An amazing mountain backdrop, a huge area, and a time-travel through Upper Bavaria – you don’t need anything more for a beautiful day in the Bavarian alpine upland. A place where you can discover all this, is the Open Air Museum Glentleiten in Großweil, about an hour car ride south from Munich. In this blogpost, I’m going to take you with me thourgh the lives of the Upper Bavarian rural population in the last few hundred years.
Tip for a Day trip in Upper Bavaria: The Open Air Museum Glentleiten
The Open Air Museum Glentleiten consists of about 60 original old houses from all over Upper Bavaria, in which the rural population lived in pre-industrial times. The original buildings have been conserved, translocated with all their equipment, and restored with the aim of the highest degree of historic accuracy. So the buildings give an authentic glimpse into the everyday life and the working environment of the people of Upper Bavaria back in time. Without the comfort of our modern time, life back then often was quite hard and rough. Although the location might look pretty idyllic, one will discover quite quickly that country life back then was anything but romantic. So let’s have a deeper look into the Glentleiten Open Air Museum.
Buildings, Exhibits & Restaurants
The central themes of the Open Air Museum Glentleiten are construction and building culture, living, and working life of the rural population of Upper Bavaria. They didn’t recreate a complete settlement, but rather structured the widely spread area by construction forms and regional origins. The thematically related assemblies are the following building groups:
- “residential and farm buildings” (the largest part of the museum) with old (farm) houses from different eras and regions. Most of them even still contain the original interior. (Make sure to click through the picture galleries!)
- “alp and forestry“, which shows how life in the Bavarian Alps was back in time.
- “commercial buildings from pre-industrial times“, with old mills, sawmills, joineries, and so much more.
- “sacred buildings“, with an old chapel from 1820, for example.
- Furthermore, you will find a variety of gardens, forests and meadows with ancient, regional animal and plant species.
Eating and Drinking at the Glentleiten Open Air Museum
Different restaurants and kiosks make sure noone has to leave the museum hungry. The Museum Inn & Brewery is located in the entrance building and offers Bavarian delicacies as well as beer, of course. If the weather is good, I definitely recommend the terrace with a view over the museum area, the alps, and the Kochelsee (a beautiful lake in front of the alps).
The village shop “Kramerladen” is kind of a small rural corner shop and offers inter alia delicious pastry as well as tasty snacks; I especially recommend their “Bauernhof” ice cream by the way.
If the weather is good, the beer garden at the Salettl is another good option for refreshments and some delicious Bavarian snacks.
There are also always some vegetarian options, by the way.
Shopping at the Glentleiten Open Air Museum
Of course you can also do some shopping in the museum. In the entrance building, you will find the museum shop which offers a wide range of high-quality products from Upper Bavaria as well as merchandise from the Glentleiten. There also is a lovely pottery (Glentleitner Hafnerei), as well as the previously mentioned Kramerladen, where I, for example, bought the straw hat I’m wearing in the pictures. 😉
Some more Facts about the Museum Glentleiten
At the Open Air Museum, different events, demonstrations and workshops take place on a regular base; you will find more information about those here, by the way. Furthermore, it is possible to rent premises for celebrations like weddings or birthday parties. There are also some offers especially for kids like a playground, the “House of Discovery”, the “Forest Ball Track”, and a historic bowiling alley, which is fun for both, adults and children. Last but not least, special exhibitions take place at the Open Air Museum Glentleiten. At the moment, there is an exhibition called “A New Age – The “Golden Twenties” in Upper Bavaria“.
My Recommendations for a Visit at the Open Air Museum Glentleiten
The museum Glentleiten is a great destination for all ages in Upper Bavaria. To fully enjoy your trip, I have some recommendations and tips for you:
- The musuem area is pretty widely with gravel paths and there is a lot to discover. Therefore, I highly recommend comfortable and flat shoes.
- Again, the area is widely, so make sure you have enough time to visit the open air museum. I personally recommend a whole day, half a day will be fine as well. One hour, though, definitely isn’t enough to see everything. 😉
- Even though you can enter all the buildings in the museum, you will be outside a lot of time. So make sure to protect yourself from the sun on hot days, and wear something warm on cold/rainy days.
Open Air Museum Glentleiten: Opening Hours & Pricelist
The entrance fee for adults is 7,- Euros. Children from 0 to 6 years are free. For children from 6 to 15 years the entrance fee is 2,- Euros. You will find the full price list here.
Getting to the Museum
As previously mentioned, you will reach the Museum in less than an hour (depending on the traffic, of course) from Munich. Just take the Highway A95, and the Exit Murnau/Kochel, then drive on to Großweil; the address is: An der Glentleiten 4, 82439 Glentleiten.
It is also possible to get to the museum by public transport. Take the train from Munich to Murnau or Kochel, and go on by the regional bus (RVO), Bus Line 9611, get off at the stop “Freilichtmuseum Glentleiten”.
The Open Air Museum Glentleiten: My personal Conclusion
The Open Air Museum Glentleiten is a wonderful place to forget time and immerse into the lives of our ancestors. While you can read a lot about the aristocracy and wealthy urban population from bygone eras, this museum provides an insight into the everyday life of the rural Upper Bavarian population.
If you walk through the old farm houses with all their creaking floors, you can still smell the smoke from the old ovens, hear the whistling of the wind through the thin walls, and get a feeling, of how it must have felt to spend a cold winter there. Spending only a few hours here, has an calming effect, and makes me very thankful for our modern comfort. This museum provides a lot of information on how the Upper Bavarians lived back in time, and it is so interesting to have a look into all those old buildings. So if you are in the region and are interested in Bavarian history, I definitely recommend to visit the Open Air Museum Glentleiten.
You will find the website of the museum with some addditional information here.
In the following picture gallery, you will find more impressions from our visit at Glentleiten. Make sure to have a look!
