"The most important duty of the Mayor of Munich" said the grade school teacher of Christian Ude, Munich's current Oberbürgermeister, "is to properly tap the first keg at Oktoberfest."

Eight million people may have descended on this alpine city by the Isar this year for the world's largest beer festival, but for the rest of the year, many travelers severely underuse this fascinating capital. Sure, everyone's been to Munich, but few stick around long enough to truly uncover the jewels of this modern medieval city. That's a mistake.

When most of the world imagines Munich and things German, it conjures up pictures of rotund, moustachioed, lederhosen-clad men and bodice-busting, dirndl-skirted women. And they're all standing around downing buckets of beer and gazing Alpwards. Well, that's how some of the citizenry looks – at least some of the time!

Munich is Germany, as much as London is England, but Munich is an anachronism. It is also cutting edge. Look round and you'll see one of Germany's most progressive, modern cities, an island of Europe's new high-tech industrial prowess and corporate headquarters of multinational power players like BMW, Siemens, and Bayer Pharmaceutical.

Munich's charm is in these contrasts, between the old and the new. It is a city in which starched businesspeople can be glimpsed in the nude on weekends – sunbathing in the magnificent English Garden.