Name: The House That Ran Bavaria: Munich's Old Town from Dukes to Kings
SKU: 218

From 1180 to 1918 one family, the Wittelsbachs, ruled Bavaria, and almost every landmark of Munich’s old town is something they built, vowed or were buried in. This loop asks who really ran the city, and from where. It starts at the column an elector raised after the town had bought off the Swedes with ransom and hostages, goes to the castle that ended up in the middle of the town it was meant to guard, the palace where an elector made himself king, a church vowed for a baby, an emperor’s empty tomb, a duke who built bigger when his tower fell, the town’s own old parish and a market a king moved by decree. It ends where it began, under the town hall’s Glockenspiel, which still plays that duke’s wedding of 1568. Every claim is sourced and every dispute labeled. No tickets needed.

The stops

Marienplatz: Who Ran This City?
The Alter Hof: The Castle the Town Swallowed
Max-Joseph-Platz: The King Who Would Not Sit
Odeonsplatz: A Gate and a Vow
The Frauenkirche: An Emperor’s Empty Tomb
Saint Michael: The Duke Who Built Bigger
Saint Peter: The Town’s Old Parish
The Viktualienmarkt: A King’s Decree
Marienplatz: The Town Plays the Wedding

Finding the start

Start on Marienplatz, a few steps west-south-west of the Mariensäule, the column with the gilded Virgin in the middle of the square, with the town hall front and its tower behind it. Marienplatz station (U3, U6 and all S-Bahn lines) is directly below the square.

Terrain and access

About 3.1 kilometers on squares, pedestrian streets and sidewalks, step-free and nearly flat, as a loop that ends on Marienplatz, about 40 meters from the start. Setts (cobbles) in the Alter Hof, on Odeonsplatz, Petersplatz and in the market; fine gravel paths on Max-Joseph-Platz with paved edges. About eleven street crossings without lights, two over tram tracks. No admissions needed; churches and the palace are told from outside. Marienplatz station (U3, U6 and all S-Bahn lines) is below the start and the end; Odeonsplatz station is at stop 4.

Tickets

No admissions needed; churches and the palace are told from outside.

Keep going

What you get

An email from [email protected] with a link and an access code.
Use it on your phone or tablet in an up-to-date web browser, no app store needed. There is no account to set up before you start.
Download it on Wi-Fi before you go. After that it works offline: audio, text, map and pictures.
Your booking includes 2 phones, so two of you can follow along, each on your own. Extra phones are $2.95 each, or a group can share one phone on its speaker.
Play, pause and replay every part, skip back and ahead, or change the playback speed. Keep the screen on or tap play at each stop.

How it was made

Every fact in the narration is checked against a cited source, and legends are told as legends. The narration is written from that research. How our tours are made.