If you go to Munich

I found the “City Walk and English Garden” tour from Munich Walk Tours a perfect way to get my bearings and some historical context in just a few hours. In fact, I got along with my tour guide, an Irish English teacher named Noel Byrnes, so well, that I joined his “Beer and Brewery Tour” that evening, and then joined him and some of his friends for a pub trivia night a few days later.

You can’t go wrong when it comes to Munich’s beer gardens and you should sample a few. For something less conventional, try Atzinger, a restaurant and bar that also has its own outdoor space.

For one of the best views of the city, head up the tower at the Church of St. Peter. Be warned that it’s quite a climb. And keep an eye on your watch, because if the bell rings and you don’t have your hands over your ears, it will leave your head vibrating for quite some time.

And then, of course, there’s Munich’s calling card: beer by the liter, served in giant, glass Masskrugs that the superhero waitstaffs improbably carry by the dozen-strong handfuls. Of the Big Six breweries — the only ones allowed to brew specific batches for Oktoberfest — only two haven’t sold out to major conglomerates: Augustiner-Bräu dates back to the 1300s, making it Munich’s oldest independent brewery, and Hofbräu is owned by the Bavarian State Government. But all six have their own beer gardens, where tables are shaded by chestnut trees and you can eat every possible variation of sausage (or bring your own picnic) while keeping the beer flowing.

For my first few days, it seemed like there was an unspoken agreement in the city that parts of the past were best not discussed. But then I visited the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, which opened in 2015 at the site of the infamous Brown House, which once served as Nazi party headquarters. The museum, which left me short of breath and teary, takes an unflinching look at Munich’s role in the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party. According to many people I spoke to, the museum was long overdue.

Still, I found Munich somewhat impenetrable and it wasn’t because of any language barriers (English is widely spoken). It was like there was a shiny veneer over most of the city. I had trouble connecting with locals: Of the dozen strangers I had real conversations with over my time there, only one of them was from Munich. When I found a dive bar, like the very lively Sehnsucht, it felt like a marketer’s version of divey rather than the real thing.

I know that soul is there somewhere — every big city has one. But my search for it revealed the limitations of an in-and-out visit. I didn’t have enough time to discover it.