Munich's Christmas Markets

Every year during the Advent season, the city of Munich adorns itself with the most famous and beautiful Christmas markets in Germany, perhaps even in Europe.

Munich’s largest and most famous Christmas market is on the Marienplatz, right in the heart of the city. If you just want to give yourself a treat during lunch break, or if you need to strengthen yourself during the exhausting Christmas shopping, or if you simply want to enjoy the Christmassy atmosphere quickly after work, or the whole weekend long, the Christmas markets are just the perfect place to be. Traditionally, Christmas markets used to be commodity markets where you could buy Christmas tree ornaments, woolen goods and any other kind of handcrafts; so to say everything you need during the Christmas & winter season. They still offer all these bric-a-bracs, either for you to take back come or to give away as a present. But in spite of all these nice goodies and culinary delights of Munich's Christmas markets, it is still primarily a place of encounter, where hurried Christmas shoppers meet in order to enjoy a cozy, cheerful and warm Christmas spirit all together – Advent is in the city with Christmas arriving soon.

Not far from central Marienplatz, illuminated at night in iridescent colors, you will find the famous Christmas village in the imperial court of the Munich Residenz. In the Christmas farming village, with beautiful alpine huts, visitors will be able to marvel at numerous artisan arts. From a Glassblower, knives and scissors grinders, wood carvers to a gold-and silversmith, various arts are presented. Everything is still handcrafted. The culinary highlights are rustic and hearty, freshly prepared in front of your eyes. In addition to mulled wine and eggnog, all different kinds of coffee and teas are served. Festive baked goods from bread to fruitcake and the famous Stollen are served and make the pre-Christmas time even more Christmassy in the village’s bakery.

A special highlight, right in the middle of Munich’s English Garden, is the Christmas Market at the Chinese Tower. There you may start one of the famous horse carriage rides tours through the winterly English garden. Away from the bustle & hush of the city, located right in the middle of the English garden, this Christmas market offers its visitors the opportunity to spend moments of magic with punch, sausages and Christmas pastries away from everyday’s life. You will also find traditional decorated wooden market stands, offering especially lovingly processed works of art and classical Christmas decorations.

If you are looking for a very special Christmas gift, the Christmas market at Munich’s Sendlinger Tor is the place where visitors will find unique spices, teas and essential oils from the Orient, jewelry, precious stones and treasure chests. Handmade mangers come from Tirol and Peru. You may buy soap in all different kinds of shapes and scents, such as hand-carved sculptures and animal figurines, with rose and olive scent. Christmas spirit gets to you when you look at a sparkling crystal glasses from Russia or on the Christmas tree ornaments with romantic Sissi themes. Visitors will find handmade pottery from Latvia, male screws, cobalt and handmade candles from India.

The Christmas Market in Schwabing at the famous “Münchner Freiheit” area, approximately 10 minutes by taxi from the hotel, has become an institution in Munich after 35 years. Here in the heart of Schwabing, people meet not only in order to drink mulled wine and eat delicacies during the Advent, but it is alo a meeting place for artists and art lovers. The mix of art, craft and various attractions make this Christmas Market an exceptional experience for young and old.

MUNICH’s BEST ICE CREAM PARLOURS

The summer has finally arrived in Munich, the ice cream season is as close to its peak as it will get. On a hot summer day with temperatures just below thirty degrees, we went out to test Munich’s most popular ice cream parlours to find out which are the best. The following ranking has been set by our team:

#1 – Balla Beni
The quality of an ice cream parlour can be determined by the length of the queue in front of it. On a hot summer day, the queue in front of Balla Beni is usually approximately 30 heads strong. If we would not know better, we would have thought that the owner must be giving out ice cream for free. But he isn’t.
Giorgio Ballabeni has created approximately 30 flavors of ice cream, of which 10 are available in the parlour at one time. Not a huge variety, but a selected one. Flavours include exotic mixtures such as buttermilk-lime, peppermint-milk or chocolate-ginger. The ice cream itself is not as sweet as most others are, which gives you a chance to better taste the flavor of the main ingredients.
Balla Beni is located on Türkenstrasse, across the street from Brandhorst Museum in the Munich Art District. An easy 20 minute walk or 7 minute cab ride from the hotel.

#2 – Sarcletti
Café Sarcletti in the Neuhausen district of Munich is a large ice cream parlour with it’s own café and confiserie. The Sarcletti family has always been in the Munich ice cream business – the first parlour was opened in the old town in 1906.
Much different than Balla Beni, Sarcletti usually offers approximately 40 to 50 flavours at one time, inlcuding many classic flavours such as Stracciatella or Chocolate. At peak times, 5 to 8 people work behind the counter just to serve the take away business – and still sometimes, there is a line of ten or more metres in front of the parlour. Besides the take away, Sarcletti also offers inside and outside eating for people who like to enjoy big portions of ice cream whilst sitting at a table.
Sarcletti is approximately 12 minutes by cab from the hotel – a bit out of the way but definitely worth trying.#3 – Jessas
In the heart of trendy „Glockenbachviertel“, we found what seems to be Munich’s hippest ice cream parlour. „Jessas“ – which is Bavarian for Jesus – is located on Klenzestrasse 97, right next to Café Maria and Bar Josef. It is a bit off the beaten tourist path, which explains the popularity among Art, Fashion, Design people and other hipsters. Due to construction, the entire building looks a bit rugged and not very inviting at the moment, however, that does not affect the quality of the ice cream. The ice cream itself is produced by Mr. Ballabeni himself and delivered every morning – in 12 exotic, daily changing flavours.
Jessas is located a bit south of the hip Gärtnerplatz area, approximately 10 minutes by cab from the hotel but only two blocks from the Isar.

Travel back into the Golden Age at Mauro’s Negroni Club

Tucked away in a side street of „Haidhausen“, the french quarter of Munich, the entrance of Mauro’s Negroni Club does not draw as much attention as the inside deserves. Once you step inside, you get the feeling of being thrown back a couple of decades.
The classic Art Deco setting would be suitable for a remake of Robert de Niro’s bar scene from Goodfellas or Ernest Hemingway’s most „creative“ hours – still, this is in the middle of Bavaria, 50 miles away from the Alps.
Mauro, the owner, is a bartender with heart and soul, which reflects in the perfection and attention to the detail of his first bar as a solo owner. He has been bartending for over 20 creative years, making him arguably one of the best of his profession in Germany.

The cocktail variety at MNC includes anything from a wide variety of Martinis and Negronis, to Vintage Cocktails and the contemporary Cuisine Style Cocktails. However, if you take a seat in this establishment, your first drink ordered should be something short and strong – we recommend a Negroni, Mauro’s favourite. For the hungry ones among us, Mauro offers a small but selected menu, categorized International with an Italian touch.

The bar is located approximately 7 minutes from the hotel by cab, within walking distance of the Gasteig, home of the Munich Philharmonics. Therefore our recommendation for a classy evening: Artistic masterpieces by Christian Thielemann and his orchestra followed by liquid masterpieces by Mauro and his team. The Concierge Team will be glad to help you with tickets as well as a seat reservation.

Where to find the best Pizza in Munich: “Pizzesco”

We recently had the chance to test a wonderful Pizza at “Pizzesco” in Munich’s chic Haidhausen neighbourhood. We went several times and never left with the smallest doubt that this is Munich’s best Pizza place. “Pizzesco” is a rather small Pizza place at the border between the old town and Haidhausen, right next to the Gasteig (home of the Munich philharmonics), which is an approximate 12 minute walk or 3 minute cab ride from the hotel. The concierge will be happy to assist you with transportation and table reservations.
As you come inside, the furniture will tell you about the original use of the facilities – it used to be a typical Café with a „Confiserie“. It is all very simple: self-service – order your Pizza at the counter, get your drinks and find an empty table – no fancy decor, no Michelin-star service, no chic. All the attention is drawn to the Pizza, which is reflected by all means in the quality of the product.

The style of Pizza served is a Hybrid between the „Pizza Pala“ of the Latium area and the „Pizza Metro“ of the area in and around Napoli. The concept of the three owners Enzo di Luca, Franco di Marcantonio and Andrea Tavella is to produce Pizza for everyone, including people with different dietary requirements. Therefore “Pizzesco” offers besides the „regular“ Pizza a Gluten-free Pizza which is produced in a separate oven to keep it away from regular flour Pizza with the most sophisticated “Kamut” wheat (more info: www.kamut.com), yeast-free Pizza, lactose-free Pizza and spelt Pizza.
With all the special styles of Pizzas mentioned, even the “regular” Pizza is, in our opinion, the best we have eaten in town until now. And you can believe us, we have tried many pizzas in twon. Even our Head Concierge, Dario, who is from the Napoli area is very fond of “Pizzesco”, as must be the high ratio of Italian guests present in the restaurant at all times.
Enough said, this Pizza needs to be tasted rather than written about – same for the atmosphere. Overall, very Italian for our Bavarian city. The only thing that reminded us of being in Munich was the cold winter air that blew into our faces when leaving the restaurant.