Munich travel info

Eleven in the morning, and the figures in the Town Hall tower on Marienplatz spin and chime. Once the crowd craning its necks drifts off, nearby tables fill with white sausages in a pot of hot water, a pretzel and a wheat beer. Locals still tell you, quite seriously, that Weißwurst must be eaten before the noon bells.

The old town is a 15-minute walk end to end with Marienplatz in the middle: the twin onion domes of the Frauenkirche, the Viktualienmarkt food market and the Residenz palace are all inside. Walk a little north and you reach the Englischer Garten, a park bigger than Central Park, where people surf a standing wave on a city creek. In the evening it's litre mugs under the chestnut trees of a beer garden. On a clear day when the warm Föhn wind blows from the south, the Alps look close enough to touch from the church towers.

Munich Airport is a major Lufthansa hub, and the S-Bahn gets you from the airport into town in about 40 minutes. Know that almost every shop shuts on Sunday and that beer halls and stalls still like cash, and you're set. Neuschwanstein and Salzburg are both about two hours away by train, easy day trips.

Munich Airport (Franz Josef Strauss) (MUC)