If you visit Munich and you don’t like beer or you just need a break from it, there are plenty of other things to do outside the beer halls. We kept very busy exploring the other side of the city. Here are ways to spend your time in Munich outside the beer halls.
Walking Tour of Munich
Not much is open anywhere on New Year’s Day, so we signed up for a walking tour. I love doing walking tours when in a new city. You learn so much about the history and get tips from locals. As a big well visited city, Munich has multiple good walking tours. Our tour covered the downtown area and the history of the city, with a lot of focus on Hitler and beer.
Munich Tour – it was a big group for a cold New Year’s Day
We had a nice afternoon exploring gardens and wildlife – and our minds! – today. The Universidad metro stop has a lot of options for tourists – we enjoyed both the Botanical Garden and the Medellin version of a science centre. The Medellin garden and park are not just for kids, although kids love them too!
The free Jardin Botanico is huge and amazing. Seconds after walking into the park, we heard loud birds squawking, looked up and saw 4 large toucans in a nearby tree. We had to zoom in quite close on our cameras but they were brightly colored, large and beautiful. We even got to see them fly over us. I was already hooked!
Toucans – blurry because they were far but still so beautiful
The gardens also included: a lagoon with ducks and swans, a butterfly sanctuary, a palm garden, a desert area, an orchid area and more! We wandered around for an hour or so just enjoying the lovely weather and views. The fact that this park is free is fantastic but I would have paid to visit.
We had a whirlwind three day tour of Bogotá, Colombia’s capital and biggest city with a population of 6.7 million! With so much to do and little time, we enjoyed a busy first day in Bogotá, visiting museums, salsa clubs and meeting new people.
Where We Stayed
We had an easy flight from Cartagena, and took a taxi to our lodgings in Bogotá. We’re couchsurfing with a friendly, interesting and generous guy named Robin, who was a big part of making our first day here so much fun. He has a roommate who is on crutches, Anna Maria, and 3 cats. His apartment takes up the 2nd floor of a building in the heart of a great neighborhood called Chapinero. We chose a place in Chapinero, a barrio north of the city centre which has good nightlife and lots of restaurants, because we like the convenience of walking at night.
Despite arriving to Bogotá in the middle of the afternoon, we saw some of the city and started to get acclimated, but I think it will take a bit longer because the elevation of Bogotá is over 2,6000 meters above sea level.
Bogota Barrio Map
After traveling and settling in, we didn’t get into the city until 2pm but we still managed to see and do a bit to get acclimated. We enjoyed a rewarding first day in Bogotá.
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