Staying near Munich for 12 days in August what are the must dos

[StrumpersPlunkett]

I have browsed the millions of websites but would love a more personalised perspective.
We are staying near amersee so not in city centre.

How old are your kids? If it's useful, I can share our 6 day itinerary from 2011 when our kids were 4 and 7?

Not the OP but we are also planning a trip to Munich with 6 and 1 year old and would love your recommendations if possible.

I live close to Munich, how old are your kids and what kind of things are you interested in? Should have good weather by that time of year.

The boys are 12 & 15
We love fresh air walking paddle boarding castles museums and food

We are going to visit dachau as we feel it is important and that the boys are old enough

Pinklady – here it is. This is a long post – it’s my first Mumsnet post so I don’t know if there is a preferred way of sharing this type of information. Don’t judge me for the number of Biergarten and ice-cream stops! My 7 year old son also kept a diary and every day basically read “Got up late, ate ice-cream, watched my Mums drink beer, got the tram home” Harsh but not entirely unfair..
Day 1: arrival on overnight train from Paris so limited energy. Made the 11am performance of the Glockenspiel on the Marienplatz which entertained us for about 10 mins (i.e. don’t break your neck to make it) and then we moved onto the Viktualien food markt which was a good place to grab early lunch and beer. After that we found a nearby square with a fountain where the kids paddled and ate ice cream. Nothing more than general wandering round on day 1.
Day 2: Deutsches Museum – one of the world’s largest science and technology museums. IMHO not really geared to the casual visitor. Others may disagree but thought that you had to be pretty knowledgeable about science to start with as we found a lot of the information rather impenetrable. So – in my opinion this is targeted at those with a keen interest in science rather than your average person (and nothing wrong with that…). There is a dedicated kids’ area which our kids really enjoyed but it’s more like soft play than really science focussed
English Garden – a wonderful huge park. My children were rather entertained by all the nudist areas (they were at the age where just the word “bottom” could set them off into giggling fits) – if this is likely to bother you then plan your route. There are lots of things to see and places to play. We whiled away a long time here.
Day 3: FrauenKirche – up the 86 steps to the top of the tower. Good views from the top – we could see over the city and even across to the Alps (with a bit of imagination). More paddling in squares. Onto the Hofbrauhaus which has a really amazing atmosphere. It’s huge and bustling but run efficiently and it has an oom-pah band. I wasn’t expecting to like it but I did.
Day 4: Schloss Nymphenburg by tram. We didn’t go in the Schloss but spent all our time in the enormous garden, eating more ice-cream (complete with whipped cream and a cocktail umbrella).

Day 5: The Munich art galleries are huge and, at least at that time, super-quiet in comparison with London/Paris/NY. They did 1€ entry on a Sunday. There is the old and new galleries – they are really worth a visit if you like a bit of art between your Biergarten trips. If you like Reubens, the Alte Pianotek is the place to be.
Day 6: Residenz and Hofgarten then onto Schwabing
So – there you have it. It’s a nice city with kids because there are so many open spaces with good facilities. Great public transport so easy to get around. A word on food. In the beer gardens, we found it harder to eat vegetarian – some places did do lovely fish – but the default/easy and cheap option is wurst and chips. I left this stage of our holiday having eaten enough pork to last me a long time. Things might be different now, and in general we have found it easy to eat veggie in Germany – good Turkish food and good pizza especially. It’s just that if you go to the traditional German places, the food offering is obviously a bit more traditional and you could end up eating a lot of cheese and bread. If you are vegan, this would be even more limited.
Happy to answer any questions. Enjoy your trip!

StrumpersPlunkett - not sure how useful my experience with young kids will be then - I do remember watching people surfing in the river by the English garden so this might be worth checking out. V entertaining to watch and looked a lot of fun! Enjoy!

Go up the Zugspitze. There is a cogwheel train with a cafe at the top.
We went in September and it was cloudy at the top but still worth doing.

There is a cable car but it is subject to weather conditions.

Some further ideas:
A boat trip - they do them on the Ammersee, but you can also do the Starnbergersee or Tegernsee. In August the lakes are usually warm enough for swimming too, just check where the designated bathing areas are.
The city centre with Viktualienmarkt is fun, and the Stadtmuseum has a permanent exhibition on Munich as well as temporary exhibitions. The Pinakothek museums are great if you like art and are cheap on Sundays. Nearby is a crazy but fabulous ice cream shop called Der Verrückte Eismacher which sells weird and wonderful flavours.
Munich Zoo is a fun place to spend the day and then afterwards head to an area by the river called the Flaucher - it’s a popular spot for picnics, BBQs and having a dip in the river Isar.
If you go to the English Gardens, don’t forget to stop by the Eisbach to watch the surfers - yes, right in the city centre!
The Hirschgarten beer garden is also great fun - it is the former royal hunting grounds and there is a pen with deer that you can actually feed!
If you are thinking of having a city tour, there are some really good companies: I can recommend Radius, In Munich, OzTours and Dark History dark-history.eu/ who do bespoke tours and are very family friendly.

From Ammersee it's an easy drive to Hochschwanstein/Hohenschwangau. Bear in mind every other tourist in Bavaria will be there and if you want to go inside either, book online in advance. We didn't as younger kids, its only a few rooms you get to see, and expense, and Hochschwanstein was still a great day out, but at 10.30 all town car parks were full and we had to park half a mile down a rural road with no pavement.

Landsberg (am Lech) also worth a visit - beautiful waterfalls and mediaeval walled town, on the 'Romantic Road', small museum, and a small waterpark run by the ester company. Imagine Cambridge without tourists....

Jack, I think you mean Neuschwanstein, not Hochschwanstein. It's in Hochschwangau or something like that.

But yes, it's horrendously full in summer. We found it well worth the visit though. It's the archetypal Central European castle, but full of Wagner motifs. Utterly bonkers! I'm assuming the OP will have rented a car, as it's tricky to get to by public transport otherwise.

There's another of Ludwig's castles nearby, which is much smaller and less impressive, but also less overrun by tourists. It's called Linderhof.

Most of the main attractions have already been mentioned: Viktualienmarkt, Englischer Garten in the early evening is best, my fave Biergarten is the one in the Garten at the Chinesischer Turm. Pop into the old Cuvilies Theater if you can - it was open and free of charge when I went, not sure if that's normal. The Alte and Neue Pinakotheken are fab, but teens might get a bit fed up if you stay overly long - mine would. If they're into cars the BMW Museum at the Olympic Stadium is meant to be a must. My fave district in Munich is Schwabing, which is To the left of the EG facing north - it's the 'university district' with lots of lovely cafes and small shops.

A day trip to Nymphenburg on the outskirts is definitely worthwhile.

Further out, day trips to Neuschwanstein and Lindenhof. The Zugspitze would be good fun for teens - take warm clothing for the summit. The three 'day trip' lakes fromMunich are Starnberger See, Anmersee, Chiemsee. If you all like a bit of a hike, I recall an amazing walk along the Bavarian/Austrian border, stopping off at a mountain hut for a pint of either milk or beer along the way. That was a day trip from Munich too. Have fun!

Therme Erding, one of the world’s biggest water parks, is in the lovely Bavarian town of Erding, close to Munich Airport. It has loads of slides, wave pools & fun stuff for kids, as well as saunas & spas for the adults.

www.therme-erding.de/en/

It’s dead easy to get to, take the S-Bahn line S2 to Altenerding station. Erding is well worth a day of your time. I recommend the Bavarian restaurant at the Hotel zum Erdinger Weissbrau.

Wow that water park is now on the must do list!!!!!

Thanks to all some fab ideas here and thanks for sharing what you did Cocoajones