Fasching is Munich's carnival, and the costumes come out for weeks: a parade rolls through the city center, and on Fasching Tuesday the market women dance at Viktualienmarkt. Then schools close for the Faschingsferien, a full week off in the middle of winter. Here's what we checked for both, from the parade and the market dance to a sledding day at Blomberg and an afternoon at Therme Erding.
Munich's official Fasching parade, the Faschingszug, is led by the Damische Ritter, a local carnival club. More than 50 groups wind through the Altstadt: brass bands, decorated floats, dance troupes, carnival societies and the city's Fasching prince and princess.
Thousands line the old-town streets to watch, many in costume, so kids get to see the floats up close from inside a crowd in fancy dress.
Once a year, the women who run the stalls at Munich's Viktualienmarkt trade their aprons for costumes and dance on a stage by the maypole. Each costume shows a stall, so kids can spot the baker, the butcher or the flower seller.
The Narrhalla guards and the Fasching prince and princess warm up the crowd first. It's a big outdoor crowd, so smaller kids see best from a parent's shoulders.
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 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.
Zugspitze is Germany's highest mountain, at 2,962 meters. A cogwheel train climbs from Garmisch-Partenkirchen past Lake Eibsee and through a 4.5 km tunnel to the glacier plateau, home to the country's highest church and, in winter, a family toboggan run.
The Gletscherbahn lifts you on to the summit platform and its golden cross. The record-breaking cable car drops two kilometers back down to Eibsee.
Blomberg, a mountain near Bad Tölz, has three sledding runs graded like ski slopes. Beginners and small kids start on a short practice slope by the valley station, then move up to a 1 km run with its own tow lift beside the Blomberghaus mountain inn. Confident sledders ride the chairlift to the middle station for a 2 km run lined with safety fencing and groomed every night.
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.
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.
Fasching is Munich's carnival, and the costumes come out for weeks: a parade rolls through the city center, and on Fasching Tuesday the market women dance at Viktualienmarkt. Then schools close for the Faschingsferien, a full week off in the middle of winter. Here's what we checked for both, from the parade and the market dance to a sledding day at Blomberg and an afternoon at Therme Erding.
Munich's official Fasching parade, the Faschingszug, is led by the Damische Ritter, a local carnival club. More than 50 groups wind through the Altstadt: brass bands, decorated floats, dance troupes, carnival societies and the city's Fasching prince and princess.
Thousands line the old-town streets to watch, many in costume, so kids get to see the floats up close from inside a crowd in fancy dress.
Once a year, the women who run the stalls at Munich's Viktualienmarkt trade their aprons for costumes and dance on a stage by the maypole. Each costume shows a stall, so kids can spot the baker, the butcher or the flower seller.
The Narrhalla guards and the Fasching prince and princess warm up the crowd first. It's a big outdoor crowd, so smaller kids see best from a parent's shoulders.
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 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.
Zugspitze is Germany's highest mountain, at 2,962 meters. A cogwheel train climbs from Garmisch-Partenkirchen past Lake Eibsee and through a 4.5 km tunnel to the glacier plateau, home to the country's highest church and, in winter, a family toboggan run.
The Gletscherbahn lifts you on to the summit platform and its golden cross. The record-breaking cable car drops two kilometers back down to Eibsee.
Blomberg, a mountain near Bad Tölz, has three sledding runs graded like ski slopes. Beginners and small kids start on a short practice slope by the valley station, then move up to a 1 km run with its own tow lift beside the Blomberghaus mountain inn. Confident sledders ride the chairlift to the middle station for a 2 km run lined with safety fencing and groomed every night.
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.
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.
