Viktualienmarkt

Lonely Planet review

Fresh fruits and vegetables, piles of artisan cheeses, tubs of exotic olives, hams and jams, chanterelles and truffles - Viktualienmarkt , is a feast of flavours and one of Europe's finest gourmet markets. Prices are high, naturally, but so is the quality and many items sold here are hard to find elsewhere. Generally speaking, stalls along the main walkways are more expensive than those a little off to the side.

Stalls - many of them family-run for generations - were first set up here in 1807 after the market had outgrown its original spot on Marienplatz. To make room for it, the medieval hospice attached till extant Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Spirit) had been levelled a year earlier. Gothic at its core, the church has fantastic ceiling frescos depicting the hospice foundation in 1720, courtesy of the Asam brothers.

A few paces southwest of the stalls is the Schrannenhalle, a 19th-century grain market hall reconstructed in 2005. The 400m-long glass-and-iron structure itself is quite impressive but the overpriced and often tacky shops and cafés inside are not.