Munich, Our Muse: A Guide to the City of Monks

A Local Retreat in the Heart of Munich

Every year, our team comes together from Germany, Italy, and Ireland, to work, engage in teambuilding, and explore a new place. This year, we decided to do our annual retreat a little differently, choosing to stay in our HQ city. Our motto: keep it local, simple, and close to home.

If the news hasn‘t reached you, we are celebrating our brand new office space that we opened in Munich only a few months ago. So, by keeping it close to home, our team members that don‘t live in Germany, were able to enjoy the space for themselves as well, and we were finally able to solidify our office headquarters.

Between strategy sessions and city exploring, we rediscovered why Munich continues to inspire our work in PR, storytelling, and sustainable travel. From its history, to its culture, to its efforts in sustainability, we experienced Munich like locals (because we are!) and now we hope that using this guide you will be able to as well.

Our New Office: Where Creative PR Happens

While we usually work remotely - our team members are located in various countries around the world - we still think it is essential to have a physical office space. We believe that it gives our company roots to grow, and provides our team with a place to gather, collaborate, and call home. We loved being able to use our new space on this company retreat, enjoying the proximity to a ton of fun places in the city, eating lunch while chatting about our latest marketing ideas, and being able to stretch out and utilize the entire space to our advantage.

Not only is this space perfect for our growing company, but we also hope that it will benefit our current and future clients, providing them with the opportunity to join us in Munich and meet with us at the office. We are looking forward to hosting our clients, partners, friends, and more, all in our very own space.

We are also so excited to be sharing the space with sustainable fashion brand Hacoy. With an innovative approach to sustainability in the fashion industry, like resell, repair, and rent options, Hacoy is ensuring that we consume mindfully, while continuing to reduce, reuse, and recycle what we purchase.

Working in this office space with a brand that shares and promotes our values has been a great opportunity to grow and learn from each other. Not to mention, it's a lot of fun getting to see the latest fashion creations!

Our Favorite Local Spots in Munich

Munich is a city that has something for everyone, whether you enjoy lounging at the beach, walking through shaded gardens, shopping in the popular Marienplatz pedestrian area, or simply admiring the beauty of the local architecture.

For the Nature Lovers

The Hofgarten and the stunning English Gardens are the central green spaces in the city. Walking through the curved archways of the old palace grounds, located to the right of Odensplatz, will transport you to another time.

The Hofgarten, built in the early 17th century, was the old garden for Munich royalty. Created in the style of a garden from the Italian Renaissance, the visitors to the Hofgarten can relax on one of the various benches, admire the beautiful flowers, stroll through the allays of trees, and sometimes, catch some locals dancing underneath the pavilion.

From the Hofgarten is easy access to the English Gardens, with its 36km of footpaths, over 100 bridges, and the gorgeous Isar rIves flowing straight through, it is a dream to explore.

On a sunny day, you‘ll be sure to see everyone in Munich enjoying games of volleyball, watching the surfers, or swimming in the river - perhaps the best summer time activity Munich has to offer. Refreshing and clean, a swim in the Isar is a Munich must or, allow the river‘s current to carry you along like many of the locals do.

For the Athletes

If you are looking to work up a sweat, and a leisurely walk in the garden isn‘t your idea of sport, then we have to recommend a trip to Bootcamp Baby! (similar to the well known Barry’s work out). Just a few houses down from our office space, you can find a Patrick Broome yoga studio. Those who want to hop on a bike, can head to Blackbike for spinning classes while Time To Shine will provide sport enthusiasts with the best boxing workouts in town. We love spoiling ourselves with personal training sessions at RARE Form Studio – ask for Derek or Joanna, they know best!

For the Youngsters

Heading up Ludwigstraße will soon put you in the university district where you will find tons of delicious cafes serving coffees, pastries, and unique German snacks. Vintage stores, hip clothing stores, and bookstores teaming with old English books are a favorite place of both German university students and Munich locals in general. There are plenty of cool bars to explore for a fun night out as well.

Tasting Munich: Where We Eat

There are a ton of cool and unique places to eat in Munich, from classic Bavarian food to international favorites, these are our top spots to grab a bite.

Bratwurstglöckl serves some of the best traditional Bavarian food in Munich. This charming spot has Stammtische, where locals and tourists come together over good food and beer. The Nürnberger sausages are our favorite in the city, and their Kaiserschmarrn is unbeatable.

WaWi offers guests an amazing atmosphere to try classic German foods, with its stunning, private beergarten that often hosts live music played by local bands. Don’t miss out on trying their fantastic weiner schnitzel!

Taqueria con Salsa is a fairly new taco place that is serving delicious Mexican cuisine, tested by our founder Natascha herself. She says that it’s as authentic as Mexican food can get in Germany. This is a can’t miss for anyone that loves a great taco or two.

Nam Giao 31 is our favorite place to get Vietnamese food. Located right next to our office, you can find us eating here often. We especially love the Bun Chay & Cha Gio which is our go to for a delicious lunch.

Taverna Melina has our favorite Greek food in the city - again right around the corner from the office. Yes, our office is located in a great foodie area of town. Serving up traditional Greek eats in a colorful and delicious way, everything from the warm pita to the tangy tzatziki transports us straight to one of our favorite travel countries.

MAY Schwanthalerhöhe is your go to for Asian fusion. The restaurant provides guests with a beautiful atmosphere that is a mix of traditional and modern design. From the drinks to the food, everything on the menu is a hit with us, and you can’t go wrong with whatever you want to order.

Pizzesco has, according to our team member Quinn, the best pizza in the entire world. Full of cozy atmosphere, delicious pizza, dessert, and drinks, and lovely people, there is always a line to get a slice from their pizza window or a table in their restaurant. A huge plus – they have gluten-free pizza and an amazing gluten-free tiramisu!

Mozammo is another great Italian place that offers a menu packed with delicious Italian dishes. This is the place to go if you want the perfect bowl of pasta. While this restaurant is a chain, our favorite branch is in Thalkirchen.

Culture, History, & Inspiration All Around

Founded in 1158 as a settlement for Benedictine monks (hence its name München meaning the monks’ place), Munich is full of rich and interesting history, not all of it happy. This is a great place to take a locally guided tour either on foot or by bike. We’ve taken countless friends on Mike's Bikes Tours which provide small group tours led by interesting, funny, and knowledgeable guides.

By foot, we recommend Heart of Munich tours which is a small, family run business that offers free tours of the city, diving into its unique history and important landmarks. These tours can cover the entire history of Munich, or areas of interest such as the royal family in Munich or its role in the Second World War.

Not everyone loves taking tours, so here are our top places to discover by yourself in Munich:

Culture & History: Nymphenburg Palace & The Botanical Gardens

Perhaps one of the most beautiful places to see in Munich, Nymphenburg palace was the royal family‘s summer home. The palace is in the baroque style and the many rooms hold ornate furniture, luxurious interior design, and tons of art for visitors to explore.

Beyond that are the grounds, boasting 200 hectares, which are designed in the Italian style. Strolling through them, there are many out buildings (like the shell church), cafes, and lovely walks to be found. Visitors can also enter the botanical gardens from here, which is a must see for anyone that enjoys a mix of history and plants.

Classic Art: The Alte Pinakothek

As one of the oldest art galleries in the world, this beautiful museum has a collection of stunning paintings that are a must see for art lovers. Those fascinated in architecture will also enjoy exploring the building itself, built in 1826 and was then the largest museum in the world.

Modern Art: Brandhorst Museum

Home to 200 exhibitions of modern and contemporary art, the Brandhorst Museum has some of the most famous works of the 20th and 21st century. The museum itself is a work of art, built using over 36,000 ceramic rods. Perhaps most impressive to modern art lovers, is the collection of more than one hundred Andy Warhol paintings as well as 170 Cy Twombly pieces.

Technology & History: BMW Museum & Aviation Museum

If Germany is known for anything, it is its high-quality engineering and its dedication to technology and transport. From cars to trains to planes, nothing says Germany like BMW, and Munich has an entire museum dedicated to it.

Located at the BMW headquarters, visitors can embark on a journey of history and technology, learning about car manufacturing, and even watching the process for themselves. This is a can‘t miss museum for those who love cars.

At the same time, Munich is home to one of the coolest museums, the Aviation Museum which shows off Germany‘s fantastic contribution to technological development, as well as a deep history of aviation. Visitors can enjoy exploring planes from the early 20th century to now.

Science: Deutsches Museum

Named one of the best and most interesting museums in Germany, and winning a Federal President‘s Prize for technology and innovation, the Deutsches Museum is every scientist's dream.

It is the largest museum in the city with over 125,000 objects in its exhibitions from 50 fields of science and technology. From aerospace to agriculture to paper and music, the Deutsches Museum is not to be missed.

Sustainable Ways to Explore Munich

Staying as sustainable as possible has always been our main goal at Rupp PR. Therefore, our decision to stay in Munich for our company retreat was also influenced by our desire to reduce our carbon footprint as a team.

We realized that staying local is not only a great way to discover your city through the eyes of a tourist with the knowledge of a local, but it is also a great way to slow down and focus on both our work and making concours and responsible choices when it comes to our surroundings.

Munich’s Sustainability

Munich itself is an extremely sustainable city, with the government adopting green initiatives and trying to use renewable energy where possible. There are also plenty of green options to choose from in Munich, made easy by its fantastic infrastructure.

Munich utilities company SWM, is helping the city pioneer sustainability. Their main goal in 2009 was to ensure that 100% of Munich’s electricity came from renewable sources. They set 2025 as their deadline, and were able to hit that deadline earlier this month! Not only will 100% of Munich’s electricity be sustainable, but SWM will generate more electricity in their many renewable energy plants than the city can consume.

SWM also has a range of other goals that focus on the environment to sustainable supply chains and products. They have six overall goals, which focus on reducing greenhouse gases and becoming climate neutral by 2040, managing water and waste efficiently, promoting diversity and inclusivity, strengthening employees for economic efficiency and innovative strength, assuming social and environmental responsibility for supply chains and products, and finally using resources responsibly to create a circular economy.

Munich is well on its way to becoming a sustainable city, with SWM introducing 12 hydropower plants, 2 wind power plants, 7 geothermal power plants, 233 photovoltaic plants, 4 solar power plants, 1 biomass power plant, and 12 district cooling systems from underground water around the Munich region.

An Accessible City

Munich is an incredibly accessible city through sustainable means. Whether you want to hop on the S-Bahn or U-Bahn (the two train/subway systems in the city), catch a bus above ground, or rent a bike, there are plenty of options to ditch the cars and travel sustainably.

In fact, there are over 1,200 kilometers of bike lanes within the city, making it the perfect place to rent a bicycle in. If public transport or biking isn‘t your style, don‘t worry because the city center is also very walkable. In fact, a large portion of the city center is pedestrian, making it a walker’s dream.

Connectivity to Places Beyond the City

Munich is a great base to take day trips from or to explore surrounding countries. With its central location and its extensive train network, you can easily access other cities and rural locations.

For example, a trip to the beautiful alps will take you less than two hours, where you can spend the day hiking and eating at local Hütten. Head on a one hour train to Augsburg, one of Bavaria‘s oldest cities. A trip to the Italian region of South Tyrol is around four hours, making it a lovely romantic escape. Traveling south to the historic Austrian city of Salzburg is around an hour and a half, making it a unique cultural day trip.

Whether you want to explore Germany itself or travel to a completely different country, Munich is the plane to start. Go west to France, north to Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium, south to Italy, Austria, and Switzerland, or East to the Czech Republic and Poland, Munich‘s location is the perfect place to choose your next travel destination.

Staying Local, Thinking Global

Munich has so much to offer both local and tourist, and it provides constant inspiration through its sustainability, history, culture, and natural beauty.

We loved exploring Munich together, working in our new office space, and getting reacquainted with the city of the Monks. As always, working together is just as fun and efficient as we remember it being, and we think that being in Munich only fuels our creativity and passion.

Being able to expand our roots in Munich kicks off a meaningful new era of Rupp PR. We cannot wait to grow, learn, and change with this city. We hope that you love it just as much as we do on your next visit. Make sure to use this guide to experience Munich like a local, with a little sprinkle of all the fun touristy things that we locals enjoy just as much as the tourists do.