Munich's old town is small enough to take in on one easy walk, and most of the stories that shaped the city are packed into it: a market moved by royal decree, a town hall that puts on a show twice a day, a cathedral with a devil's footprint, and the palace from which the Wittelsbach family ruled Bavaria for centuries.
This walk starts among the market stalls, crosses Marienplatz, ducks into the Frauenkirche and ends at the gates of the Residenz. Four stops, each with a reason to stop and look.
Viktualienmarkt
Start where Munich shops. In 1807 a decree by King Maximilian I moved the city's food market off the square that is now Marienplatz and onto this site, and the Viktualienmarkt has been trading here ever since. Around 140 stalls and shops sell flowers, cheese, fish, game, spices and fruit.
Look out for the small fountains honouring Munich's folk singers and comedians, among them Karl Valentin and Liesl Karlstadt, added by the city's citizens after the Second World War.
New Town Hall and the Glockenspiel
A short stroll north brings you to Marienplatz and the dark, spiky facade of the New Town Hall. It looks medieval but is neo-Gothic, designed by Georg von Hauberrisser and built in stages from 1867 into the early twentieth century.
The real draw is the Glockenspiel in its tower: 43 bells and 32 figures. On the upper level, knights joust at the tournament held on this square in 1568 for the wedding of Duke Wilhelm V and Renata of Lorraine. Below, coopers perform the Schäfflertanz, a dance said to have coaxed people back onto the streets after the plague of 1515 to 1517.
Frauenkirche
Just to the west, the twin towers of the Frauenkirche rise almost 99 metres over the rooftops. Master builder Jörg von Halsbach raised the brick cathedral in about twenty years, from 1468 to its consecration in 1494. Money ran short for spires, so the towers were capped in the 1520s with the rounded domes that are now Munich's emblem.
Inside the entrance, find the black footprint in the floor, the Teufelstritt. Legend says the devil stamped here in fury after being tricked: from that spot, the church seemed to have no windows.
The Residenz
Finish at the Residenz, the city palace of the Wittelsbachs, who ruled Bavaria from here until the revolution of 1918. It is the largest city palace in Germany, and its highlight is the Antiquarium, a vaulted hall built from 1568 to 1571 for Duke Albert V's collection of antique sculpture, the largest Renaissance hall north of the Alps.
Much of the palace was destroyed by bombing in the Second World War and patiently rebuilt over the following decades. The Treasury next door holds the family's crowns and jewels.
In two hours you have moved from the city's pantry to its civic stage, its cathedral and its royal court: market, town, church and crown, four sides of Munich's story, all within a few streets of each other.