We had an early morning flight out of Dublin and given the very seasonal weather, we decided it best to stay in one of the airport hotels, as we felt it made more sense to drive up the evening before, we also parked in the short-term carpark when we arrived which sorted out a carparking headache in the early hours of the morning. We stayed at the Maldron hotel, about a five minute walk from T2 where we would be catching our flight. Now let’s face it, airport hotels are designed for a captive audience, they are never the best, but for most, it’s a convenient option for early morning flights. Once at the hotel, we ordered some food from the bar menu and ate out in the reception area. The food was as expected, poor, but sufficed. Our room was clean and more than adequate for the few hours we would spend in it.
We arrived into T2 just after 4:15am which despite the below zero temperatures, was just a short walk from our hotel and in no time, we were through security. We had also booked a lounge again as on our previous trip it was nice to have a bit more ‘quietness’. This lounge was called the East Lounge, smaller than the T2 Lounge where we were before. This particular lounge was not worth the price tag, it was smaller than the T2 Lounge with a poor choice of food and drinks. After lounging around for a few hours, we made our way to the gate, our flight was over an hour late departing but was a short hop to Munich and before we knew, it we had landed and boarded the train to bring us into the city centre.
Once out of the main station, our first sight was the market, it looked impressive. We had a brief look around some of the vendors before heading to our digs for the next few days. So I mentioned on the outset, we had nabbed a fancy hotel – the Mandarin Oriental in Munich. The last time we stayed in a Mandarin was in Bangkok a few years back and it was fantastic.
Once checked in, we made our way to our room, we were on the top floor and our room while certainly not the biggest, was very well appointed and spotlessly clean. It had everything you could possible need, right down to the custom stationary for letter writing. A fancy mini bar stocked with some bubbles, nibbles and beers. They even had the correct corresponding glass for each beer, nice touch.
As we had not had lunch and to save some time, we grabbed lunch in the hotel lounge. The lounge was not too big and it was not busy. They had all the usual lunch time basics covered, I opted for the currywurst and C went with the classic club sambo, both served with fries. The food was tasty and filling, the service was also on point as you would expect for a hotel of this calibre.
After lunch, we hit the streets to check out some of the market, well there are actually several around the centre of the city. It was surprisingly busy not just at the markets but even the department stores and local stores around the area.
There was all manner of Christmas decorations on display as well as dozens of stalls selling food and drink. As it had started to snow, this added to the very festive atmosphere which was fantastic. We did make one attempt to check out a small museum called The Residenz, but as you can see from the photo, there was a long line and we were informed by one of the museum staff members, we would not get in as they were not only full, but that the museum would be closing within the hour.
After wandering around enjoying the market, we made our way to what is the oldest brewery in Munich called, Augustiner Bräu Munich which was recommended to us. It was a short metro ride and about a 5 minute walk. While it was nowhere near as busy as it would be during the high season, it was still pretty busy. We got seated, ordered a wine for C and their regular beer for myself, which was fantastic. I also ordered a slice of strudel, which came with some cream and a créme anglaise and it was very tasty. Actually all the food that was being served around us looked really tasty and hearty. We will certainly be eating here next time we are in Munich.
Once done with Augustiner Bräu we headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. We had booked a casual place called Schwarzreiter which was conveniently located a short walk from our hotel. When we arrived the place was hopping, luckily we had the foresight to book in advance. Top tip, since the pandemic, it now seems the norm to book everything as far as possible in advance, whether for restaurants, museums, excursions or any other travel-related event to be sure of not missing out (see the example above).
Once seated at Schwarzreiter, we ordered the usual Kir to kick things off. For my starter, I ordered the beef salad, which you can see from the photo was huge. C did not fancy a starter but ordered the schnitzel for her mains. For my main dish, I ordered the burger. The burger came with a truffle mayo on my fries which was fantastic, the burger was also very tasty. C’s schnitzel came with a really tasty potato salad, some fresh coleslaw and a berry chutney. Overall the food at Schwarzreiter was very enjoyable. Once done, we headed back to the hotel for a good’s night rest.
The following morning we grabbed breakfast in the hotel restaurant, which is also Japanese themed. Well, it is their onsite Japanese restaurant that they just happened to use for breakfast. It has two buffet sections, one with all the breads, jams, pastries and such, the other is a cold bar, with salmon, charcutiere and the like. Besides all that you can also order from the menu on the tables. After having some pastries I ordered the eggs benny with a side of sausages, C kept it simple with a bowl of porridge. The hot food was fine, but the buffets were much better. Still though, the service was very pleasant as you would expect.
After breakfast we got ready for the day ahead. Our first stop was to visit the BMW museum of all things. It is probably not something that is on everyone’s list of must see’s in Munich, unless you’re a car enthusiast, or in this case a BMW fan, but we fancied visiting something different, plus, it was recommended to us. From the centre of Munich, it is short 15 minute metro journey to the museum. Actually, there are two parts to the museum, the ‘old’ part which looks at the history of BMW and well the ‘new’ part, which is actually just an enormous showroom where you can drive away in your new car.
The old part is very interesting, as well as having the first every BMW on display, it also has an entire section on their motorcycles, rally cars and a section on concept cars and where the future of driving is, er, going. After visiting the old museum we made our way across the road to the second part. Here you will find all the new cars on display as well as several Rolls Royce, which are actually owned by BMW. The place is so big it has four places to eat, from a casual food stand to an apparent Michelin star restaurant. You can pick up your new car and drive it out of the showroom from a raised carpark of sorts, as seen in the photo. As we were here, we grabbed a sambo for lunch at one of the casual self-service restaurants.
After the museum, we made our way back to the city centre and at this point, the snow had gotten much heavier which was nice. We took a trip up to the top of the clock tower which offered great views of the Marienplatz market below as well as the city. Afterwards, we did some more window shopping before going back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. For this evening’s meal we had booked a place called ‘Sparkling Bistro’ – and yes, you would be forgiven for thinking it is a Japanese restaurant, in fact it’s modern German cuisine.
We arrived bang on time and the place was full, again, forward thinking on our part as we had it booked several weeks back. Like pretty much every Michelin star restaurant, it’s a taster menu, with a choice of 5 or 8 courses, no prizes for guessing what we went for. As usual, Kir to kick things off, I’ll let the photos do the rest.
So how was it, well, it was ok. Like some of our previous Michelin star experiences, it was lacking. Some of the courses were very tasty but the majority were mediocre. That aside, it was a nice setting and the staff were very friendly and very efficient, no surprises there I guess.
Once done we made our way back to the metro through the snow to our hotel for a good night’s rest. The next morning, we grabbed breakfast, got packed up and made our way to the airport for our flight home.
This was an extremely enjoyable short break in Munich. It was well worth the trip to take in the Christmas markets which were fantastic. We enjoyed some decent food and drinks and our ‘fancy’ hotel was very nice. We are not done with Munich though, we have another trip coming up later in the year, which could not be further away from this trip (in contrast), however, we are already looking forward to the return trip.
Until next time,
Bye for now,
C&J
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