Posted by Joaquin’s Holiday Wish
Day 2. I stared at my email in utter disbelief. It was the last email from BMW and they were apologizing because they had to close their manufacturing plant a week before the scheduled year-end plant holiday. Oh no! I panicked. The tour to the BMW Plant was THE reason that we decided on traveling to Munich in the first place. It was Joaquin’s holiday wish.
I had been corresponding with BMW two months before our trip and I was as certain as I could be that our family will, for the first time, be able to witness one of the most advanced car factories in Europe. Our entire itinerary was predicated on the expectation that we would be joining the plant tour on our 2nd day in Munich. All our hotel and train bookings were planned around this day.
It wasn’t meant to be, but it turned out alright. In fact, Joaquin and his brother still had a marvellous time at the BMW complex. We visited the BMW Museum and BMW Welt instead. The complex is less than 7 km away from central Munich and we reached it conveniently via the U-Bahn train.
The museum not only showcases the brand’s remarkable history and most famous cars but also gives insight to its design inspirations. Joaquin and his brother were most excited to see the electric and futuristic concept cars while my husband was delighted by the racing champions. As for me, I found the art cars most interesting. In fact, I immediately recognised the flamboyant BMW 3.0 CSL with racing number 93, which we first saw at the Petersen Automobile Museum in 2015 in California.
Here’s a short video clip I prepared to document my boys’ priceless experience at BMW.
— Disclaimer: If you’re a car enthusiast, do read on and enjoy the rest of the pictures. I’m not an automobile history expert, not close, but my kids think they could be 🙂 so they agreed to help me choose the pictures that I’d share in this blog and video. —
Tips for BMW fans:
- The BMW Plant could close earlier than what was announced, so make alternative plans. The other car factories near Munich ( about 3 hrs away) are Mercedes and Porsche.
- The BMW Museum is worth a visit, so do go even without the plant tour.
- If you’re not able to join the group museum tour, install their app on your mobile phone and follow the app guide
- Book the group museum tour well in advance. Email BMW ahead. I didn’t do this because I thought we would be joining the plant tour, and so we planned on doing the museum tour on our own. There are other tours in the complex actually. Check them out on this website: https://www.bmw-welt.com/en/experience/guided_tours.html
- If you are pressed for time, choose the BMW Museum over BMW Welt. We have the whole day for both because my boys are fascinated with BMW and car histories.
- The complex is just a few metres away from the train station, so take the train.
- There are a number of kid-friendly restaurants especially in BMW Welt, so don’t stress if you forgot your kid’s lunch box. 🙂
— xoxo–
Here are the other posts on our Bavarian and Austrian holiday:
- Munich: Start of our family’s tales from last winter
- Munich: Viktualienmarkt Biergarten
- Munich: BMW Museum and BMW Welt
- Munich: Theatine Church and Odeonplatz
- Munich: Christmas Markets
- Munich: Hofbrauhaus Beer Hall
- Munich: City Aparthotel München
- Salzburg: Birthplace of Mozart and Silent Night
- Salzburg: Hohensalzburg Fortress
- Salzburg: Residenzplatz Christmas Market
- Salzburg: Salzburg Cathedral
- Salzburg: Silent Night 200 at Salzburg Museum
- Salzburg: Silent Night Tour by Bob’s Special Tour
- Salzburg: Silent Night at Oberndorf and Laufen
- Salzkammergut: Road Trip to Hallstatt
- Salzkammergut: Christmas Market at St Wolfgang
- Salzburg: Krampus Run at Hellbrunn Palace
- Salzburg: Imlauer Hotel Pitter Salzburg
- Obergurgl: A Week in the Austrian Alps
- Obergurgl: Chalet Obergurgl Luxury Apartments
- Obergurgl: Hohe Mut Alm Mountain Restaurant
- Obergurgl: Snowstorm on Christmas Eve
- Obergurgl: Day After the Storm
- Obergurgl: Snowshoeing
- Hochgurgl: Tobogganing
- Hochgurgl: Hochgurgl Cable Car Ride
- Vienna: First Impressions
- Vienna: Hofburgkapelle and Imperial Armoury
- Vienna: Schönbrunn Palace
- Vienna: Imperial Treasury and Hofburg
- Vienna: Prater
- Vienna: New Year’s Eve Fireworks and Waltz
- Vienna: Hilton Vienna Plaza
- Stuttgart: The Mercedes-Benz Museum
- Stuttgart: The Porsche Museum
We Travel Happy 
This is definitely on the list to do in Munich.
I’m sure we will love it especially the boys! Xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh definitely your boys will enjoy! The factory is just in the vicinity. That was our intention but it wasn’t meant to be. Lorelle, if you’re doing the plant tour as well, do take lots of pictures and share with us! My boys would drool over them. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
We are quite pushed for time as it is so don’t think we will be able to do the factory tour. 😥 It’s hard because BMW is closed from the 24th to the 26th Dec around the time we are there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes they’re definitely closed around that time. Ah so much to see, so little time… 🙂
I’m excited for you Lorelle!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly. Thanks dear friend. X
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fantastic photos and the video is so professional and fun to watch! We enjoyed the BMW museum while in Munich in 2015.
❤️carmen
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hahaha very amateurish actually but I’m glad you had fun watching it. Thank you, Carmen. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great post. I enjoy my small BMW. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello thank you for visiting my blog. I read from yours that you love fast cast. I wonder if the ‘small’ BMW is THE fast BMW I was thinking of heheheh…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello.
My little BMW, is a family car. It has only 231 hp, Speeding only 6.3/100km. It has 4*4 drive and it is 8 gear automatic. The length is only about 4,4 meters. The capacity of trunk is 538 liters. Color flash blue.
I live in Finland where we have real winter with snow and icy roads. That is why I need four-wheel drive. Here is a video, where we drove in a snow storm. I shot the video and I shot the video.
Driving in winter
My previous BMW, was BMW 535 having 313 hp.
Before BMW, I had Opel Vectra OPC with 280 hp. I bought it in 2007. On German highway you can drive as fast as you can. How fast I drove; you can see in a photo among my:
About me
Video:
Calibra wins OPC
Have a great day!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh wow that’s one snowy winter. We had a similar experience in the US. Yup 4×4 is must! Yeah I heard about the autobahn, must be thrilling for some or scary. Here in Singapore, the limit is 90kph. Thanks for sharing your videos, I watched them both. My kids were thrilled watching your Vectra race!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello.
Because you loved my videos, here are two videos.
This shows my blue car before the race:
Before the race
This shows, when we were on two weeks road trip in Germany. When watching this video, you have to remember, that our trunk was full of things which we needed during our car vacations.
Vectra OPC/Vauxhall VRX speeding up in Germany
I read that you have been travelling in winter. Have you been considered to visit Finland in winter? My country offers then few experiences. Most popular is visiting the Arctic Circle, which is near to the town called Rovaniemi. Here an example of my post:
Reindeer rides and Santa
In the town of Kemi, there is world’s biggest snow castle. It must be build every winter. Here are some photos:
Best Snow Castle photos
There are more for kids and adults also in the town of Oulu, but during one week. If interested, I can give links.
Finnair offers daily direct flights between Singapore and Helsinki. From Helsinki many flights between Helsinki and Rovaniemi.
Happy upcoming weekend!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my 240kph!!!
About Finland, I planned about it twice in 2016 and 2018 but I just couldn’t date the dates we wanted with the domestic flights. I was trying Ivalo, but I’ve also read about Rovaniemi. Hopefully we can really push through with our plan and I’ll definitely contact you then to get more tips :)- Amor
LikeLike