Munich

The figures turn at 11am and 12pm, with a third run at 5pm from March to October. Above, a joust from a wedding of 1568; below, a coopers' dance said to mark a plague's end. It runs fifteen minutes; a cafe balcony across the square beats the pavement.

At the south end the Eisbach throws a standing wave under a bridge, surfed all through winter. Shallow water over stones makes it no place for a beginner. The Chinese Tower beer garden has deep shade, and its tables fill first on summer afternoons.

Thirty-six portraits ordered by Ludwig I hang together in one room. A dancer and a cobbler's daughter took places level with princesses. The coach museum keeps the sleigh Ludwig II rode at night, lit by a battery lamp on the back.

Two architect brothers built it beside their own house as a private chapel, opened only when neighbours objected. The room is under ten metres wide, yet gilt and scrollwork cover it from floor to vault. Over the door a skeleton cuts the thread of a life.

It is a standing market, so stalls are up from morning and all of them shut on Sunday. Six Munich breweries take the beer garden in turn, so the beer changes with the visit. The maypole went up at their expense, its figures showing brewing and Bavarian scenes.

Pick your floors before you go in. A full-size mine shaft has been dug into the basement and you walk it bent over, but one day will not cover the place. The halls are being rebuilt section by section, so a different set is shut on each visit.

An S-Bahn and a bus get you there in thirty-odd minutes. Admission is free and the gates open on Mondays too, though the audio guide is paid for separately. Two barracks were rebuilt; the other plots are outlined on the ground in gravel.

The 1972 roof hangs acrylic panels from steel cables. Seen from underneath, the sky shows through a net. Guided walks across the top are sold by the slot and run on a harness. Rain cancels the day's walks.

The Antiquarium is a barrel-vaulted hall sixty-six metres long, built to hold antique busts. Its windows sit low, so in the morning one wall is lit while the other stays dark.

The room that holds Rubens's Great Last Judgement was raised so the canvas could stand. Altdorfer packs so many soldiers into his small Battle of Alexander that the figures appear only up close.

The church was finished in 1488, and its twin towers got their onion domes in 1525. A 2004 referendum voted against buildings taller than the towers. The dark footprint by the door is the Devil's Step, left by the devil himself, as the tale has it.

The tower of St Peter's, Munich's oldest parish church, climbed on foot by 306 steps. Marienplatz and the town hall clock lie right below, and in fine weather Alpine peaks rim the south. One stair serves both directions, so expect to squeeze past people.

The beer hall of the court brewery a Bavarian duke founded in 1589; the current building went up in 1897. Long wooden tables run under the vaulting and a brass band plays on the stage. One wall holds locked cabinets where regulars keep their own beer mugs.

BMW Welt, the showroom under a cloud-like curved roof, opened in 2007, and entry is free. From the upper railings you can watch buyers collect the keys to new cars on a turntable stage. The bowl-shaped building across the road is the paid museum.

A football stadium opened in 2005, wrapped in air-filled panels that glow red when Bayern Munich play. On non-match days a guided tour takes visitors into the dressing rooms. From Frottmaning station you face a long uphill walk along a broad path.

The Jesuits' Renaissance church, raised late in the 16th century. Its unsupported barrel vault reputedly spans wider than any north of the Alps. Ludwig II's coffin rests in the crypt, still given flowers. On the main shopping street, crowds pass it unaware.

Here the Feldherrnhalle, modelled on a Florentine loggia, faces the yellow Theatine Church. Under the Nazis passers-by had to salute at the hall, so people slipped through Viscardigasse behind it. A bronze strip in that alley's paving traces their detour.

The meadow where Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese in 1810, and where Oktoberfest runs from late September to around the first Sunday of October. Entering the grounds and tents costs nothing. On weekday afternoons a seat can be had without booking.

North of Munich, an old palace, a baroque new palace and the small Lustheim palace are strung along one long canal, and walking it right through the garden takes a while. The Deutsches Museum's aviation branch sits on the old airfield next door.

Ludwig II's copy of Versailles, never finished, standing on a Chiemsee island. Its Hall of Mirrors was built longer than the original. In summer a little steam tram links Prien station to the harbour, and from there a boat crosses over.

A Benedictine house on the Holy Mountain above the Ammersee, whose monks brew beer and pour it in the hilltop beer hall. The pilgrimage church inside is all rococo. From Herrsching station the forest path up the Kiental valley takes about an hour.

The city gallery in the yellow Italianate villa the painter Lenbach built. It holds the largest gathering of Blue Rider paintings by Kandinsky, Franz Marc and their circle, thanks to Gabriele Munter, who gave the works she had hidden away in 1957.

A square framed by a Greek-style gateway, the Glyptothek sculpture museum and the antiquities collection. The Nazis paved it with granite slabs for rallies; only in 1988 were they lifted and the lawns restored. The Glyptothek keeps the sleeping Barberini Faun.

A white cube, opened in 2015, standing where the Brown House, the Nazi party headquarters, used to be. Each storey traces how Munich became the movement's birthplace, and entry is free. Old party buildings seen through the windows become part of the display.

A modern museum opened in 2002, housing four collections under one roof: art, design, architecture, and prints and drawings. Light pours down into the central rotunda. In the basement design wing, cars, chairs and computers line up in order of age.