My First Bavarian Christmas in 2020 from Berlin to Munich

I spent about one week in Bavaria (near Munich) over Christmas. It was my first time in this region.

Bavaria by then had come into an outdoor mask mandate (must wear masks outside), a curfew from 9pm until 6am and shops only doing ‘click and collect’. The restaurants that are open are doing take-away. That is also in addition to other restrictions that has been going on in this region and in Germany. As a side note, the restrictions in place will depend on which Bundesland you live in, for example, the city-state of Berlin has different restrictions to Bavaria. However, overall by December, most of it seems uniform.

Train ride from Berlin to Munich – what is it like?

The booking for the train was fairly unremarkable. The seats were completely social distanced and very little bookings going on.

The train departed from Berlin Hauptbahnof. You can buy food and water, and you probably should since the dining cart availability is pretty minimal. They didn’t serve hot water, so no coffee or tea. A basic sandwich was on offer, so I had a chicken sandwhich. And a Twix, since I needed sugar in me.

Arriving in Munich Hauptbahnof, you can get your top up of fresh coffee.

Photos around the village

A coffee place where you can buy coffee beans and have it ground up, chocolates and more. There is also a café at the back doing takeaway coffee. The business owner opened the door, making a “Servus!” greeting.
This is a krippe, or a nativity crib. However the unique thing about this setting is that it is set in a traditional Italian-Napoli style crib called a “Prespi”
The Christmas Eve setting. One of the main differences with Australian Christmas is that the Eve is the most imporant event. Ingredients are also different – for example, a boar ragu sauce and schnappes after. Decorations are also different with the traditional Advent candle setting.
An actual dirndl shop. There were many dotted around the village. I didn’t actually realize the variety available out there. This one had a more wintry/festive look to it.
Not really a Christmas breakfast, but just showing a breakfast of liverwurst, salami, pretzel.