Sights

'Munich nestles between art and beer like a village between hills’, wrote 19th-century German poet Heinrich Heine, and his words ring as true today as they did back then. Visit any of Munich’s galleries (especially on Sundays) and you’ll find them packed to the gift shop with well-informed locals, rightly proud of their city’s reputation for blockbuster art collections and leading galleries. It was the Wittelbachs, Bavaria’s ruling family for over 700 years, who gathered much of the city’s enviable collection under several roofs. This led to the creation of the Kunstareal, an entire quarter of the city centre given over to galleries. Two 21st-century additions to the Kunstareal include the Pinakothek der Moderne and the Museum Brandhorst, with more on the way.

Bogenhausen is not shy about flaunting its wealth. Elegant villas sprang up here from the 1870s onwards and the area is peppered with gilded art-nouveau buildings. Just take a wander along Möhlstrasse, a chic avenue branching northeast from the Europaplatz near the Friedensengel, which is lined with mansions for the super-rich, foreign consulates and law offices. East of here (via Siebertstrasse and Ismaninger Strasse), Holbeinstrasse is a treasure chest of listed art-nouveau houses, with the one at No 7 being an especially fine specimen. Prinzregentenstrasse, the main artery, divides Bogenhausen from Haidhausen to the south.

A bronze statue of a BMW sprouting octopuslike tentacles is the mind-teasing overture to the full symphony of art and objects at the amazing Buchheim Museum, right on the Starnberger See about 1km north of the town of Bernried. The modernist structure by Olympia Stadium architect Günter Behnisch houses the private collection of Lothar-Günther Buchheim, author of Das Boot, the novel that inspired the famous film. The heart and soul of the museum are German expressionist works by members of Die Brücke (The Bridge), an artist group founded in Dresden in 1905. The bright, emotionally coloured canvases by Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Max Beckmann, Otto Dix and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff marked the beginning of modern art in Germany.

Other galleries present a fascinating hotchpotch of global arts and crafts, which justifies the museum's subtitle Museum of the Imagination. You'll see handsome art-nouveau vases, African masks, Japanese woodcuts, jewellery from India and a stunning collection of some 3000 paperweights.

The most scenic approach to the museum is by an hour-long boat trip from Starnberg. Alternatively, take the S6 or Regionalbahn to Tutzing, change to another RB train to Bernried, then walk north for about 15 minutes.

Once a neglected working-class backwater scented by the hop-laden aroma wafting gently from its breweries, the Westend is gradually finding its groove and evolving into one of Munich's most vibrant and intriguing neighbourhoods. There are no major sights, which is just fine because its charms reveal themselves in subtler, often unexpected ways: on leafy Gollierplatz, for instance, or in hip cafes and pubs, in the growing number of artist's studios and indie boutiques, and the Turkish corner store with its artfully piled produce.

For contrast, head west of the Theresienwiese Oktoberfest grounds, where Ludwigsvorstadt basks in an air of bourgeois haughtiness, its leafy streets hemmed with grand old mansions looking as impeccable now as they did a century ago. However, the district's face changes drastically the further north, and closer to the Hauptbahnhof, where strip clubs, sex shops and made-in-China import stores dominate.

Munich has almost 50 museums, some so vast and containing so many exhibits you could spend a whole day shuffling through a single institution. Gallery fatigue strikes many a visitor, and it's easy to get your pinakotheks in a twist. Here we list Munich's best museums – be selective and take your time.

Here are our top five places from which to get a bird's-eye view of the Bavarian capital:

• Bavaria See the Oktoberfest through the statue's eyes.
• Frauenkirche Put the Alps and Altstadt at your feet.
• Monopteros Survey the charms of the English Garden.
• Olympiaturm Ogle panoramic views of up to 100km.
• St Peterskirche Survey all of Munich's major landmarks.

Most major museums charge just €1 admission on Sundays.