Munich Christmas Market Walk

In front of you stands the big Christmas tree, and behind it the facade of the New Town Hall. Every year a different town or village donates the tree. In 2026 it's a silver fir from Sauerlach, just south of Munich, more than twenty metres tall. All around the square, and down the lanes towards Old Peter's church, are the stalls of the Christkindlmarkt, the oldest Christmas market in the city. Its roots go back to the St Nicholas markets of the fourteenth century. In 1642 the city annals first mention a St Nicholas fair on Kaufingerstraße, just a few steps from here. After that the market moved around half the city, to Promenadeplatz and to Blumenstraße among other places. It has only had its permanent home on Marienplatz since 1972. The city estimates that about 3.2 million people came in 2025. Besides mulled wine, roasted almonds and bratwurst, the stalls sell tree decorations, straw stars, wooden toys and figures for nativity scenes. The next stop is right here. Turn to the tall central tower of the town hall and look up.

Roughly level with the roof, in the bay of the tower, is the Glockenspiel, with 43 bells. Every day at 11 am and at noon it comes to life. On the upper level the court celebrates the wedding of Duke Wilhelm the Fifth and Renata of Lorraine in February 1568, and in the tournament the Bavarian knight knocks his opponent from Lorraine off his horse. Below dance the Schäffler, the coopers. According to tradition they were the first to dare to go out into the streets again after an outbreak of plague. Real coopers still perform their dance in the city every seven years. In December the Glockenspiel's tunes include 'O Tannenbaum'. If you come in the evening, there's a night show at 9 pm, when a night watchman and an angel put the Münchner Kindl, the child on the city's coat of arms, to bed. Now go through the gateway under the tower into the Prunkhof courtyard. During Advent this is where the city's nativity scene stands, made in 1953 by the Munich artist Reinhold Zellner. The shepherds wear Alpine dress and the Three Kings wear Oriental robes. Leave the courtyard on the far side, onto Weinstraße. Go a few steps to the right, then turn left into Sporerstraße. The towers of the Frauenkirche appear ahead.

On one Sunday in Advent this square gets loud. Hundreds of Krampus figures, Perchten and Klausen, in fur and masks, line up in Augustinerstraße by the Frauenplatz. In 2026 that's Sunday, December 13th, at 3 pm. The procession runs along Kaufingerstraße and across Rindermarkt to the Viktualienmarkt, almost the same route you are about to walk. Krampus is the dark companion of St Nicholas. In 2025 about seventy thousand people watched. Above you rise the towers of the Cathedral of Our Lady. The city's master mason Jörg von Halspach built this Gothic brick church between 1468 and 1488. The rounded domes were only put on the towers in 1525. If you go inside, look for a dark footprint in the floor of the entrance hall, the Teufelstritt, or Devil's Footprint. According to legend, the Devil stood on this spot, could not see a single window, and stamped his foot in triumph. One step further on, he saw the windows after all. To reach the nativity market, walk down Liebfrauenstraße and turn left onto Kaufingerstraße. Just before Marienplatz, turn right into Rosenstraße. It ends at Rindermarkt, next to Old Peter's church.

Here on Rindermarkt, beside Old Peter's church, the stalls of the Kripperlmarkt sell almost only one thing: everything you need for a nativity scene. There are stables in every size, carved figures from South Tyrol, Oberammergau and the Ore Mountains, tiny lanterns, moss, bark and even the chaff for the ox and the donkey. Cribs have been sold here in the city centre since 1757, and the Kripperlmarkt is said to be the largest nativity market in Germany. In the middle of the nineteenth century it split off as a market of its own. Only after the Second World War did the Christmas market and the crib market come back together. Some traders still build their stables themselves, from patterns handed down in the family. Others repair old figures or make them to order. The Kripperlmarkt keeps the same hours as the Christkindlmarkt, so in 2026 it's open until December 24th. Look across at the tall Christmas pyramid on Rindermarkt, too. It copies the small wooden pyramids from the Ore Mountains that turn in the heat of candles. For the next stop, walk along the south side of Old Peter's church, across Petersplatz and downhill. The stalls and roofs of the Viktualienmarkt lie ahead.

The Viktualienmarkt grew out of Marienplatz. Until 1807 farmers sold their grain and vegetables on the square in front of the town hall, then called Schrannenplatz. When it became too crowded, King Max the First Joseph ordered on May 2nd, 1807 that part of the market move here, between the Church of the Holy Spirit and Frauenstraße. It became a permanent food market with fixed stalls, and it is still part of everyday life in Munich. Among the stalls are fountains honouring Munich's folk singers and comedians, among them Karl Valentin and Liesl Karlstadt. In Advent the market calls itself Winterzauber, or winter magic. The traders add punch, mulled wine and hot snacks to what they usually sell. The Winterzauber starts in late November and runs into January, in 2026 until January 5th. It's open Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 8 pm. On Sundays and public holidays the market is closed. For the next stop, walk back to Marienplatz. Keep to the east side of the New Town Hall and go into Dienerstraße. After a few steps, turn right into Altenhofstraße. It leads into a quiet courtyard, the Alter Hof.

This quiet courtyard was once the seat of power in Upper Bavaria. After Bavaria was divided in 1255, the castle here became the residence of the Wittelsbach dukes. Ludwig the Bavarian, a son of this house, later became emperor, and the Alter Hof became his imperial castle. Look for the narrow bay window with the pointed spire, the Affenturm, or Monkey Tower. The story goes that a tame monkey was allowed to roam the castle. One day it took little Ludwig from his cradle and climbed onto the roof with him. The whole court trembled below until the animal put the child back in his cradle, unharmed. There is no historical evidence for the story. Later the dukes moved to a new castle further north, which grew into today's Residenz. From then on the Alter Hof housed government offices. Since 2026 the courtyard has a winter market in Advent, the Winterhof, with mulled wine, an alpine hut and ice stock lanes. In 2026 it opens on November 16th, daily from 1 pm to 10 pm. Leave the courtyard to the north via Hofgraben and cross Max-Joseph-Platz. Then follow Residenzstraße north along the long facade of the Residenz. Just before Odeonsplatz, a gateway leads into the Kaiserhof.

Through the gateway you come into the Kaiserhof, the Emperor's Courtyard of the Residenz. Duke Maximilian the First, later Elector, had the wings around this courtyard built between 1612 and 1616. The west wing held rooms set aside for visits by the emperor, which is how the courtyard got its name. In Advent it fills with the Weihnachtsdorf, a Christmas village of more than fifty stalls with crafts, nativity figures, mulled wine and eggnog. Entry is free, and so is the fairy-tale forest, where figures tell fairy tales at the push of a button. One of the huts raises money for the Munich children's hospice. The Christmas village opens a few days before the Christkindlmarkt. In 2026 it's open from November 16th to December 22nd, daily from 11 am to 9 pm, and until 8 pm on the last day. It's closed on Sunday, November 22nd. Remember the name Maximilian. At the last stop he's sitting on a horse. Go back out to Residenzstraße and turn right to Odeonsplatz. There, turn left into Brienner Straße. After a few metres, Wittelsbacherplatz opens up on your right.

There he is: Maximilian the First in bronze, on horseback, his right hand raised. The Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen made the equestrian statue and Leo von Klenze designed the base. It was unveiled in 1839. The square itself was laid out in the 1820s, when Brienner Straße was built up, and the palace on its north side is also by Klenze. In Advent, wooden stalls in medieval style surround the monument. This market has been held here since 2005, with crafts, hot mead, and drinking mugs modelled on medieval originals. On Advent weekends there's a cultural programme too, the Münchner Adventsspektakel. In 2026 the market is open from November 20th to December 23rd, daily from 11 am to 9 pm, closed only on November 22nd. This is the end of our walk. The U-Bahn station at Odeonsplatz is just around the corner, and Marienplatz is about ten minutes away on foot. If you want to keep going, there's a small Christmas market at Sendlinger Tor and the queer Christmas market Pink Christmas on Stephansplatz. Both open on November 20th in 2026. Merry Christmas!