Viktualienmarkt

The Viktualienmarkt is the city's larder and its favourite place to stand around and eat. It has occupied its site just south-east of Marienplatz since 1807, when King Max I Joseph ordered the old market moved off the main square because it had outgrown it, and it now covers around 18,500 square metres with more than a hundred permanent stalls and small shops selling fruit and vegetables, cheese, butchery and sausages, fish, bread, honey, spices, wine, flowers and Bavarian specialities. The name comes from an old word for foodstuffs, and the atmosphere is very much that of a working market, with traders who have held the same stall for generations and locals buying their weekly vegetables, rather than a tourist food hall. In the centre stands the market's maypole, painted in Bavarian blue and white and decorated with figures representing the trades, and scattered among the stalls are six fountains with statues of beloved Munich folk singers and comedians, among them Karl Valentin and Liesl Karlstadt, whose fountains are often decorated with fresh flowers by admirers. The heart of the market for visitors is the beer garden under the chestnut trees, one of the few in the city centre, where beer from Munich's six big breweries rotates every five or six weeks, so the tap changes through the year. In true beer-garden tradition you may bring your own food, the Brotzeit, as long as you buy your drinks there, which makes the market itself your kitchen: buy cheese, radishes, pretzels and cold cuts from the stalls, then claim a seat. Stalls are open Monday to Saturday, each setting its own hours within the market's minimum times, usually from mid-morning until early evening on weekdays and until mid-afternoon on Saturdays, and there are no regular market sales on Sundays.

How to graze it: walk the whole market once before buying anything, because the best stalls are not always at the edges. Look for a stand selling Weisswurst, the white veal sausage that tradition says should be eaten before noon, with sweet mustard and a pretzel; a butcher for a Leberkaese roll, the Bavarian meatloaf sliced warm into a bun; a cheese stall for mountain cheeses from the Allgaeu; and the juice and fruit stands for something fresh. The fish stalls do excellent fish rolls, and several small stands sell soups and hot dishes for a sit-down lunch. Prices are fair rather than cheap, as you would expect in the middle of Munich, and many stalls take cards, though a little cash is still useful.

When to go: weekday mornings are the time for the market at its most authentic, when Munich residents shop and the traders have time to chat. Late morning on a Saturday is the busiest and most sociable moment, with the beer garden full by noon in good weather. Because there is no regular market on Sundays, plan your visit for Monday to Saturday, and remember that Saturday trading ends in the afternoon. In winter the market stays open and takes on a cosy feel, with mulled wine and seasonal stalls, and the Christkindlmarkt on Marienplatz is just a few minutes away.

Around the market: the Viktualienmarkt sits between Marienplatz, the church of St. Peter and the Heilig-Geist-Kirche, with the Schrannenhalle, a restored iron-and-glass market hall, on its western edge. The Munich City Museum and the Jewish Museum on St.-Jakobs-Platz are a short walk west, and the Gaertnerplatz quarter, with its cafes and bars, lies just to the south. Families can turn a market visit into a picnic in the beer garden; couples can come back in the late afternoon for a glass of wine at one of the wine stalls as the traders close up.