the English Garden, and they put a tram between you and the beer halls at eleven at night.
What the ring actually gets you
Two things. The first is the evening: Munich's beer halls and gardens close earlier than southern European cities, dinner is at seven rather than nine, and being able to walk back at eleven without planning is worth more than it sounds.
The second is Oktoberfest, if that is why you are coming. The Theresienwiese sits just southwest of the ring, walkable from the western side of the old town, and hotel rates across the entire city triple for the fortnight. If those are your dates, book a year out and expect to pay it.
The nine below are all inside or immediately on the ring, grouped by which part.
Around Marienplatz and the Viktualienmarkt
The dead centre. Everything at the door, and the most street noise.
Hotel Bayerischer Hof - The Leading Hotels of the World is the grand hotel of Bavaria, a block from Marienplatz, with a rooftop pool, five restaurants, a jazz club in the cellar and a level of scale that no other hotel here approaches. It has been in the same family since 1897.
Hotel Bayerischer Hof - The Leading Hotels of the World
Near Marienplatz · 5★ · $$$$
Rooftop pool, five restaurants and a cellar jazz club
Check availabilityLouis Hotel sits directly on the Viktualienmarkt, which means the food market is the view and the noise is the market rather than traffic. It is a design-led hotel and the market-facing rooms are the ones to ask for.
CORTIINA Hotel occupies a quiet street a short walk from Marienplatz with a restrained interior, and it is the calmest of the central group.
Hotel Torbräu sits beside the Hofbräuhaus in a family-run property that has been operating since the fifteenth century in one form or another. It is the most traditional stay in the centre and considerably better run than its position suggests.
Maximilianstrasse and the opera quarter
The grand boulevard running east from the Residenz, with the opera house, the luxury shopping and the quietest streets inside the ring.
Mandarin Oriental, Munich sits on Maximilianstrasse in a nineteenth-century building with the best rooms in Munich, a rooftop pool under a glass roof and a very good bar. It is the most refined address in the city.
Mandarin Oriental, Munich
Maximilianstrasse · 5★ · $$$$
Best rooms in the city with a glass-roofed rooftop pool
Check availabilityVier Jahreszeiten Kempinski München occupies the opposite side of the same street, older and grander, with a courtyard, a spa and a long association with visiting performers at the National Theatre next door.
Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski München
Maximilianstrasse · 5★ · $$$$
Courtyard and spa beside the National Theatre
Check availabilityThe western edge and the ring
Close to the station and the Theresienwiese, on or just outside the ring, and the practical choice for arrivals and Oktoberfest.
Rocco Forte The Charles Hotel sits beside the Old Botanical Garden in a modern building with the largest rooms in the city, a substantial spa with a pool, and a park at the door. It is a ten-minute walk into the centre and the best hotel for a family.
Rocco Forte The Charles Hotel
Old Botanical Garden · 5★ · $$$$
Largest rooms and a proper spa pool, park at the door
Check availabilitySofitel Munich Bayerpost occupies the enormous former royal post office by the main station, restored, with high ceilings and a spa. It is the most convenient position for trains and for the Oktoberfest grounds.
Sofitel Munich Bayerpost
By the Hauptbahnhof · 5★ · $$$
Former royal post office, closest to Oktoberfest
Check availabilityBEYOND by Geisel is the design four-star near the Isartor at the eastern end of the ring, small, well judged, and the best value inside the old town.
BEYOND by Geisel
Marienplatz · 4★ · $$
Small design hotel with the best value inside the ring
Check availabilityWhat to do
Start at the Viktualienmarkt in the morning, eat a weisswurst before noon, which is the rule, and drink a wheat beer with it.
The Residenz is enormous and most visitors skip it for the Marienplatz glockenspiel, which is a mistake in both directions: the glockenspiel is a two-minute novelty and the Residenz is one of the great European palaces.
The English Garden is bigger than Central Park. Walk it from the Chinesischer Turm beer garden to the surfers on the Eisbach wave at the southern end, which is a permanent standing wave in a city river and worth seeing.
Do one of the Pinakothek museums; the Alte for old masters, the Moderne for design. And take the train to Dachau, an hour, if you have the day for it.
Practical notes
The airport connects on the S-Bahn to the centre in about 45 minutes. A taxi is 70 to 90 euros and no faster in traffic.
May to September is the good weather, and Oktoberfest runs from late September into the first weekend of October, when the entire city is booked out at extreme rates. December has the Christmas markets and is cold and lovely.
Beer halls seat you at shared tables; that is normal, not an intrusion. Many shops close on Sundays entirely.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Munich Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Is it worth staying inside the ring?
Yes. Munich is compact and the difference is walking home versus planning a tram at eleven at night.
When should you avoid Munich?
Oktoberfest, unless that is the trip. Rates triple, restaurants are full, and the city centre is busy in a specific way for a fortnight.
How many nights?
Two in the city, three or four if you are adding Neuschwanstein, Salzburg or the Alps, all of which are day trips by train.
Is the Hofbräuhaus worth it?
Once, briefly, for the room. Then go to Augustiner or a garden in the English Garden, which is where Munich actually drinks.