Hotel Bayerischer Hof

The Bayerischer Hof on the Promenadeplatz, family-owned since 1897, serves afternoon tea in the Palaishalle under a glass ceiling and runs a pastry kitchen that keeps the Prinzregententorte on its trolley.

King Ludwig I wanted a grand hotel for his guests; it opened in 1841, and the Volkhardt family has run it since 1897 through five generations. The hotel has a rooftop with a view of the Frauenkirche, a jazz club, a cinema and the Palaishalle, a glass-roofed hall where afternoon tea is served with a harp and a tier of Bavarian and French pastry. Falk’s Bar in the old mirror hall serves the pastry with coffee through the day, and the hotel’s Prinzregententorte and Bavarian cream desserts close the menus of its restaurants.

The Bayerischer Hof is the Munich afternoon with a capital A: a harp, a glass roof, and a torte with eight layers.