The state-owned Hofbräuhaus is the world's most famous beer hall. Visitors with only 1 night in Munich usually come here. The present Hofbräuhaus was built in 1897, but the tradition of a beer house on this spot dates from 1589. In the 19th century, it attracted artists, students, and civil servants, and it was called the Blue Hall because of its dim lights and smoky atmosphere. When it grew too small to contain all the patrons who wanted to come here, architects designed another, in 1897. Today, 4,500 beer drinkers can crowd in here on any given night. Several rooms, including a top-floor room for dancing, are spread over three floors. With its brass band (which starts playing at 11am), the ground-floor Schwemme is most typical of what you probably expected -- here it's eternal Oktoberfest. In the second-floor restaurant, strolling musicians entertain, and dirndl-clad servers offer mugs of beer between singalongs. Every night the Hofbräuhaus presents a typical Bavarian show in its Fest-Hall, starting at 7:45pm and lasting until midnight. (This was also the 1920 setting for the notorious meeting of Hitler's newly launched German Workers Party, when a brawl erupted between the Nazis and their Bavarian enemies.) The hall is open daily 9am to midnight.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Munich & the Bavarian Alps, 6th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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