Marienplatz and the Glockenspiel

Marienplatz is where Munich began and where it still gathers: the square at the crossing of the old salt road and the north-south route through the city, named for the Mariensaeule, the column topped by a gilded Virgin Mary that has stood here since the seventeenth century. Everything about the square tells the city's story. On its north side rises the New Town Hall, the Neues Rathaus, a lavish neo-Gothic building of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with a facade crowded with statues of Bavarian dukes, kings, saints and allegories, gargoyles and a long tower. At the eastern end stands the Old Town Hall, with its slim Gothic tower that now houses a toy museum. The square is pedestrianised, ringed by cafes and shops, and linked by the main shopping streets, Kaufingerstrasse and Neuhauser Strasse, to Karlsplatz in the west, and by the Tal to the Isartor in the east. Within five minutes on foot are the twin onion domes of the Frauenkirche, the old church of St. Peter, the Viktualienmarkt and the Hofbraeuhaus. The star turn is the Glockenspiel in the town hall tower, one of the most famous carillons in Europe, with 43 bells and two tiers of life-size mechanical figures. The upper tier tells the story of the 1568 wedding of Duke Wilhelm V and Renate of Lorraine, complete with a jousting tournament in which the Bavarian knight unseats his rival; the lower tier shows the Schaefflertanz, the dance of the barrel makers, who by tradition danced in the streets to lift the city's spirits after an epidemic. It plays every day at 11am and noon, with an extra 5pm show from March to October, and at 9pm a night watchman, an angel and the Muenchner Kindl appear. In winter the square fills with the Christkindlmarkt, Munich's oldest and most famous Christmas market, from 20 November to 24 December 2026, with a tall decorated tree in front of the town hall.

How to see the Glockenspiel well: the crowd builds about fifteen minutes before each show, and the best view is from the middle of the square or slightly to the east, facing the tower, rather than right below it. The performance takes a good number of minutes and ends with a small golden rooster crowing three times above the figures; locals will tell you, with a smile, that it is more charming than spectacular, and they are right, which is part of the fun. If you want the square to yourself, come at 8am, when the market traders are just setting up nearby and the facade glows in the morning light, or after dark, when the town hall is floodlit and the shoppers have gone home. The carillon is silent on Good Friday and performances can change because of maintenance or events on the square.

Climbing for the view: the classic panorama of Marienplatz, the town hall tower and the Frauenkirche, with the Alps on the horizon on clear days, is from the tower of St. Peter's church, the Alter Peter, just south of the square. It is a climb of around 300 steps up a narrow staircase for a small fee, not suitable for anyone uneasy with heights or tight spaces, and the platform is small, so go early or late. On foehn days, when a warm, dry wind from the south clears the air, the mountains look close enough to touch. The Frauenkirche, Munich's cathedral, a few minutes to the north-west, is free to enter and worth a look for the Devil's Footprint in the entrance hall and the soaring white interior.

Christmas on the square: from 20 November to 24 December 2026 the Christkindlmarkt fills Marienplatz and the neighbouring Rindermarkt with wooden stalls selling ornaments, wood carvings, candles, gingerbread, roasted almonds and mulled wine, and the Kripperlmarkt by St. Peter's sells nativity figures, as it has since the eighteenth century. The market opens Monday to Saturday from 10am to 9pm, Sunday from 10am to 8pm, and until 2pm on Christmas Eve. Weekday mornings are the time to browse; evenings and weekends are packed and atmospheric. The rest of the year, the square is the meeting point for walking tours, the stage for city celebrations and football championship parties, and the place to start any first day in Munich.