Munich from the back of the bus

If you're going to Germany to immerse yourself in big-city excitement-churning dance clubs, matterful contemporary art, visitors and food from around the world, and street life that goes on all night-you'll probably find it in Berlin. Though rents have been climbing and there's no shortage of dirty sidewalks and petty crime, the German capital remains one of the most youthful and vibrant cities in Europe, an art and culture center with large expatriate communities and endless things to do. For urban thrills on a smaller scale, you can make a case for Cologne and even Leipzig.

- ALEX HALBERSTADT

Just maybe don't go to Munich. As soon as you leave the airport, you know you've reached the epicenter of German burgherdom-a place where manicured lawns, public safety, tidy storefronts, and respectful revelers in Tyrolean costumes are the norm. On a recent night at one of Munich's famous biergartens, I watched well-dressed couples politely enjoying delicacies like Schweinshaxe (pork knuckle), Jägerschnitzel (pork cutlet), and Krustenbraten (pork shoulder) with tankards of the city's fragrant, low-alcohol Helles lager. Most were gone by 8:45.

Which is not to say that Munich has always been boring. In fact, it was home to possibly the most fun head of state in history, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, an art and music lover with a penchant for over-thetop interior decor, strapping cavalrymen, and grandiose architectural projects. It was in Munich that Ludwig, at the tender age of 16, first heard a performance of Wagner's Tännhauser; the opera excited him so much that it induced physical convulsions, making the young monarch's entourage fear that he was suffering an epileptic fit. Soon, Ludwig would become Wagner's chief patron and obsessive admirer-if he were on Reddit, he might justly be known as a Wagner stan.

Years later, above the alpine winter palace he named Linderhof, Ludwig oversaw the construction of the Venus Grotto, a manmade cave with artificial stalactites and a lake. Inside, he placed a stage backed with a massive painting of a scene from Tännhauser, a waterfall, a mechanical wave machine, and colored lights powered by one of the first electrical generators in Europe. On many evenings, the increasingly eccentric king hosted performances in the grotto. While the musicians and singers performed it was usually Wagner-Ludwig was rowed around in a gilt seashell gondola, surrounded by swans.