Deutsches Museum on the Isar Island

What it is

The Deutsches Museum is Munich's great science and technology museum, one of the largest in the world by exhibition area. It was founded in 1903 by the engineer Oskar von Miller, and its building on the Museumsinsel, an island in the River Isar, opened in 1925. In 2025 it received about 1.69 million visitors.

The museum has been undergoing renovation since 2015. The first half of the building reopened in July 2022 with new exhibitions, and the other half is closed for the duration of the second phase. That is why today you see 20 permanent exhibitions on about 20,000 m² and four floors, not the whole museum: check on its website what is open if you are looking for a specific hall.

What to see

Among the exhibitions that are open:

• Historic and modern aviation: aircraft, engines, gliders and helicopters, with a flight simulator and demonstrations by the staff.
• Astronautics: rockets, satellites and crewed flights.
• Robotics, health, chemistry and agriculture and food, with many experiments that you start by pressing a button.
• Musical instruments, from the Renaissance to today, with sound experiments.
• Classical optics, with about 20 hands-on stations.
• Bridges and hydraulic works: locks, bridges and why they stay up.
• The model railway at 1:87 scale, which starts up several times a day.

Every day there are free guided tours, demonstrations and science shows: check the day's programme when you arrive.

Opening times

Open every day from 9:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:30. The next closures are on 24, 25 and 31 December 2026 and 1 January 2027. In 2026 it also closed on Shrove Tuesday, Good Friday, 1 May and 1 November; expect similar dates in 2027.

Tickets

• Adult: €18.
• Reduced: €11, for children and young people aged 6 to 17, full-time students, people with disabilities and over-65s from Monday to Friday.
• Family: €40, up to two adults with their children up to age 17.
• Under-6s: free.

The museum recommends buying online in advance. The annual pass, €50, also includes the sites of the Verkehrszentrum (transport) and the Flugwerft Schleissheim (aviation).

How to get there

The address is Museumsinsel 1. You now enter through the glass building next to the Corneliusbrücke.

• S-Bahn: Isartor or Rosenheimer Platz; from the latter, the descent to the museum is steep.
• Tram 17, Deutsches Museum stop.
• Metro U1 and U2, Fraunhoferstraße stop.
• Bus 132 to Corneliusbrücke, or 52 and 62 to Baaderstraße.

There is no parking on the island and very little nearby; the museum advises against going by car. If there is no alternative, the public car parks at Baaderstraße 6, Hochstraße 5 and Rosenheimer Straße (Gasteig and City Hilton) are the closest.

How long

Allow half a day for the main parts; with curious children or if you like technology, the whole day. The museum's free app has an interactive map and an audio guide in 8 languages.

With children

The Kinderreich, on floor -1, beneath the aviation hall, is a hands-on science space designed for children aged 3 to 8. The app has a family tour of about 11 stations, roughly an hour. There are changing tables with a breastfeeding area on every floor. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. On weekdays there are fewer people: in school holidays and on rainy days it fills up.

Food, lockers and accessibility

The self-service restaurant Frau im Mond, on floor 2, has a rooftop terrace; in the lobby there is a café, and on floor 1, an area for eating what you bring. Eating and drinking are not allowed in the galleries. Lockers, with a €1 deposit, are in the upper lobby; small rucksacks may be taken in. The whole building is wheelchair accessible, and at the information desk they lend chairs and walkers.

Afterwards, cross the Isar and head up to the centre: Marienplatz and the Glockenspiel are a walk away.