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Kultfabrik
If you've been to Munich before, you may remember this 'fun ghetto' near the Ostbahnhof as Kunstpark Ost. Now the former dumpling factory has a different name but it's still the same party mecca for libidinous kids and has more than a dozen, mostly mainstream, venues. Electro and house beats charge up the crowd at the loungy apartment 11, the Asian-themed Koi and at the small and red cocktail cantina called Die Bar.
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Löwenbräukeller
This place deserves a mention for its many earthy locals, a relative lack of tourists and a grand main hall with regular Bavarian music and heel-slapping dances on stage. There's also a large and labyrinthine beer garden.
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Master's Home
This is a wonderfully quirky cellar just east of the Viktualienmarkt. The off-centre décor time warps you back to the colonial era - antique furnishings, plenty of knick-knacks and oddities such as a room built around a bathtub.
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Molly Malone's
This award-winning Irish pub is a good bet if you'd like a quiet drink or a decent conversation. It's famous for its authentic fish and chips and has over a hundred types of whisky on hand.
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Morizz
This mod Art Deco-style lounge with red leather armchairs and mirrors for posing and preening goes for a more moneyed clientele and even gets the occasional local celebrity drop-in. The service is impeccable, the food's good and the wine and whisky list keeps everyone happily pickled. Packed on weekends.
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Muffathalle
The Muffathalle culture centre was converted from an old power plant. It's now a multi-hall complex that holds large concerts and, in summer, an open-air disco on Friday with drum 'n' bass, acid jazz and hip hop (it's always crowded, so expect long queues).
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Netzer & Overrath
This alt-flavoured double-pub is named for two members of the German national soccer team that won the FIFA World Cup in 1974. Overrath is the quieter one, more a daytime place where for reading, sipping coffee or snacking. After dark Netzer puts 'fun' in 'funky' with loud rock, Britpop, cold beer and a Fussball table.
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News Café
Not just another news-bar clone, the plush leather seating, rows of glowing red lamps and African-inspired art make this hip joint a great place to hang out. It serves light food and a multitude of cocktails.
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Nil
A construct in wood and marble, this chill café-bar is open till and a good place to crash after the party has stopped elsewhere. If you need a reality check, a plate of its kick-ass goulash soup should do the trick.
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NY Club
After a complete revamp, it's again 'Raining Men' at Munich's hottest gay dance temple where you can party away with Ibiza-style abandon on the cool, backlit main floor.
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Optimolwerke
Just behind KuFa, Optimol is a clubbers' nirvana with about 15 different venues after dark. Favourites include Harry Klein and Milch & Bar, which is open daily until (weekends til ) and the place to go when the action winds down elsewhere. Latin lovers flock to Do Brasil, while Choice-Club heats up the dance floor with black beats, chart music and house.
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P1
Is a Munich guide definitive without a nod to this playground of playboys, tabloid regulars and trust fund babies? Not yet, perhaps. If you make it past the notorious bouncers, you'll find the crowd too busy seeing and being seen than to actually have a good time, but the décor, summer terrace and great pizza still have their appeal.
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Pacific Times
This is a trendy joint to hang out at. It's decked out in dark wood and wicker chairs to attract all the beautiful people. You too could be one of them.
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Pub Crawl
New Munich's (in)famous Pub Crawl makes stops in five bars and clubs, includes free vodka shots and meets at the corner of Münzstrasse and Orlandostrasse.
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Roxy
The place to talent spot and people watch, this slick bar attracts a designer crowd keen to hang out, look good and sip cocktails. By day it offers surprisingly good food at decent prices.
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Schumann's Bar
Urbane and sophisticated, Schumann's has been shaking up Munich's nightlife with libational flights of fancy in an impressive range of more than 220 concoctions. Great for a first date.
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Seehaus
A drinks station for the posh set is Seehaus, right on the Kleinhesseloher See, with dreamy views of the lake and the park. Paulaner is the featured brew.
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Teddy Bar
Presided over by cuddly Fridl, this is a friendly, been-there-forever kind of bar for 'bears' and friends that still manages to stay current and cool. The crowd generally skews older and you can actually hear yourself talk. Happy hour til Monday to Thursday.
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Trachtenvogl
At night you'll have to shoehorn your way into this buzzy lair favoured by a chatty, boozy crowd of scenesters, artists and students. Daytimes are mellower, all the better to slurp its hot chocolate menu and check out the cuckoo clocks and antlers, left over from the days when this was a folkoric garment shop.Child-friendly during the day.
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Viktualienmarkt
After a day of sightseeing or shopping stock up on tasty nibbles at the Viktualienmarkt, then lug your loot a few steps further to this chestnut-shaded beer garden, a Munich institution since 1807. The breweries take turns serving here, so you never know what's on tap.
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Waldwirtschaft Grosshesselohe
One of Munich's nicest beer garden oases, this one delivers Spaten beer, 2500 seats under shady chestnuts, idyllic views of the Isar valley and live jazz nightly in good weather from Easter through September. Kids can frolic on the big playground. Take the S7 to Grosshesselohe/Isartalbahnhof.
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Zappeforster
This relaxed hangout is known for its creamy cappuccino, perky ice teas and warm home-made waffles served beneath groovy mountain wallpaper or on the sunny terrace.
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Zum Flaucher
This congenial restaurant-cum-beer garden in the Isar River meadows feels a like a micro-vacation from the city bustle. The spare ribs are fall-off-the-bone tender, kids can wear themselves out on the imaginative playground and soccer fans descend for big matches beamed onto a giant screen. Take the U3 to Brudermühlstrasse.
