Skates scraping across the ice at Karlsplatz, a mug of Glühwein (hot mulled wine) warming your hands, the Alps within reach by train: Munich in winter has plenty going on, even when the beer gardens are quiet. This guide covers the 2026/27 season with dates, prices and opening times, plus the practical things international visitors often only find out on arrival, from Sunday closing to the rules on New Year's Eve.

Key facts at a glance

• Weather: January is the coldest month, with a long-term average of around 1 °C (34 °F)
• Snow: Munich has snow on the ground on around 39 days a year on average
• Ice skating: The Münchner Eiszauber rink at Karlsplatz runs from 13 November 2026 to 10 January 2027, with entry from €8 to €14
• Christmas markets: The main Christkindlmarkt at Marienplatz runs from 20 November to 24 December 2026
• Sundays and public holidays: Shops are closed, while museums and beer halls are usually open on Sundays
• New Year's Eve: In 2025/26, fireworks were banned in the pedestrian zone from 21:00 to 02:00, and the city sets the rules again every year
• From the airport: The S1 and S8 suburban trains reach Munich Central Station in around 40 minutes

What's the weather like in Munich in winter?

Expect cold days with temperatures just above freezing. Based on the long-term average from 1991 to 2020 at the Munich city weather station, the mean temperature is around 1 °C (34 °F) in January and just under 2 °C (35 °F) in December and February. January has frost on around 19 days.

Snow is likely but not guaranteed. On average the city is covered in snow on around 39 days a year, with roughly 8 days in December and 11 in February. Pack warm layers, gloves and waterproof shoes.

Ice skating in Munich

You can go ice skating in Munich all winter, outdoors in the city centre or on an indoor rink. Most rinks rent out skates, so there is no need to pack your own.

Münchner Eiszauber at Stachus

From 13 November 2026 to 10 January 2027, the Münchner Eiszauber turns Karlsplatz, which locals call Stachus, into an ice rink in the middle of the city. It is open daily from 10:30 to 22:00, until 16:00 on Christmas Eve and for skating until 16:00 on New Year's Eve. Entry depends on the time slot: adults pay €8 in the morning and €14 from 19:30, children €6 to €10. Skate hire costs €8 per pair and a helmet €3.

View Eiszauber on Google Maps

[IMAGE: Ice skaters in the evening on the lit rink at Karlsplatz in front of the Karlstor gate | Alt text: Ice skaters at Münchner Eiszauber at Stachus in front of the illuminated Karlstor gate in Munich]

SAP Garden in the Olympic Park

Public skating now takes place at SAP Garden, which replaced the closed Olympia-Eissportzentrum. From August to April its three rinks are reserved for the City of Munich. Adults pay €9.50 and children aged 4 to 12 pay €4.50. Places are limited, so it is best to buy tickets for public skating at SAP Garden online in advance. Skate hire costs €8, and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings from 20:00 to 22:00 there is an ice disco.

View SAP Garden on Google Maps

[IMAGE: Exterior of SAP Garden in Munich's Olympic Park | Alt text: SAP Garden in Munich's Olympic Park, home of public ice skating in winter]

Natural ice on the Nymphenburg canal

After several days of hard frost, the canal at Nymphenburg Palace freezes over. Officially, the Bavarian Palace Administration does not allow anyone onto the ice on its waters, and anyone who goes out does so at their own risk. When the ice holds, a leaseholder runs curling lanes on the canal between Gerner Brücke and Hubertusstraße. Keep an eye on the warning signs along the bank, as the water at the basin known as the Waisenhauskessel is up to five metres deep.

View the Nymphenburg canal on Google Maps

[IMAGE: Frozen Nymphenburg canal with Nymphenburg Palace in the snow | Alt text: Frozen canal in front of Nymphenburg Palace in Munich in winter]

Try Bavarian curling (Eisstockschießen)

Eisstockschießen is the Bavarian cousin of curling. There is no sweeping: you slide a stock with a handle down the lane towards a small target, usually with a mug of mulled wine nearby. You book a lane by the hour, and the stocks are normally included.

• SWM: Munich's public utility opens lanes at Prinzregentenstadion and the Dante pool from 9 November 2026, at €55 per lane and hour until 14:00 and €75 after that.
• Tollwood: The winter festival on the Theresienwiese has four covered lanes at €79 an hour, stocks included.
• Chinese Tower: The Christmas market in the English Garden has two lanes, each for up to ten people, open Wednesday to Sunday until 23 December, from €50 an hour at lunchtime.
• Munich Airport: At the Christmas and winter market in the MAC-Forum, a lane costs €25 an hour.

View the Chinese Tower on Google Maps

[IMAGE: Curling stock in the foreground on a covered lane, with a group playing in the background | Alt text: Bavarian curling (Eisstockschießen) on a covered lane in Munich]

Sledging and winter walks

As soon as there is snow, Munich heads for its sledging hills. The classic is the Olympiaberg in the Olympic Park, though some runs there end at a road or the lake, so pick a gentle run with children. On the Luitpoldberg in Luitpoldpark you drop almost 30 metres, and at the Monopteros in the English Garden the trees on the slope are padded with straw bales. Sledging is always at your own risk. If you would rather walk, the English Garden is lovely under snow.

View the Olympiaberg on Google Maps

[IMAGE: Children with sledges on the snowy Olympiaberg, Olympic Tower in the background | Alt text: Sledging on the snow-covered Olympiaberg in Munich with the Olympic Tower behind]

Munich in December: Christmas markets, Tollwood and the Krampus run

December belongs to the Christmas markets. The Christkindlmarkt at Marienplatz opens on 20 November 2026 and closes on 24 December, and most other markets in the city close by then too, so do not plan a market visit for the days after Christmas. The Tollwood Winter Festival on the Theresienwiese runs from 24 November to 23 December 2026 with free entry, opening at 14:00 on weekdays and 11:00 at weekends. On Sunday 13 December 2026, the Krampus run brings horned, furry Krampus figures through the old town from 15:00 to 17:00. You will find every market with dates and opening hours in our guide to the Munich Christmas markets.

View Tollwood on Google Maps

New Year's Eve in Munich

If you want a party with a ticket, look at Tollwood and the Märchenbazar. The Tollwood New Year's Eve party on 31 December 2026 opens at 19:00, with live music from 19:30. A ticket costs €38.50 and doubles as a public transport ticket for the day, and there are no fireworks on the festival site. The Märchenbazar in the southern part of the Olympic Park celebrates from 22:00, with tickets from €18 and entry for over-18s only.

If you plan to welcome the new year outdoors, check the rules first. For New Year's Eve 2025/26, fireworks were banned from 21:00 to 02:00 in the pedestrian zone between Stachus and Marienplatz and at the Viktualienmarkt. Inside the Mittlerer Ring, the ring road around the inner city, firecrackers that only bang were banned on 31 December and 1 January, while rockets and batteries remained allowed outside the pedestrian zone. The city sets these rules again each year, so look up the current version on muenchen.de before you go. Getting back is easy: at New Year 2025/26, the underground ran all night.

[IMAGE: People holding sparklers on New Year's Eve with a Munich landmark such as the Frauenkirche behind | Alt text: People with sparklers on New Year's Eve in Munich]

Warming up indoors: museums, palaces and beer halls

When the weather turns, head for the museums. Many of the big ones are in the Maxvorstadt, the district our hotel is in. At the Alte Pinakothek, the Pinakothek der Moderne and Museum Brandhorst, entry costs just €1 on Sundays and €7 to €10 on other days. All three are closed on Mondays. The Neue Pinakothek is being renovated and is expected to stay closed until 2029.

The Residenz, the former palace of the Bavarian rulers, is open daily from 10:00 to 17:00 in winter, with last entry at 16:00, and the museum costs €10. Nymphenburg Palace is open from 10:00 to 16:00 in winter, when a combined ticket costs €16. Both close on 24, 25 and 31 December, on 1 January and on Shrove Tuesday. The Deutsches Museum, the big science and technology museum on the Museumsinsel, is open daily from 9:00 to 17:00, except on a few holidays such as 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January, and costs €18 from 2 November 2026. A seasonal favourite is the nativity collection at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, open every year from late October to late February.

Afterwards, the Hofbräuhaus is open daily from 11:00 until midnight for a Maß (a one-litre mug of beer) and a warming plate of Bavarian food.

View the Residenz on Google Maps

[IMAGE: Exterior of the Munich Residenz on a winter day | Alt text: The Munich Residenz palace on a winter day]

Swimming outdoors at the Dante pool

The Dante winter pool (Dante-Winter-Warmfreibad) is the only outdoor pool in Munich that stays open in winter. The water in its 50-metre pool is around 30 °C (86 °F), so a swim on a frosty evening is far more pleasant than it sounds. It is open daily until 23:00, and a day ticket costs €10.50.

View the Dante pool on Google Maps

Munich in January and February: Fasching and strong beer

After New Year, Munich only stays quiet for a few weeks. Fasching, the Bavarian carnival, ends on Shrove Tuesday, 9 February 2027, when the market women dance on the Viktualienmarkt. Note that the Residenz, Nymphenburg Palace and the Pinakotheken are closed that day. Then the strong beer season begins, with the festival at Paulaner am Nockherberg running from 26 February to 21 March 2027.

Day trips and skiing near Munich

You do not need a car for a winter day trip, as the mountains and Neuschwanstein are all reachable by train.

• Zugspitze: The ski season on Germany's highest mountain is expected to run from 27 November 2026 to 2 May 2027. Trains to Garmisch-Partenkirchen run every hour, and a day ski pass costs €70.50 online or €78 at the ticket office.
• Spitzingsee: Take the RB 55 regional train to Schliersee, then bus 362 to the Stümpflingbahn ski lift.
• Neuschwanstein Castle: In winter the castle is open from 10:00 to 16:00 and closed on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January. Entry costs €21. Tickets are sold online at hohenschwangau.de, and any remaining tickets are only available on site for the same day. Regional trains run from Munich Central Station to Füssen, where buses 73 and 78 take you to Hohenschwangau in about 15 minutes.
• Therme Erding: Take the S2 to Altenerding, from where the spa is around 800 metres on foot. The MVV Thermenwelt ticket at €43 covers the journey and four hours at the spa. Until 30 November 2026, replacement buses run between Markt Schwaben and Erding.

[IMAGE: Skiers on a slope at the Zugspitze with snowy Alpine peaks behind | Alt text: Skiing on the Zugspitze glacier ski area near Munich in winter]

Practical tips for visiting Munich in winter

A few local rules are worth knowing before you arrive. In Bavaria, shops are closed on Sundays and public holidays, and over the winter those holidays are 25 and 26 December, 1 January and 6 January (Epiphany). On Christmas Eve, shops close at 14:00. Museums and palaces often close on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January, so check before you set off.

Getting into town from the airport is simple. The S1 and S8 suburban trains run alternately every 10 minutes and take around 40 minutes to Munich Central Station.

Where to stay in Munich in winter

Our hotel near Munich Central Station [LINK FOLGT: EN-Seite Hotel Hauptbahnhof] is in the Maxvorstadt district, a 15-minute walk or 3-minute tram ride from the station. From the Sandstraße tram stop, about 100 metres from the hotel, lines 20 and 21 take you to the Eiszauber rink at Stachus in around 6 minutes. In the other direction, both stop at Olympiapark West, within walking distance of SAP Garden. You will find all routes on our page on how to get to Hotel Europa.

After a day of skating or sledging, we serve coffee, Munich beer and, in winter, mulled wine in our lobby every day from 11:30 to 17:00. Christmas and New Year are busy times in Munich, so it pays to check our rooms and current offers early.

[IMAGE: Lobby of Hotel Europa (existing hotel photo) | Alt text: Lobby of Hotel Europa in Munich's Maxvorstadt district]