Unforgettable Munich Adventure: A Festive Journey for 2025

30 of our Year 11 to 14 German students recently enjoyed an exciting and enriching school trip to Munich, Germany. The visit offered the GCSE, AS and A Level students a valuable opportunity to deepen their cultural understanding and practise their German language skills while experiencing one of Europe’s most vibrant cities during the festive season.

A Vibrant Start to an Action Packed Trip

It was an action-packed trip from start to finish, and the students embraced every aspect with maturity, curiosity and enthusiasm.

One advantage of an early start on Day One meant that the Lisburn group were already checking into the Meininger Hotel München Zentrum at midday. This modern and centrally located hotel was ideal for our group and was only a few minutes’ walk from the Münchener Hauptbahnhof and Theresienwiese, the location of Munich’s famous Oktoberfest.

After a short walk into the city centre, the group thoroughly enjoyed their first of many visits to Munich‘s famous and most beautiful Marienplatz and were certainly spoilt for choice when it came to lunch options. Whilst many opted for the traditional Bratwurst mit Semmel or Pommes mit Mayo, others enjoyed Frikadellen, Käsespätzele, Flammkuchen and Kartoffeltornado. Lecker!

Lunch was followed by a highly informative two hour guided tour of the city, which included stops at the Frauenkirche, Neues Rathaus, Viktualienmarkt, Königsplatz and Hofbräuhaus. Before returning to the hotel, depleted energy levels were quickly restored with Bretzel, Crêpes, Heiße Schokolade and Kinderpunsch.

Powerful Experiences and Cultural Highlights

The morning of Day Two was spent at Gedenkstätte Dachau, Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, where we once again had a guided tour. This was a particularly powerful and reflective experience which gave our students the opportunity to deepen their understanding of an important and challenging period of history. It was certainly a sombre morning, but the students—particularly those studying GCSE History—found it highly informative, and the guides were truly excellent.

Our afternoon visit to BMW Welt was far more upbeat, offering the students a fascinating look at innovation, engineering and design. Iconic architecture, impressively presented BMW Group vehicles and visionary ideas made this a truly unforgettable experience.

On the way back to the hotel, we had the opportunity to visit Tollwood Winterfest on the Theresienwiese, an alternative Christmas market with a strong focus on sustainability and social issues. A late afternoon snack was a must here, with food from around the world—from African to Asian cuisines—as well as local German treats like Flammkuchen and Raclette.

After a satisfying evening meal at our hotel, we set off once again for one of Munich‘s popular bowling alleys where the group showed their competitive spirit and stamina. No one showed any signs of tiredness, and lovely friendships were being forged across the year groups.

Day Three, Saturday 6th December, was exciting on many fronts. Firstly, it was Nikolaustag, Saint Nicholas Day, and in true German style our 30 students received a Weihnachtsmann aus Schokolade and a Mandarine at breakfast.

We then headed to our first visit of the day: the Allianz Arena, home of FC Bayern München and one of the world’s finest and most modern football stadiums. It is fair to say that everyone was looking forward to this visit—and we were definitely not disappointed.

Our tour guide, Lucas, was an 18 year old schoolboy who had been a lifelong FC Bayern München fan. He gave us a spectacular tour of this famous stadium, including the press conference area, the players’ tunnel and the home changing rooms. We discovered fascinating details about the unique structural design of the arena and had lots of great photo opportunities too.

On Saturday afternoon, our students explored the Deutsches Museum and enjoyed exposure to science and technology in another world renowned setting, before spending the evening at the Stachus outdoor ice rink. This was another memorable highlight, providing a fun and lively way for all students to enjoy the city together.

Final Discoveries and Student Reflections

Our final day in Munich began with a visit to the Alte Pinakothek art museum, one of the oldest galleries in the world, housing an exceptional collection of Old Master paintings.

We then made one last visit to the Weihnachtsmarkt on the Marienplatz—a perfect opportunity to indulge in more tasty German cuisine and, of course, do some last minute Christmas shopping. Lebkuchenherzen, Weihnachtskugel and personalised Tassen were particularly popular.

Year 13 student, Lucy, commented:
“This is the second time I have been on a school trip to Germany. Although I loved the Berlin trip when I was in Year 10, I have to admit I preferred the trip to Munich. The festive atmosphere at the Christmas markets was magical and I really enjoyed practising my German with the locals at their various stands. For my AS Speaking exam, I am doing my presentation on Advent in Germany and it is just great that I can talk about my personal experiences.”

Leo in Year 12 added:
“The whole trip was an amazing experience, allowing all of us to expand our knowledge and understanding of the culture and language. It also allowed my friends and me to build bonds with other year groups, our teachers and Annemarie, our German Assistant. My personal highlight was going to BMW Welt. I would highly recommend such a trip to any other students offered an opportunity like this!”

Year 14 student, Lily, continued:
“I absolutely loved the Weihnachtsmärkte and I was able to find many beautiful, handmade gifts for my family which was really special. I was also pleasantly surprised that some of the Bratwurst stands served Polish sausages. This truly made me feel at home. All the students would like to thank Miss Ferguson, Mr Wildsmith and Miss Schneider for making this trip to Munich possible. Vielen herzlichen Dank.”

Trip organiser Miss Kerrie Ferguson concluded:
“It was an absolute pleasure to spend four days in Munich during the festive period with such an outstanding group of young people. They had opportunities to develop knowledge in many career areas as well as perfect their spoken German. They were wonderful ambassadors for Wallace and indeed Northern Ireland, and I truly hope they return to beautiful Munich one day to explore further.”

You can keep up to date with all the latest news and adventures at Wallace via http://www.instagram.com/wallacehighlisburn

You can learn about previous Modern Languages trips below:

Spanish Immersion Trip