Christmas Holidays in Munich with Kids 2026-27

LUMAGICA turns the Showpalast grounds in Fröttmaning into a 1.5 km loop of glowing sculptures and light installations. This year's theme follows Phileas Fogg and Passepartout from Around the World in 80 Days, through light worlds for Asia, the Americas and Europe.

Kids can set off some of the installations themselves, pose at photo spots and catch a light and laser show along the way.

The Krone-Bau is the permanent home of Circus Krone, which tours Germany in summer and comes back here for its winter season. Shows fill the ring under a 3,000-seat roof, mixing classic circus (acrobats, clowns, animal acts) with modern routines.

A life-size statue of the clown Charlie Rivel stands at the entrance. Outside circus season, the building hosts concerts and other productions.

A 750-square-meter open-air ice rink on Karlsplatz, the square locals call Stachus, at the edge of Munich's old town. Kids skate under Christmas lights to music, with themed evenings through the week.

Skates and helmets rent on site, so nobody needs their own gear. Between laps, the Schmankerl-Hütte and Glühwein-Alm huts serve hot food and drinks. It works for first-timers and confident skaters alike.

A 21-hectare botanical garden, opened in 1914, beside Nymphenburg Palace park. Indoors, a chain of greenhouses runs from a tall palm house to a giant cactus hall, a tree fern house on lava rock, an orchid house and the Victoria house with its huge water lilies.

Outside, kids can follow paths through an alpine rock garden with over 2,000 species, an arboretum and pond areas.

A stage version of Sven Nordqvist's Pettersson and Findus Christmas story, played in German by a full cast in hen, cat and fox costumes. Findus crashes his sled into Pettersson while hunting for a tree, and the old man's sprained foot is only the start: a lost wish list, a homemade tree that looks like a wilted cactus, and Snorre the fox stealing the best laying hen.

One of the largest museums in Germany, with 20 permanent exhibitions on an island in the Isar. Kids walk among planes and helicopters in Modern Aviation, see how locks and bridges work, and try about 20 hands-on light experiments in Classical Optics.

Younger children head to Kids' Kingdom: a marble run, a fire engine to climb into, a giant guitar to crawl inside and a pedal-powered aircraft.

A Christmas ballet where professional dancers share the stage with students from German ballet schools. On Christmas Eve, Clara meets the brave Nutcracker, who saves her from the Mouse King, and the two set off into a night where dreams and secret wishes come true.

It suits families with kids who dance or love fairy tales, and grown-ups who want a classical Nutcracker.

Therme Erding is a thermal spa and water park with more than 300 real palm trees around its pools. Kids head for the Galaxy, 28 slides adding up to over 2,850 meters, including four children's slides for over-3s and two gentler ones for toddlers.

The 34-degree wave pool runs from gentle ripples to surfing swells up to two meters high. The sauna and wellness areas are for ages 16 and up.

Wagner's opera, retold for kids. Tannhäuser and his friend Wolfram want to win a singing contest at Wartburg castle, and Elisabeth's heart. Then Tannhäuser goes looking for an apple he dreamed of and is trapped underground by the sorceress Venus, allowed only to sing for her.

Actors from puzzletheater münchen play the story while an 11-piece chamber orchestra, concierto münchen, plays Wagner's music live.

Three underground ice rinks sit beneath the SAP Garden, the Olympiapark arena where Red Bull Munich plays hockey, so public skating runs all year. Rental skates come in hockey and figure styles from EU size 25.

From October to April, Thursday to Saturday evenings bring an ice disco, and a monthly inclusive session lends skating aids and ice gliders. Jumps and figure-skating moves are not allowed in public sessions.

A family Christmas concert from the Münchner Motettenchor, a fixture at the Matthäuskirche for many years. Kids sing carols at full voice together with the adult choir, while a host chats and jokes with the audience between songs. Proceeds go to Sternstunden, a charity for children in need.

It suits kids who like to join in more than kids who prefer to sit and listen.

Heavysaurus is a rock band of four dinosaurs and a dragon, played by five professional musicians in full costume. They play loud metal on real instruments, written for kids: big riffs, sing-along choruses and a dino roar the whole room shouts back.

Expect a proper concert show with lights, fog, sparks, balloons and confetti. Songs are in German, though little German is needed to jump along.

A marionette Christmas fairy tale by Siegfried Böhmke. Teddy, himself a Christmas present, helps out in Santa's workshop in the sky and takes a toy airplane for a test flight. He crash-lands in a snowy forest, where new friends help him get it flying again.

Kasperl is Bavaria's classic hand-puppet hero, and Stephan Mikat of the Chiemsee Kasperltheater plays him in broad Bavarian dialect. Kids shout warnings, answer back and help Kasperl out of trouble, while soap bubbles and foam drift over the front rows. Each story is gentle and violence-free, with a happy ending. Kids with little German still follow the slapstick, though most of the jokes are spoken.

Timmy, a boy with a flute, goes to Vienna to learn what Mozart's Turkish March is about and meets the storyteller Scheherazade. Her storybook pulls them both into the Arabian Nights: a busy market, a contest of musicians, a conjurer, Sindbad the sailor and a grim palace guard. A chamber ensemble plays Mozart, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky, while an acrobat and actress plays out the story with flying carpets and swirling veils.

A stage version of Otfried Preußler's second Hotzenplotz book. The robber has broken out of jail, eaten Grandmother's sausages and sauerkraut, and kidnapped her. Kasperl and Seppel set out to rescue her, get caught themselves, and need help from the fortune teller Mrs. Schlotterbeck and her crocodile-dog Wasti. Played by a cast of seven. Kids who already know the books will follow it most easily.