München - Schwabing

Must-see attractions nearby: Cathedral Church of Our Lady New Town Hall Marien Square Bavarian State Opera House Asam Church Hellabrunn Zoo Bavarian National Museum

Its fame as the artists' quarter of Munich began at the turn of the century, when painters, writers and poets, musicians and actors settled here, leading the vie de bohème in studios and the English Garden. The good citizens of Munich tended to regard them as layabouts, though many artists and writers who were by no means layabouts also lived in Schwabing, including Joachim Ringelnetz, Franz Wedekind and Thomas Mann.

Unfortunately Schwabing is now steadily losing its distinctive character. Few of the artists' old haunts remain, the street scene today owing more to boutiques, galleries, ice-cream parlors and kebab and pizza stalls. Schwabing has become an "in" place to live and the professional classes - doctors and dentists, lawyers and business people - have moved into the buildings dating from the Gründerzeit. Rents have consequently rocketed to astronomical heights and houses change hands for record sums.