A quick guide to Munich for LFC fans

Situated at the foot of the Bavarian Alps and the banks of the River Isar, the busy city is both picturesque and vibrant, so there's plenty for Reds fans to experience ahead of the 8pm GMT kick-off...

GETTING THERE

The most popular way to travel the 30 kilometres from Munich Flughafen International Airport to the city centre is by train. The S1 and S8 S-Bahn lines depart the airport for downtown every 10 minutes and take about 45 minutes to reach Marienplatz station in the city's main square.

Tickets can be bought at the MVV ticket machines, which have an English option, or at the DB/MVV window at the airport and cost €11.60 one way. However, a better option would be to buy an Airport-City-Day-Ticket (or Single Day Ticket), which allows as many trips as you like on the entire Munich network until 6am the following day.

Useful if you also intend to jump on the U-Bahn line from the city to the Allianz Arena, or do a spot of sightseeing.

Download a network map by clicking here.

EATING AND DRINKING

The Viktualienmarkt - Munich's largest food market - is just 350 metres from Marienplatz in the heart of the Old Town and has a beer garden where you can eat and drink, plus a selection of bars and restaurants in the surrounding streets.

Along one side, there's a series of shops from where you can buy Munich's best-known traditional dish: the weisswurst.

A variation on the popular bratwurst, the weisswurst is a white sausage made from minced veal and back bacon, seasoned with parsley, lemon and spices and served with sweet mustard. They are made fresh each day and Bavarians traditionally eat them as mid-morning snacks.

You can always wash it down with a stein of the classic Munich beer 'helles' - a pale lager which should not be confused with the 'pilsner' popular in other German regions - or maybe a typically Bavarian wheat beer.

For a wider choice of traditional fare, head around the corner to Plaztl and the legendary Hofbräuhaus München, which claims to be the oldest beer hall in the world, for a selection of Bavarian cuisine and beers in a lively atmosphere.

The Marienplatz is also a good place to head post-match. It's where Bayern Munich celebrate their league titles, so it has seen its fair share of parties. 

More nightlife can be found just north in Schwabing - the borough where artists, students and bohemes traditionally lived - while the city's most famous club, P1, which got its name from American GIs after the war who couldn't pronounce the name of the street Prinzregentenstrass, is just across the river to the east.

Download a city map by clicking here.

SIGHTSEEING

Munich is the 12th-largest city in the European Union and offers plenty to explore, but for those with limited time we've picked out three must-see attractions for a one-day whistle-stop tour of the city.

We have already mentioned Marienplatz square, but it has been at the heart of Munich since the 12th century and remains the hub of the city so it's a great place to start any tour.

Just off Marienplatz, on Rindermarkt, stands the Church of Saint Peter, with its towering spire and 56-metre-high viewing platform offering excellent vistas of the city.

It's a 299-step climb up a narrow staircase but for a €2 fee the payoff is certainly worth it. As a bonus, if you time your ascent correctly, it also an excellent viewpoint to see the famous Rathaus-Glockenspiel cuckoo clock in action. The clock, which dates from 1908, puts on a 12-minute show of twirling figures and chimes every day at 11am, 12pm and 5pm. 

If an early morning climb is not for you, then maybe a coffee and snack in the Glockenspiel Cafe on the top floor of the building directly opposite in Marienplatz is more your style.

From there you can make the 15-minute walk east towards the river to explore the German Museum for Science and Technology (Deutsches Museum) and its unusual location on a small island in the River Isar.

You can also hop on the S-Bahn, U-Bahn, or the tram service but be sure to alight at Isartor and walk across Ludwig's Bridge (Ludwigsbrücke) over the river to take in the spectacular approach to the biggest technology museum in the world.

Inside (€14), the museum offers 'a wealth of masterpieces of science and technology', which range from Natural Sciences and the star show in the planetarium, a replica mine in Materials and Energy, plus a host of vehicles in the Transport section.

Afterwards, or if museums are just not your thing, why not head to the impressive English Garden (Englischer Garten), one of the largest urban parks in the world, bigger than the Central Park in New York, and take in one of its huge beer gardens along its winding paths.

Commissioned in 1789 by Elector Carl Theodor, the 910-acre park now stretches along the banks of the Isar River from the centre of the city to its north-east limits and houses a Greek temple, Chinese pagoda, Japanese tea house and Eisbach - an artificial river that has become a famous surfing hotspot.

The elevated Greek temple, or Monopteros, is a good place to enjoy vistas of the surrounding areas while the serviced beer garden next to the Chinese Tower (Chinesischer Turm) has about 7,000 seats and is the second-largest in Munich.

Not a bad place to spend an hour or two.

AT THE STADIUM

The 75,000-capacity Allianz Arena is about 10 kilometres north of the city centre and is serviced by the U6 underground line, which can be boarded at the central transfer hub at Marienplatz. 

Take the service heading towards Garching-Hochbrück and hop off after a 16-minute journey at Fröttmaning station to walk the final section to the stadium, via the Esplanade.

Built ahead of the 2006 World Cup, the new stadium replaced Munich's old Olympiastadion and has everything you would expect from a modern ground. There's a selection of places to eat and drink, including the usual kiosks to grab a traditional 'beer and sausage' matchday combo, but the best options are back in the city.

The ground also houses the club museum (Bayern Erlebniswelt) and as befits the most successful side in Germany it's the biggest in the country (€12 entry). Stadium tours are also possible (€12) and you can book combined tour and museum tickets for €19.

Bayern also offer exclusive matchday tours (€49), which are available to fans who have a valid ticket. More details here.