Deutsches Museum — Munich, Summer 2026

Founded in 1903 and sprawling across its own island in the River Isar, the Deutsches Museum is the largest museum of science and technology in the world and one of Munich's defining institutions. Its premise, radical for its day and still its great strength, is that visitors should encounter the real objects — genuine aircraft, engines, instruments and machines — and, wherever possible, operate them. A years-long modernisation has reopened wing after wing of bright, rethought galleries, so the collection now feels as current as it is historic.

What to see

The Aviation hall is a showstopper of suspended aircraft, from early gliders to a Messerschmitt and a jet fighter, while the historic Marine Navigation section is built around full-size boats and a cutaway ship. Below ground, the reconstructed Mining tunnels wind through the evolution of the miner's craft, and the high-voltage demonstration — man-made lightning cracking across the hall — draws a scheduled crowd several times a day. Elsewhere you'll find astronomy and a planetarium, physics and chemistry galleries pitched to be tried rather than just read, robotics, musical instruments and a hands-on Kids' Kingdom for younger visitors. The scale is the point: no one sees it all in a visit.

Know before you go

Budget half a day at minimum, a full day if you have children — this is a place to do, not just to look at. Check the daily timetable for the high-voltage and other live demonstrations and plan around them. The museum opens every day of the year bar a handful of holidays, and a combined annual pass covers its Munich sister sites (the Verkehrszentrum transport museum and Flugwerft Schleissheim). It's a walkable stroll from the city centre along the Isar.