Munich: What makes a perfect holiday?

My perfect holidays usually involve four aspects: museums, swimming, good food and drink, family and friends. Often in that order, which perhaps I shouldn’t admit. I’m still getting used to how to get that balance right with a toddler, given the challenges of taking him to many museums. I’m pleased to say, therefore, that a recent trip to Munich, Germany succeeded in ticking all the boxes.

It was hot! Approaching the temperatures of the recent heatwave in the UK, so thank god for the ability to swim in the very heart of Munich in the clear, cool waters of the Isar River. It was wonderful to see groups of all ages paddling, swimming and sitting on the banks. Thank god too for water play. Many of the Munich playgrounds have features that include water sources and systems to move, pour, pump and play with the water. These were great fun for adults and parents alike, and a real boon on the hot days. So, swimming, that’s one off my list.

Even better, many playgrounds are placed inside or adjacent to beer gardens, which are also well situated surrounded by plenty of trees to provide welcome shade. It was an easy delight to sit and drink Radler, and eat chips, in the shade while the kids played. Even better, the opportunity to catch up with a dear friend, for our husbands to get to know each other, and watch our children enjoy playing. So that’s food, drink, and friends.

What of museums? Those I still find hardest to do with a rumbunctious toddler who can outrun me very easily these days (and did his best to do so at the zoo). But, as ever, you just need to pick your museum. We went en masse to two outlets of the Deutches Museum: both the main museum (which is handily adjacent to the river), and to the Verkehrszentrum transport museum (handily close to a playground with water play).

Both had excellent provision for children as well as spacious galleries and ‘wow’ objects which kept Alfie fascinated, from planes and rockets, trains and cars, to electronic synthesisers, flutes, guitars, and model railways. The children’s spaces had just the right level of activities to keep them playing but also get them thinking, and also give something to the adults.

Now, admittedly, I didn’t engage with the objects and curation in the way I would do on my own. I browsed the displays, didn’t read much and just followed mine and Alfie’s noses towards interesting objects. But that’s the strength of these museums. As their new brand proclaims ‘Alles ist Wissenschaft’ (All is Science), the collections and galleries are so expansive that they take in everything. All life is here, and I just need to learn to explore that differently.

Perhaps that’s a life lesson, as well as one for museum visits and holidays? Either way, the four days left me with exactly the feeling of this video captured by my friend. Who will pop out of the slide, me or Alfie?