Bavaria lets anyone under 18 into its state palaces and museums for free, so a family day of royal halls and dinosaur bones costs only the adult tickets. A few places on this list are free for everyone. Here's what we checked, from the treasures of the Residenz to King Ludwig's castles in the Alps.
The Residenz was the palace of Bavaria's Wittelsbach dukes, electors and kings, and has been a museum since 1920. Most rooms still hold their original furniture, tapestries and paintings, so kids walk through gilded halls as they were used. The Antiquarium, the oldest surviving room, is a long painted vault lined with marble busts. The separate Treasury shows the dynasty's treasures, and the Court Garden outside is free.
Bavaria's Wittelsbach rulers spent their summers here. The main palace has frescoed state rooms, and the 180-hectare park around it has lakes, swans, squirrels and four small park palaces to peek into.
The Marstallmuseum, in the old riding stables, holds over forty royal coaches and sleighs, including King Ludwig II's gilded state coaches and the Rococo coronation coach of Emperor Karl VII.
Four museums share one building: modern art, works on paper, architecture and design, all arranged around a tall glass rotunda. One visit moves from paintings to everyday design objects and architecture.
Every Sunday afternoon the PIN.k workshop room runs a drop-in program for ages 5 to 12, with gallery walks and hands-on making. On other days, free activity cards from the info desk guide a self-led tour for kids.
A museum of world cultures on Maximilianstraße, with objects from every continent. Permanent galleries cover Oceania's carved masks and boards, a Buddha hall, Myanmar's pagodas and spirit figures, Japan through a painter's travel souvenirs, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southwest Asia and North Africa, and Central and South America.
A free activity booklet from the ticket desk sends kids around every permanent gallery, and creative workshops turn what they saw into art.
The public museum of the Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Geology fills a glass-roofed hall with big skeletons. At the center stands the Mühldorf prehistoric elephant, surrounded by Plateosaurus (the largest dinosaur found in Bavaria), Allosaurus, Triceratops, the giant flying reptile Pteranodon, a giant deer and a cave bear.
Upstairs, a timeline runs through every era of Earth's history. The museum also shows the Munich Archaeopteryx.
BMW Welt is the carmaker's showroom and delivery center, a sweeping glass building with a twisted double cone at one end. Kids can explore the latest BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad models up close, and look down on the Premiere, where new owners drive off in their cars.
The BMW Museum, directly opposite, covers more than 100 years of BMW history and runs hands-on workshops for kids.
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.
Neuschwanstein is the 19th-century castle King Ludwig II built on a crag above the village of Hohenschwangau, with the Alps behind it. Inside, a 30-minute guided tour in English or German leads through 14 rooms, including the Throne Hall, a man-made grotto and the Singers' Hall. Afterward kids can see the old kitchen, then walk to Marienbrücke, the footbridge with the classic view of the castle.
The only palace King Ludwig II finished sits in an alpine valley, ringed by terraced gardens and a gilded fountain that shoots a jet of water every 30 minutes from spring to fall. Inside, a 25-minute guided tour passes mirror rooms and gold Rococo halls.
In the park, the Venus Grotto is a fake stalactite cave with a shell-shaped boat and colored lights, built as a Wagner opera set.
Bavaria lets anyone under 18 into its state palaces and museums for free, so a family day of royal halls and dinosaur bones costs only the adult tickets. A few places on this list are free for everyone. Here's what we checked, from the treasures of the Residenz to King Ludwig's castles in the Alps.
The Residenz was the palace of Bavaria's Wittelsbach dukes, electors and kings, and has been a museum since 1920. Most rooms still hold their original furniture, tapestries and paintings, so kids walk through gilded halls as they were used. The Antiquarium, the oldest surviving room, is a long painted vault lined with marble busts. The separate Treasury shows the dynasty's treasures, and the Court Garden outside is free.
Bavaria's Wittelsbach rulers spent their summers here. The main palace has frescoed state rooms, and the 180-hectare park around it has lakes, swans, squirrels and four small park palaces to peek into.
The Marstallmuseum, in the old riding stables, holds over forty royal coaches and sleighs, including King Ludwig II's gilded state coaches and the Rococo coronation coach of Emperor Karl VII.
Four museums share one building: modern art, works on paper, architecture and design, all arranged around a tall glass rotunda. One visit moves from paintings to everyday design objects and architecture.
Every Sunday afternoon the PIN.k workshop room runs a drop-in program for ages 5 to 12, with gallery walks and hands-on making. On other days, free activity cards from the info desk guide a self-led tour for kids.
A museum of world cultures on Maximilianstraße, with objects from every continent. Permanent galleries cover Oceania's carved masks and boards, a Buddha hall, Myanmar's pagodas and spirit figures, Japan through a painter's travel souvenirs, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southwest Asia and North Africa, and Central and South America.
A free activity booklet from the ticket desk sends kids around every permanent gallery, and creative workshops turn what they saw into art.
The public museum of the Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Geology fills a glass-roofed hall with big skeletons. At the center stands the Mühldorf prehistoric elephant, surrounded by Plateosaurus (the largest dinosaur found in Bavaria), Allosaurus, Triceratops, the giant flying reptile Pteranodon, a giant deer and a cave bear.
Upstairs, a timeline runs through every era of Earth's history. The museum also shows the Munich Archaeopteryx.
BMW Welt is the carmaker's showroom and delivery center, a sweeping glass building with a twisted double cone at one end. Kids can explore the latest BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad models up close, and look down on the Premiere, where new owners drive off in their cars.
The BMW Museum, directly opposite, covers more than 100 years of BMW history and runs hands-on workshops for kids.
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.
Neuschwanstein is the 19th-century castle King Ludwig II built on a crag above the village of Hohenschwangau, with the Alps behind it. Inside, a 30-minute guided tour in English or German leads through 14 rooms, including the Throne Hall, a man-made grotto and the Singers' Hall. Afterward kids can see the old kitchen, then walk to Marienbrücke, the footbridge with the classic view of the castle.
The only palace King Ludwig II finished sits in an alpine valley, ringed by terraced gardens and a gilded fountain that shoots a jet of water every 30 minutes from spring to fall. Inside, a 25-minute guided tour passes mirror rooms and gold Rococo halls.
In the park, the Venus Grotto is a fake stalactite cave with a shell-shaped boat and colored lights, built as a Wagner opera set.
