This tour with a vehicle combines Munich’s essential highlights with a visit to the memorial site at Dachau – the first concentration camp opened under the Nazis in 1933 and blueprint for extermination camps such as Auschwitz.
The 6-hour tour option includes a private tour of the city center of Munich by car and on foot, combined with a trip to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. The 8-hour tour includes a private walking tour of the city center of Munich, a visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial and a panoramic drive of sights outside of the center, such as the Nymphenburg Palace, BMW World and Museum and many more.
You will be met at your hotel or a prearranged meeting point by your guide and driver, and then head first to Odeonsplatz see where Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 collapsed in a hail of Bavarian police gunfire. Continuing on foot, we then head via the iconic domed Frauenkirche – the central cathedral for the state of Bavaria and one of Munich’s foremost architectural symbols – into the very heart of the city at Marienplatz, Munich’s central square. Time will be taken to watch the 43 bells of the clock on the richly decorated New Town Hall chime the hour, before heading, via St. Peter’s Church, to sup on a little beer history at the world’s most famous beer hall: the Hofbräuhaus.
Next we continue on foot through the Alter Hof, former residence of Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV, towards the grandiose Residenz – former center of the Wittelsbach monarchy of Bavaria, and the largest city palace in Germany. Back in the vehicle you will then strike further afield to visit other essential sites outside the immediate city center.
First up is Königsplatz, the broad neoclassical square that became the heart of Nazi Munich, playing host to the regime’s mass rallies in the city. Driving via the English Garden, one of the largest and most beautiful urban parks in the world, we head next to the Siegestor – the ‘Victory Gate’. Initially completed in the mid-19th century and dedicated to the Bavarian army, the former triumphal arch, damaged heavily during Allied bombing raids in WWII, now stands as a monument to peace and the consequences of German militarism.
With the Munich portion of the tour complete, you will then be driven to the former site of Dachau Concentration Camp (circa 30-40 minutes) to explore the memorial site. You will learn about the atrocities of the National Socialist regime at the memorial’s excellent exhibition, visit ‘The Bunker’ where high profile prisoners were sequestered by the SS for ‘special treatment’, see inside the former prisoner barracks, and enter into the remains of Dachau’s gas chamber.
Your guide will be with you every step of the way, helping you negotiate the memorial, providing in-depth information and important context, and sharing poignant stories of camp inmates.
Upon leaving the camp your guide will then accompany you back to Munich – to either your hotel or another drop-off point of your choosing.
Sights Include: Marienplatz, Frauenkirche, St. Peter’s Church, New Town Hall, Hofbräuhaus, Odeonsplatz, Residenz, Alter Hof, Königsplatz, Siegestor, Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial and more...
