Schelling-Salon

The Schelling-Salon on Schellingstraße, in the heart of the Maxvorstadt university district, is one of Munich's most characterful old eating and drinking places. The Mehr family bought the business, then called Herrmann's Salon, in 1872, and has run it ever since: it began as a garden restaurant and was turned into a Viennese-style café-restaurant by the second generation, who kept it open through both world wars. The family still owns it today: since 2002 Evelin Mehr has been the sole owner.

Over the years the salon has had a remarkable list of customers, a reflection of its position close to the university and the artists' quarter of Schwabing. Bertolt Brecht, Wassily Kandinsky, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ödön von Horváth and Lenin are among the guests recorded in its history. Today it is a relaxed place used by students, long-standing regulars and visitors from around the world.

Billiards is central to the salon's identity, and both billiards and table tennis can be booked online. On Sundays from 14:00 to 16:00 a small museum is open, displaying among other things a billiard table more than 200 years old that came from a noble estate in Poland. The food is simple and affordable café-restaurant fare, with a daily menu and a main menu, which makes it a useful stop for breakfast, lunch or a late snack while you are exploring the museum quarter.

The Schelling-Salon opens from 10:00 every day, closing at midnight from Monday to Thursday, at 1:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, and at 23:00 on Sundays. It suits budget travellers, students and anyone curious about Munich's intellectual history, and it is a good place for a game of pool with friends in the evening. Do not expect a polished modern café: the appeal is the unchanged, lived-in atmosphere. If you want to play billiards in the evening, book a table online in advance.

The salon is a few minutes' walk from the U3 and U6 station Universität and from the Pinakotheken, so it combines naturally with a visit to the Alte Pinakothek or the Pinakothek der Moderne. Schellingstraße itself has plenty of student cafés and bars, and the Ludwigstraße and Englischer Garten are within easy reach.