If you want a dry, cheap Sunday out with children in Munich, the state museums have it: on Sunday 25 October, admission to the Alte Pinakothek, the Pinakothek der Moderne, Museum Brandhorst and several other museums costs just €1. Children and teenagers under 18 get in free at many of them anyway.
The city’s service page (updated 15 July 2026) lists these museums for the €1 Sunday: Alte Pinakothek, Pinakothek der Moderne, Museum Brandhorst, Sammlung Schack, Glyptothek, the Antiquities Collections, Bavarian National Museum, Museum Five Continents, the Egyptian Art museum, Archäologische Staatssammlung, the State Coin Collection, Museum Mensch und Natur and the Sudeten German Museum. Most open from 10am to 6pm; the National Museum closes at 5pm and Museum Five Continents opens around 9.30am.
What the euro does not cover
The Sunday price generally applies to permanent exhibitions only. Special exhibitions, tours, workshops and events can cost extra. The Neue Pinakothek is closed for renovation. If you have a particular museum in mind, check its website for opening hours and exceptions.
The sources disagree on one point. The city’s overview names the Bavarian National Museum among the €1 Sunday venues, while the city’s own page on the museum does not mention the rate; it gives €7 for regular admission and free entry under 18. We treat the overview as the more recent, but it is worth asking at the ticket desk.
Free for children, cheap for parents
For a family the saving adds up quickly. At the National Museum two adults would normally pay €14 while children go in free; on a Sunday, going by the city’s overview, that falls to €2. Under-18s also get in free at the Lenbachhaus, Villa Stuck, the Jewish Museum, the Nymphenburg Botanical Garden and the Residenz Museum. That helps when only one parent comes along or the children have had enough after an hour.
Two dates in the coming weeks: on the last Friday of the month, 30 October, the Haus der Kunst is free from 4pm to 10pm (“Open Haus”). On the first Thursday of the month, 5 November, the Lenbachhaus is free from 6pm to 10pm (“extra+”, formerly “free & easy”), and the Villa Stuck follows on Friday 6 November (“Friday Late”). From November to January the National Museum also shows more than 60 Nativity scenes made between 1700 and 1850, part of its permanent display.
Families on a low income can use the München-Pass, which brings reductions at many cultural venues; each museum sets its own discount. The NS Documentation Centre (better suited to teenagers) and the Palaeontological Museum, open 10am to 4pm on the first Sunday of the month, are free all year.
Our assessment: €1 days tend to draw crowds, so with children early morning or just after lunch is likely to be calmer. That is an expectation, not a measured figure; the museums do not publish visitor forecasts.
Sources: muenchen.de: free and cheap museums, muenchen.de: Bavarian National Museum, muenchen.de: Free museums, Secret München
