Munich, Germany Travel Guide

Munich Skyline - Frauenkirche and Town Hall steeple | photo by: Stefan Kühn

Munich (German: München, pronounced [ˈmʏnçən].) is the capital of the German state of Bavaria and a Gamma World City. There are, in fact, three locations in Bavaria known as "München" - the one referred to as "Munich", one northeast of Nuremberg, and one north of Passau. Munich is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps.

Munich is Germany's third largest city after Berlin and Hamburg. The city has a population of 1.35 million and the Munich Metropolitan Region is home to around 4,65 million people.

The city's motto was "Die Weltstadt mit Herz" (The world city with heart) for a long time but has recently been replaced by "München mag dich" (Munich loves you). Its native name, München, stems from an Old German word predating the word "Mönche" of today's High German, meaning "Monks". Therefore, the figure on Munich's coat-of-arms is a monk, and is referred to as the Münchner Kindl, the child of Munich. Black and gold - the colors of the Holy Roman Empire - have been the city's official colors since the time of Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor.