Viktualienmarkt

Munich's belly has been rumbling at this spot since 1807, when King Maximilian I decreed that the farmers' stalls choking Marienplatz needed to move somewhere bigger. The name comes from the Latin "victualia" meaning provisions, though locals originally just called it the Green Market. Within sixteen years the new site was already packed to the brim, and it's been expanding and reinventing itself ever since — 22,000 square metres of open-air food market right in the heart of the old town.

The 35-metre maypole standing over the market arrived in 1962, courtesy of a mayor who declared, "If we're already a village, then we need a maypole." Its painted figures depict Munich's essential character: brewery teams, Oktoberfest scenes, the Schäffler coopers' dance, and the patron saints of brewers. It's a folk-art totem pole for a city that takes both its beer and its traditions seriously enough to put them on a stick.

What makes the Viktualienmarkt genuinely unusual is the beer garden at its centre. Every five to six weeks, the tap switches to a different one of Munich's six major breweries — Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Löwenbräu, Hofbräu, Paulaner, and Spaten — making it the only beer garden in the city where you can eventually drink them all without changing seats. The 800-seat garden sits under ancient chestnut trees, surrounded by stalls selling everything from Bavarian truffles to hand-made pasta to exotic spices.

Six bronze fountain statues scattered around the market honour Munich's most beloved folk comedians and singers — Karl Valentin, Liesl Karlstadt, Weiß Ferdl, Ida Schumacher, Elise Aulinger, and Roider Jackl. Most visitors walk right past them, which these sharp-tongued Bavarian entertainers would probably find hilarious.