Munich

Surfing, nude beaches, and a gay island probably aren’t the first things that come to mind when you think about Germany. But all that and more are in the beautiful city of Munich, in the southern German state of Bavaria. After one visit, it will be easy to see why so many Germans decide to spend their vacations in Munich.

As headquarters of BMW and a number of multinational corporations, Munich is a wealthy town and it maintains a strong and clean infrastructure. On the down side, because the city’s economy is doing relatively well, Munich is also one of the most expensive cities in Germany. Expect to pay more for hotels here than you would in the rest of the country.

Germany’s largest urban park, called English Garden, is in Munich. That is where you will find surfing. Part of the Eisbach River is dammed in the park, creating rushing water and waves.

Munich’s nude gay beach and island, called Flaucher, is centrally located near the city’s zoo. To get there you can take the 52 bus and get off at the zoo. Follow the crowd down the river. The gay island is on the opposite side of the Isar River near a wooden footbridge. A smaller gay nude beach is on one side of the footbridge, the gay island is on the other. (For more detailed directions and maps visit http://www.gaygermany.blogspot.com.) If it is too cold to swim, the indoor public pool in Olympic Park is popular with gays. Lots of people migrate there after work. It is open until 11 p.m. on weekdays and costs about $5 to get in.

The Marienplatz area is the center of Munich’s huge pedestrian-only zone. The centerpiece of the zone is the Neues Rathaus or new town hall, Munich’s city hall. It was jammed with gay people in early July for a party for the annual Christopher Street Day gay pride celebration. The Glockenspiel, a giant clock with mechanical figures atop the Neues Rathaus building, puts on a show at 11 a.m., noon, and 9 p.m.

The BMW museum, near the Olympic Stadium and observation tower, is a must-see if you are into cars. The building itself is spectacularly designed to resemble a 4-cylinder engine.

One of the biggest tourist draws in Munich is the Hofbrauhaus beer hall. Take a peek at the hundreds of beer steins that are kept locked up in cubbyholes on the wall so each regular patron can drink out of their own glass. The Hofbrauhaus also has a dark past, as Hitler used it to hold some of the first rallies for the Nazi party.

The gay scene in Munich is most heavily concentrated in the Glockenbachviertel neighborhood around Muellerstrasse Street near the Sendlinger Tor subway station. You can pick up a free gay Munich guide and map that is produced by the city’s gay newsmagazine, Leo .  It can be found in gay bars and cafes all over town. An online gay map can be found at http://www.patroc.com/munich.

In the gay Glockenbachviertel neighborhood, a plaza honors an early gay pioneer, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825-1895), who was often jailed for his activism. Now a gay-themed Maypole depicting same-sex couples stands in the plaza that is named for him.

The Dachau concentration camp, which was liberated by Americans in 1945, is about 10 miles outside of Munich. A number of organized tours leave the city for the camp’s sobering history lesson on Germany’s darkest hour. A triangle memorial is on display in the museum in honor of the gay victims of the Holocaust.

Christmas markets are big in Germany and Munich has a gay Christmas market every year in the Stephansplatz (plaza).

Munich has a gay hotel, the Deutsche Eiche. The 36-room three-star superior hotel is perfectly situated in the gay heart of Munich. This top-notch hotel is a great choice for gay travelers to Munich. It also is attached to Munich’s largest and most popular gay sauna. The hotel is predominately gay male, but is lesbian and heterosexual mixed. The hotel staff is very helpful and can point you in the direction of all things gay in the city. Rates start around $180.

As mentioned, the hotel rates are high in Munich, but if you want to save money,  look for a hotel outside of the city center. Rates at the gay-friendly Hotel Seibel, for example, start at $85. It is about a 20-minute ride via public transit to Munich’s gay neighborhood.

Some of the best bargains in Germany can be found on the Web site http://www.ebab.de. Through the site, you can rent a room in a gay/lesbian-friendly home at rates much lower than what you would pay at a hotel. For example, a room in Munich can be found through the site for as little as $35 a night. Expect to pay more depending on the location and the quality of the accommodation.

Cologne

Cologne will be at its gayest this summer when it hosts the Gay Games. Tourism officials hope that the city’s gay-friendly image will help put it high on the list for gay travelers.

Cologne’s gay scene is centered on two areas. Like Frankfurt, it calls its main gay area the Bermuda Triangle. It is near a remaining section of the old stone gate that once protected the city. Most gay clubs in the triangle do not have dark rooms. But if you crave that kind of scene, head to the Midnight Sun bar. It is nothing like San Francisco’s Midnight Sun bar. It is on the outskirts of the triangle and is a combination bar and sex club. The Old Town, in the Heumarket area, which was once a red light district, is home to another cluster of gay bars, but unlike the triangle, most in that area have dark rooms.

Cologne’s tourism board has a gay guide on its official Web site at http://www.koelntourismus.de. You can select English on the right hand corner of the site, then click on the gay and lesbian section under the “Cologne for” tab.

The biggest tourist attraction in Cologne is its symbol, the Cologne Cathedral or the Dom. Construction of the cathedral first began in 1248 and was completed in 1880. It was the highest structure in the world for four years, from 1880 to 1884, when it was surpassed by the Washington Monument. You can walk up above its bell towers for a spectacular view of the city.

If you follow the steps on the backside of the cathedral to the river, you will come to a triangle memorial monument to the gay victims of the Holocaust. It says in German: “Beaten to death. Silenced to death. To the gay and lesbian victims of National Socialism.”

There are no gay hotels in Cologne. The upscale 205-room Park Inn is an affordable choice in walking distance of the triangle. Most of its guests are businesspeople, so if you can stay there on the weekend, you can get a discounted rate of about $80. If you prefer to stay in a more intimate setting, the small Gastehaus Koln is in the middle of the triangle with single rooms starting at less than $60.

Dusseldorf

Dusseldorf is just a 20-minute train ride from Cologne. The city is already working with Gay Games organizers to set up tours and packages of the city. The cities are so close together that it would also be easy for anyone attending the games in Cologne to commute from Dusseldorf. During the summer, when the games are to be held, is the slow season for Dusseldorf. That translates into much lower hotel rates, so the games commuters may be able to save big bucks by doing the commute.

Dusseldorf is often wrongly overlooked by visitors. While it doesn’t have the soaring skyscrapers of Frankfurt, it offers a wonderful juxtaposition of old and new architecture as well as its own gay area.

Dusseldorf’s Old Town, with the landmark Lambertus Church, is the city’s most popular tourist attraction. Konigsallee, or King’s Avenue, is considered the Rodeo Drive of Germany and attracts well-heeled travelers from all around the world. The newly developed Media Harbor area, in the shadow of the city’s landmark observation tower, is a paradise for any fan of modern architecture. Media Harbor’s crown jewels are the Frank O. Gehry buildings with slanted walls: one white, one with reflective stainless steel siding, and a third made of brick. The buildings were completed nearly 10 years ago and are named for the Los Angeles architect who designed them. Another building in Media Harbor shows multicolored Gumby-esque characters scaling the outside of a building. Nearby, the stunning 16-story glass government building called the Stadttor has won a number of awards for its architecture and its environmentally friendly design. With its transparent middle section , the building is modeled after the old stone gates that once protected cities throughout Germany.

The Hombroich Museum and Langen Foundation are two wonderful museums just outside of Dusseldorf that combine art, design, and nature. The Langen Foundation is set in a former NATO rocket base. The modern museum is a work of minimalist art by itself, a glass and steel building in front of a reflecting pond. The museum has about 500 pieces of Japanese art and about 300 works of modern Western art. Nearby is the Hombroich Cultural Environment Museum, which features works of art spread out around a 50-acre park.

In all, Dusseldorf has more than 25 museums over 100 art galleries. Where there is such a love of art and design, a big gay community follows. It’s not uncommon to see same-sex couples strolling hand in hand throughout the city.

The gayest part of Dusseldorf is near the intersection of Grupellostrassse and Charlottenstrasse. For a complete list of gay clubs there check out the Web site for the city’s LGBT magazine, Exit , at http://www.exit-magazin.de. Click on the city tab, then click on guide for a list of club addresses. You can also go to the city’s Web site, http://www.visitduesseldorf.de, and click on “At a Glance, Gays/lesbians.”

There are no gay hotels in Dusseldorf but some gay-popular ones include Hotel Sir and Lady Astor, Hotel State 47, and Hotel am Volksgarten.

For more information, visit Germany’s official tourism Web site at www.cometogermany.com and click on the gay and lesbian section.

Ed Walsh’s multimedia blog can be found at http://www.gaygermany.blogspot.com.

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