HEART OF MUNICH CITY TOUR – 10K

The Heart of Munich City tour is a mixture of historical buildings, art, and greenspaces. Running this route early in the morning helps you discovering the beautiful city of Munich before the business are opening, and while the streets are quiet before the tourists wake up and the locals start heading into work. This tour is for runners who want to discover a city differently, it is also for business people who are in Munich for a meeting or a conference and want to see the highlights of the city with an experienced local runner before work. We enter the city center through the medieval Sendlinger Tor gate.

Our route will lead us towards the Viktualien Markt, the city center food market, before we head to the river Isar, via the Isartor the second medieval gate of our Munich tour. Keep your eyes open for some surprising features of this gate that will be revealed on our tour. We will run along the river between the Deutsches Museum (the science and technology museum) and the Friedenengel (Angel of Peace). We will then head via the Eisbach, where we’ll see that you can actually surf in a city, and past the impressive Haus der Kunst, one of the modern art of galleries in Munich, to the Englischer Garten. This is one of the largest urban parks in the world and we’ll have time to explore the southern portion before heading back towards the Munich city center.

We’ll then pass through the Residenz, which is the former palace of the rulers of Bavaria, to arrive at Odeonsplatz, where we’ll learn about some of the darker periods in Munich’s history. From Odeonsplatz we will head back towards the heart of the city at Marienplatz via the Theatinerstraße with its beautiful baroque church. On the way, we’ll pass by the Opera as well as the Maximilianstrasse, lined with designer boutiques. Of course, we won’t forget to pass by what is probably the most famous pub in the world, the Hofbräu Haus. There has been a brewery here since the early 16th century. At Marienplatz, we’ll stop to admire the 14th Century Old Town Hall (Das Alte Rathaus) and the new Townhall (Das Neue Rathaus), built-in 1905 and known for the Glockenspiel whose figures act out stories from Munich’s history twice a day. Our journey will then bring us to the15th-century Frauenkirche (the Church of our lady), another iconic symbol of the city before we cross the main shopping street of Munich, the Kaufinger Strasse.

On the Kaufingerstrasse we’ll pass by the church of St. Michael Church, where Ludwig II, the last king of Bavaria is buried. At the end of the street is Karlstor, where we’ll pass through another city gate which dates back to the 18thcentury to reach Karlsplatz. Locals still affectionately call this square “Stachus” after a pub that used to be located here until the 18thcentury. This is a popular meeting place in Munich especially in the summer when you’ll find locals cooling-off in the fountain and in December when there is an open-air ice rink. Heading back to our starting point the last sight of our tour is the St. Anna Damenstiftskirche, which is a unique church as the decoration was reconstructed after the Second World War according to black and white pictures, so it is literally in black and white.

The Heart of Munich city running tour is 10km long and will give you a good workout and set you up perfectly for the rest of the day. But don’t worry it is for every runner and every pace, you can take as many pictures and stops as you want along the way. For extended tours or shorter ones please consult our Long Run or our Espresso tour.