Destination Today

In the Bundestagwahl (federal elections) of 2017 Munich voted overwhelming for business pretty much as usual. The right-of-centre CSU (Christlich-Soziale Union), the Bavarian version of the national CDU, won overwhelmingly in the Bavarian capital, as it did across Bavaria, seeing off the populist threat from the right wing AfD (Alternativ Für Deutschland – Alternative for Germany). The same result was expected in October 2018’s Landtagswahl (regional election). So despite much opposition to Angel Merkel’s open-door immigration policy, the chances of Munich, Bavaria and Germany entering a period of Trump/Brexit-style populism seem unlikely (only the eastern state of Saxony in the former GDR voted for the AfD in any numbers). Munich and Bavaria have shown themselves to be bastions of stability, a solid core at the heart of Europe's steadiest country. In 2018 Munich also celebrated 100 years of the Free State and the 200th anniversary of Bavaria’s (second) constitution, two dates that added to the region's comfortable feeling of continuity. That's why, as southern Germany moves into the third decade of the third millennium, many would agree that there are few better places to be.

But apart from enviable political stability, what underpins Munich’s enviable success story? Good 'ole manufacturing would seem to be the ‘secret’. The most visible example of this would be one of the most desirable names of the Teutonic luxury-car world – Bayerische Motoren Werke, or BMW as its almost always known. The Munich-based company is the world’s 12th-largest car producer, with such illustrious brands as Mini and Rolls Royce in its high-octane stable. The company pumps billions of euros into the wider economy, directly and indirectly keeping thousands in well-paid employment. And with the Volkswagen emissions scandal still high up on the local news agenda, in the coming years BMW can only go from strength to strength. Other blockbuster concerns based in the Bavarian capital include Allianz (the world’s largest insurance company), MAN (truck and bus producers), BayWa (agriculture, building materials and energy concern), EuroJet Turbo (jet-engine parts) and Nfon (telecommunications).

Tourism also generates a small but important chunk of the south’s wealth. In 2017 Munich alone saw well over three million foreign guests crumple hotel bedsheets. The overtourism and Airbnb/Uber rows that are plaguing other European destinations haven't yet arrived in Bavaria’s capital, or anywhere else in the region it would seem.

With Munich’s countless plants boxing up everything from X6s to jet engines, you might expect a noxious murk to fill your nostrils at the plane door. But it doesn’t. In fact, Germany sets the standrads in the EU for air quality – in coming years diesel cars will almost certainly be banned from central Munich and possibly other large Bavarian cities. And by 2025 Munich plans to be the first major city in the world to be powered exclusively by renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and solar panels (very few of which are actually in Munich itself, we hasten to add). Munich has a superb public-transport system, and the city is consistently rated among Europe's 10 most cycle-friendly cities, with many locals commuting on two-wheelers along a whopping 1200km of well-maintained, car-free cycle lanes. And when they arrive in the city centre, there are 22,000 bike stands waiting, surely a world record. The plan to pull the plug on Germany's nuclear power stations by 2022 is still on track, with Berlin’s politicians seemingly still on board with the policy first drafted in 2011.

There are some pretty large infrastructure projects planned for Munich in the coming years, most of them tying in with the city’s green credentials. The two halves of the English Garden, divided for decades by the thundering Isarring circular, will be reunited when the multi-lane highway is buried in a tunnel costing €125 million. The S-Bahn is finally to get a new line to ease overcrowding on the Stammstrecke, the line that runs through central Munich and along which every commuter train passes. The new Marienplatz station is being built right behind the Neues Rathaus. And the city is set to build a brand-new concert hall near the Ostbahnhof – this is expected to attract the biggest stars on every music scene, and to lift the area out of its slightly rundown state.