Easter in Munich: Traditions, Events and Closures

Easter in Munich brings worship at the Frauenkirche, a bonfire at Haderner Bräu and a family celebration in Olympiapark. A master concert at Max Joseph Hall offers a different way to spend Easter Sunday, with music rather than outdoor activities.

Plan your celebrations and your everyday shopping separately. The holiday weekend changes what you can buy and how public transport runs.

Easter dates and the holiday weekend

Easter Sunday

First Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon on or after 21 March

Possible months

March and April

Weekend span

Good Friday to Easter Monday, four days

Public holidays

Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday

Olympiapark festival

Free general admission

Max Joseph Hall concert

Ticketed attendance

Haderner Bräu’s bonfire gives you an Easter activity between the public holidays. Choose the celebrations you most want to attend before adding ordinary sightseeing, so you have room to enjoy each visit rather than rush to the next.

Munich Tourism publishes its seasonal programme on the “Easter in Munich” page, under “What’s on at Easter?” and “Activities for children during the Easter holidays”. Its event entries lead to organisers’ programme and ticket pages. Choose cathedral worship if you want to participate in the religious tradition, Olympiapark for family activities, or the master concert for a seated musical performance.

Reserve your chosen performance once your travel plans are settled, then leave space around it for a meal. Outdoor celebrations are easier to enjoy when they are not squeezed between other commitments.

Church services, the bonfire and Easter celebrations

Day	Event	Venue	Time
Holy Saturday	Easter bonfire	Haderner Bräu	—
Easter Sunday	Family Easter festival	Olympiapark	11:00–17:00
Easter Sunday	Easter master concert	Max Joseph Hall	—

The Frauenkirche offers Easter services for visitors who want to join worship. Arrive with enough time to take your place quietly and participate in the service.

Haderner Bräu’s recurring public Easter bonfire is a gathering centred on the fire rather than a formal performance. The brewery lists it in its calendar on Haderner Bräu’s website. Make the bonfire the reason for going, rather than treating ordinary brewery opening hours as the event programme.

Olympiapark’s Easter festival takes place around the Olympic Tower and on Willi-Daume-Platz. Its usual programme combines a magic-clown show and fairy-tale tent with crafts, face painting and a stage show, while fairground rides and stalls add other things to do. Leave room for children to choose an activity, rather than trying to fit every attraction into the visit.

The organised egg hunt uses hidden cardboard eggs, which visitors exchange for small prizes at the Picnic stand. It gives children something specific to look for alongside the entertainment. Olympiapark publishes the programme on its official website, on the page titled “Easter Festival in the Olympic Park”.

Max Joseph Hall’s Easter master concert offers a seated musical performance in the Residenz. It suits visitors who want music alongside the holiday’s outdoor gatherings. Allow time to settle into your seat before the music begins, and keep dinner separate from the performance itself.

Concert tickets and optional spending

Bavaria Klassik sells tickets online for the Easter master concert at Max Joseph Hall through its website. Budget roughly €50–€70 per person for concert admission. Arrange the performance you want before committing to a restaurant meal, so your meal plans work around the concert rather than compete with it.

Keep that admission budget separate from food, drinks and any fairground spending at Olympiapark. You can spend the family visit enjoying shows and crafts, or leave room in your budget for rides and stalls. Decide on optional spending with children before you arrive, because it makes choosing between the activities easier without turning every stop into a discussion about money.

Easter cakes and breads

Osterlamm, a lamb-shaped Easter cake, is a recognised seasonal bake in Munich and Bavaria. It is traditionally baked in a lamb mould and often dusted with icing sugar. Choose it for the distinctive Easter shape, whether you want something to share or a seasonal gift.

Osterzopf, an Easter plait, is a sweet yeast bread braided before baking. It is commonly eaten at breakfast or brunch, making it a useful choice if you want a bakery purchase to take back to your accommodation rather than another full meal out.

Osterfladen, a traditional Easter bread or cake, is usually sweet and yeast-raised, often enriched with raisins and almonds. Look for these seasonal products in bakeries when buying your holiday food. A whole loaf or shaped cake is a different purchase from an individual snack.

For a bakery snack and a coffee or other drink, allow roughly €5–€10 per person. The upper end is more likely when you sit down rather than take your purchase away.

Shop closures and getting around

Munich Central Station and Munich Airport provide useful alternatives if you arrive during the holiday. Their shops may sell travel necessities under the transport-hub exception, and airport outlets also have permission to sell a wider range of goods for air travellers. Permission to trade does not mean every outlet opens, so treat these as places for arrival essentials rather than a substitute for ordinary city shopping.

Easter Sunday has a limited exception for staffed bakeries and confectioners: they may sell baked goods for up to three hours within 08:00–18:00. That is a permitted window, not continuous opening throughout it. A bakery purchase can help with breakfast or a snack, but buying your main supplies beforehand leaves you freer to enjoy the day.

Restaurants are not legally required to close by the retail holiday rules. A shortlist of vegetarian restaurants in Munich helps you choose a meal to suit your tastes, though inclusion does not guarantee Easter opening. Good Friday has its own quiet-day restriction: musical performances in rooms where food or drink is served are prohibited. Do not assume a restaurant meal will come with live music.

Public transport follows Sunday and public-holiday timetables on the Easter public holidays. Allow extra time around busy celebrations, especially when travelling with children or continuing to a performance. MVV announces service alterations on its website’s “Timetable changes / disruptions” page.

Keep event attendance separate from ordinary sightseeing. A concert visit is a different activity from exploring the Residenz, just as a family festival gives you a different reason to visit Olympiapark. Choose which experience you want rather than expecting one visit to cover both.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: services, fares and charges, closures, and opening hours.

• Munich Tourism (München Tourismus) — service
• Olympiapark München GmbH — fares and charges
• Bavaria Klassik — fares and charges
• Bavaria Klassik — service
• Haderner Bräu — fares and charges
• Bayerisches Ladenschlussgesetz (BayLadSchlG), especially Arts. 2 and 4
• City of Munich; the rules are set by the Free State of Bavaria — closures
• Bavarian State Parliament — closures
• Feiertagsgesetz (FTG), Articles 1 and 3
• Dompfarrei Zu Unserer Lieben Frau, München — closures
• Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH (MVG) — service
• Münchner Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund (MVV) — service
• Olympiapark München GmbH — closures
• Olympiapark München GmbH — opening hours