STACY SUAYA SHARES HER HIDDEN MUNICH

Stacy Suaya takes IRK to Munich

Stacy Suaya isn’t just a traveler; she’s a collector of places, stories, and the sparkling details most people rush past. An editor, writer, and aesthetic polymath, she moves through cities with the curiosity of an anthropologist and the discernment of someone who’s ordered a martini at every truly good bar in Europe.

In her Little Black Book for Munich, Stacy traces the lines of a city too often summarized by beer halls and business suits, uncovering instead its quieter grandeur: a Belle Époque hotel reimagined by Axel Vervoordt, an art museum where modernism still hums with mischief, a Neo-Brutalist gem that holds centuries of human migration within its concrete walls. She writes as if you’re with her, half jet-lagged, half-enchanted, following her from a Hemingway Daiquiri at the Bayerischer Hof’s mirror-clad bar to a futuristic tea inside a 1960s UFO.

Munich, in her telling, isn’t a stopover; it’s a mood. It’s where surfers ride a river in the middle of the city, where galleries flirt with philosophy, and where history is never quite done reinventing itself. Moreover, through Stacy’s eyes, it becomes the kind of place that reminds you travel is as much about perception as it is about geography.

So whether you’re planning a visit or simply dreaming from afar, take her hand. This is Munich as only a storyteller like Stacy Suaya could reveal it, cultured, stylish, and just the right amount of unpredictable.

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Stacy Suaya: In May, I stopped in Munich on my way from Austria to Los Angeles. It’s the sort of city where grand hotels host the world’s rainmakers. You might see an art exhibit you’ll never forget in a former air-raid shelter. Here’s my guide to the city’s best, as an architecture devotee and lover of museums and culture.

Stacy Suaya’s Favorite Hotel in Munich

Bayerischer Hof, Promenadeplatz 2–6
This is Munich’s grande dame, welcoming guests since 1841. Think Belle Époque, grand staircases, and discreet service. All with a recent update by Axel Vervoordt, who has designed interiors for Sting and Robert DeNiro. For me, the magic began with a Hemingway Daiquiri in their Falk’s Bar. With its hall of mirrors dating back to 1839, this bar has the feel of having served many dignitaries and artists. In fact, it has served everyone from the Dalai Lama to Helmut Lang to Jeff Koons. Further, the bar carries the kind of stateliness you’d find at King Cole’s Bar in NYC.

Stacy Suaya’s Best Restaurant to Savor

Bayerischer Hof Garden Restaurant
With soaring industrial ceilings, this restaurant’s patio brims with Munich elegance – never pretentious, but deeply civilized. Expect leafy greens, warm Bavarian breads, and a wine list with understated surprises. I had a veganized version of the Saffron pappardelle with artichokes, marinda, and puntarelle, which was sublime. Snag a table outside and order anything seasonal; the kitchen sources heavily from southern Germany’s natural abundance.

Stacy Suaya’s Art Experience Not to Miss

Die Neue Sammlung + Futuro House Tea Time, Pinakothek der Moderne, Barer Str. 40
Die Neue Sammlung is the don’t-miss design museum inside the Pinakothek der Moderne. Expect a clever and playful curation with a global scope and over 120,000 objects. The Futuro House, a UFO-shaped 1960s icon by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen, sits on its lawn. Step inside for tea starting at 3pm every day to feel like you’ve beamed in from another planet. 

Stacy Suaya’s Contemporary and Classical Art Collide

Pinakothek der Moderne, Barer Str. 40
In this soaring and sprawling space with a cathedral-like glass dome, I came away with the rush of seeing Gerrit Rietveld’s Red and Blue Chair, a DeStijl icon. I saw Franz Gertsch’s photorealist paintings of rock star Patti Smith and a glossy, lipstick red Donald Judd.

Stacy Suaya’s Place for Architectural Wonder and Reflection

Sudetendeutsches Museum, Hochstraße 10
Inside this stunning Neo-Brutalist building with a sandstone facade, exhibitions tell stories of movement and painful reinvention. Then, weave through its intimate, luminous galleries and experience their permanent collection. All in all, this collection holds 1100 years of stories and artifacts of the Sudeten Germans.

Stacy Suaya’s Contemporary Gallery Fix

Max Goelitz, Prinzregentenstraße 50
Never status quo, this is the place that is showing what’s next. I was particularly moved by Julius Von Bismarck’s photographic series, We Were All Naked. This series features images of plants covered with vacuum-sealing and Anne Duk Hee Jordan’s Radicchio Leaf, with its delicate purple petals hung on stark white walls. Both are reminders of nature’s beauty and fragility.

Stacy Suaya’s A Cultural Center That Subverts its Past

Haus der Kunst, Prinzregentenstraße 1
Artists transformed a Neoclassical building with a grim past into a radical art space. Presently, Ellsworth Kelly, Ai Weiwei, and Louise Bourgeois have exhibited here. During my visit, I went into the bunker for “Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia”. Significantly, the show unfolded as a disturbing, extensive catalog of the feminist art collective and the Russian government. Finally, we enjoyed the outside, the bar and patio spilled over with the city’s creatives.

Stacy Suaya’s City River Surfing

Eisbachwelle River Surfing, Englischer Garten
I’d been told by many that wetsuit-clad surfers have been carving through the cold Eisbach river as crowds cheer from the bridge since the ‘70s. Yet, they were off the day I visited due to an accident. Swimmers bathed and laid on its shores instead. I was told to return for this quirky sporting event, and I will.

Stacy Suaya’s Favorite Boutiques Row

Theatinerstraße & Maximilianstraße
Steps from Bayerischer Hof, these parallel arteries are lined with pedestrianized streets and boutiques. For example, you’ll find international labels like Chanel and Dior, as well as lesser-known Marella. As a result, I ended up with strappy slingbacks, new sunglasses, an arthouse-cinema detour, and a visit to a two-story bookstore crowned with a stunning ceiling fresco.

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Munich is much more than economic strength and Oktoberfest. In fact, it is a tapestry of stories waiting to be found in 19th-century hotels, art-filled modernist wings, and even on the banks of its rivers.

MAISON MYSTIQUE: LUXURY BOUTIQUE HOTEL KHAO YAI