Munich Marathon 2026: Date, New Route, and How Not to Train Alone

On 11 October 2026, the MARATHON MÜNCHEN by Brooks runs its one-lap course through the city for the second year, finishing in the Olympic Park. Here's the date, route and formats at a glance – plus the one thing most coverage leaves out.

Daniel Gruber · 20 August 2026 · 4 min read

When and where: date, Runners Festival and the Olympic Park

The MARATHON MÜNCHEN by Brooks 2026 takes place on Sunday, 11 October 2026 (Marathon München official website). Both start and finish sit inside Munich's Olympic Park: runners start at Spiridon-Louis-Ring and finish at Willi-Daume-Platz right on the Olympic Lake (Marathon München official website, "one-lap course through Munich"). Around the race, Hans-Jochen-Vogel-Platz in the Olympic Park turns into the Runners Festival by Brooks from 9 to 11 October – bib pickup, sport and lifestyle exhibitors, live music, and, according to the organiser, up to 80,000 visitors over the weekend (Marathon München, Runners Festival). Munich's mayor Dominik Krause is serving as patron for the 2026 edition (Marathon München press release, "100 days to go").

The route: one loop instead of two laps

What everyone is talking about this year is the course – and rightly so. Since 2025 the marathon no longer runs two similar laps but one continuous loop through the city; for 2026 that concept was kept and refined further (Marathon München, "The marathon: one-lap course through Munich"). From the Olympic Park, the route heads via Elisabethstraße into Leopoldstraße and on to Sendlinger Straße; at Sendlinger Tor the course turns and runs back via Rindermarkt and Dienerstraße past Marienplatz, Odeonsplatz and the Siegestor. Add in the English Garden, the Isar high bank (Isarhochufer) and the Werksviertel near Ostbahnhof before the route loops back into the Olympic Park (Marathon München official website). The half marathon – the Sport Schuster Half Marathon by Brooks – also starts fresh in the Olympic Park for 2026, running a 5 km loop in the park plus the same Sendlinger Tor turn as the marathon (Marathon München, "The half marathon: new with the start in the Olympic Park"). If you're spectating rather than running, the loop works in your favour too – it keeps runners close to the crowds, especially around Marienplatz and the Werksviertel.

Marathon, half marathon, 10K or kids run – the formats

The 2026 MARATHON MÜNCHEN by Brooks offers several formats: the marathon over 42.195 km (also as a relay), the half marathon over 21.1 km, a 10K, a kids run, and the non-competitive Friendship Run (Marathon München official website). In 2025, around 28,500 runners crossed the finish line across all formats – a participation record for the event (hdsports.org, 2025). For 2026, organiser updates suggest the half marathon is already close to selling out (spoferan.com, 2026), so it's worth registering sooner rather than later.

Registration and entry fees

Online registration for 2026 has been open since 13 November 2025 via the official site marathonmuenchen.org, with the regular registration deadline in late September – provided the field hasn't filled up before then (Marathon München official website, "Registration for the 2026 Marathon München by Brooks is now open"). Entry fees are tiered and rise over time, as with most major city marathons; check the organiser's registration page for current prices per format.

The real gap: training when you don't know anyone yet

Almost every article about the Munich Marathon this year is about the new route – deservedly so, it really is worth seeing. What gets far less attention: Munich has grown fast through newcomers for years – young professionals, students, international hires who just moved to the city. For a lot of them, the route isn't the hard part – finding people to run the long training runs with is. Running eleven, sixteen, twenty kilometres alone through the English Garden or along the Isar is doable, but it gets old fast without company. That's exactly where We Up helps: instead of training solo, you can find running groups and training partners at your pace who run together regularly – no club paperwork, just sign up and show up.

The bottom line

Whether this is your first marathon or you already know last year's loop, the best preparation starts long before 11 October – ideally with people running at the same pace as you. If you're based in Munich or just moved there, check our directory for running groups nearby to make training for the Munich Marathon a lot easier.

Sources

• marathonmuenchen.org/en
• marathonmuenchen.org/en/the-marathon-one-lap-course-through…
• marathonmuenchen.org/en/the-half-marathon-new-with-the-star…
• marathonmuenchen.org/en/runners-festival
• marathonmuenchen.org/en/registration-for-the-2026-marathon-…
• marathonmuenchen.org/noch-100-tage-bis-zum-marathon-muenche…
• hdsports.org/marathon/muenchen-marathon-feierte-rekord-mit-…
• spoferan.com/news/halbmarathon-muenchen-2026-fast-ausverkau…