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Munich's ultra-chic shopping area, the Residenzstrasse


Loden Frey is one of Munich's most traditional departement stores


Victual Market is not only a food market


Souvenir hunters can easy find traditional Bavarian gifts on Victuals Market

Shopping

The main shopping area in downtown is a pedestrian zone and most of the stores are in walking distance.

The Marienplatz (reachable by subway, S-Bahn, or bus) is Munich's center point, this is the place to start your shopping journey. From here you can walk in nearly every direction, you'll find all the major department stores like Karstadt, Hertie, Beck am Rathauseck, Kaufhof, and as well as lot of smaller boutiques and stores, and well-known chain stores for fashion and shoes.
Kaufinger Strasse connects the Marienplatz with the 'Stachus' and is a must-see.

Haute couture and all the world renowned designers as well as exclusive jewellers can be found in the Maximilianstrasse, Theatinerstrasse, Residenzstrasse and Brienner Strasse - all in walking distance to the Marienplatz.

Dallmayr's, also well know through the television commercials advertising its coffee, is situated immediately behind the New Town Hall and next to the department store Beck, from where it tempts shoppers to buy its delicacies.
The Victuals Market, only a few steps from the Marienplatz, displays its fruit, vegetables, herbs, bread, cheese, wine and many other tasty tidbits from all over the world, extending an invitation to enjoy its wares with all the senses. Beer gardens, cafés and flowers in a blaze of colour do their best to beguile the visitor.

The streets around the Victuals Market, a few corners further on along the Sendlinger Strasse and the street called the Tal in the direction of the River Isar, are full of a wide range of shops offering antiques, junk and jewellery, fashion, furniture and home accessories, leather goods, cigars and cigarettes, clocks and watches, fancy chocolates and much more besides. It's worth making a detour to visit the streets and lanes north of the Tal in the direction of the Hofbräuhaus. Souvenir hunters, music lovers and football fans feel very much at home here.

Turning back across the Marienplatz, you come to the high-class shops in the Theatinerstrasse. In delightful passages, arcades and courtyards you will find tasteful boutiques. The latest destination for the lovers of select consumer worlds: the “Fünf Höfe”, five courtyards between Theatinerstrasse and Maffeistrasse, which are also impressive for their prize-winning architecture.
Besides fine shops, cafés and offices, here you will also come across the newly-designed premises of the Hypobank Cultural Foundation, an art gallery famous for its spectacular exhibitions.

Munich's ultra-chic shopping area additionally covers Perusastrasse, Residenzstrasse, Brienner Strasse and Odeonsplatz. You will discover gems in the shop belonging to the Nymphenburg Porcelain factory (Odeonsplatz 1), which has been based in Munich for over 250 years. Equally exclusive is the Maximilianstrasse, where a number of top couturiers present their creations.
Weary shoppers regain their strength in the street cafés while they watch Munich's kindred spirits strolling past with their colourful shopping bags.
The recently opened “Maximilianshöfe” – Maximilian’s court yards - will also carry you off into the world of international design. You can take a break from shopping in the columned hall of the former “Marstall” – the royal stables, as a new restaurant has been established in the classified historical building.

Outside the old town centre, for example in Schwabing (-take the subway to 'Münchner Freiheit'), Haidhausen, around the Gärtnerplatz and in the Glockenbach area, the shops – and the customers – are quite obviously more unconventional. The Gärtnerplatz and the Glockenbach district are also ideal shopping areas for gays and lesbians.

Bargain-hunters are in their element at flea markets and designer outlets, or they amuse themselves in search of curiosities and crockery, junk and antiques at an old Munich institution, the street market-cum-funfair called the Auer Dult (in May, July/August and October).
The Auer Dult takes place in "Die Au" which is part of the neighborhood Au-Haidhausen. It's located still in walking distance from downtown (approx. 15 min; southeast of Marienplatz), or you take a subway.

Culinary Munich