The Best Museums in Munich

Close to Munich's English Garden is a unique ensemble of three museums, each of them highlighting a different period in European art.

Start with the Alte Pinakothek, home to over 800 European masterpieces from the Middle Ages to the end of the Rococo. A highlight is its Ruben’s collection, one of the largest in the world.

If you want to see art from the 19^th century, head next door to the Neue Pinakothek…

Address: Barer Str. 27, 80333 München

The Neue Pinakothek features art and sculpture from the late 18th to the beginning of the 20th century. Highlights include German art of the 19th century with paintings from romanticist Caspar David Friedrich and the private art collection of King Ludwig I. There is also a fantastic collection of French impressionists including Monet, Degas, and Renoir.

For more modern work...

Address: Barer Str. 29, 80799 München

The Pinakothek der Moderne, completed in 2002, is the largest museum for modern art in Germany. The vast gallery complex unites four collections under its roof:

• State Graphic Collection with more than 400,000 prints, drawings and works on paper
• State Museum for Applied Arts
• Museum of Architecture of the Technical University of Munich, the largest specialist collection of its kind in Germany
• State Gallery of Modern Art which showcases stars such as Picasso, Magritte, Kandinsky, Francis Bacon, and Warhol

A full guide to all three Pinakothek museums.

Address: Barer Str. 40, 80333 München

The Deutsches Museum (German Museum) is proud to be one of the oldest and largest science and technology museums in the world.

It boasts an impressive collection of historic artifacts, from the first electric dynamo and the first automobile, to the laboratory bench where the atom was first split. Other highlights of the museum include exhibitions on astronomy, transportation, mining, printing, and photography. To get the most out of the museum, time your visit with to watch the daily interactive demonstrations.

If you bring the little ones, take them to “Kid’s Kingdom”, an interactive section with hundreds of kid-friendly activities.

Address: Museumsinsel 1, 80538 München

This being Munich, there is a museum dedicated to its most famous product and life blood of the city.

It is set in Munich’s oldest residential home from the 14th century, the Bier and Oktoberfest Museum explores the art and culture of beer. They examine beer brewing around the world from the pharaohs in Egypt to the Bavarian monks to today’s state-of-the-art brew masters.

The upper floor of the museum is about the cultural history of Oktoberfest. There are beer tastings, tours, and the pub is a meeting point for the six major Munich breweries before Oktoberfest to sample each other's festival beers. This is also an essential stop to understand the 500-year-old Beer Purity Law.

Address: Sterneckerstraße 2, 80331 München 

The Lenbachhaus Museum is dedicated to paintings by Munich artists. It is famous for its wonderful collection of Expressionist art by the group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), which was founded in Munich before the First World War. The group includes artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Franz Marc and August Macke. There is also an impressive section of New Objectivity.

Address: Luisenstraße 33, 80333 München

Founded by King Maximilian in 1855 and located on royal Prinzregentenstrasse, the Bayrisches Nationalmuseum is home to the cultural and historical treasures of Bavaria.

Its historical art collection features art and sculptures from the Middle Ages all the way to Art Nouveau. In the folklore collection you can see traditional Bavarian furniture, pottery, costumes, and religious folklore. Don’t miss the displays of woodcarvings where you can see century-old Nativity scenes and cribs.

Address: Prinzregentenstraße 3, 80538 München