Munich's beer gardens

Map of 20 locations in Munich, Germany

Bavaria's beer garden ordinance protects something unusual: the right to carry your own bread, radish and sausage into a commercial garden and buy only the beer. That rule, plus the chestnut trees planted over the old summer cellars to keep the barrels cool, is what separates these places from a terrace with umbrellas. What follows runs from the 8,000-seat flatland at Nymphenburg to a hilltop kiosk left over from the 1972 Olympics, with the brewery on tap, the posted hours and the step-free question settled for each.

Places in this collection

  • Prinzregent Garten — A garden in the middle of Pasing with a kitchen that runs Franconian alongside Bavarian, which is not the usual combination in this city. A…
  • Jagdschloss — On the Alte Allee in Obermenzing, run by the Weber family, with a playground beside the tables and own food permitted. Monday to Wednesday…
  • Laimers — A Laim local on Agricolastraße with a regional card that also runs to burgers, and a garden where your own Brotzeit is tolerated. Saturdays…
  • Waldwirtschaft Bienenheim — Small by Munich standards: a well-shaded garden and terrace in the woods of Lochhausen, reached past a pond, in a district that kept its vi…
  • Zur Aubinger Einkehr — Out in Aubing on the Gößweinsteinplatz, with a playground, parking and a regional kitchen that the beer garden guides rate highly. Weekdays…
  • Menterschwaige — A former Wittelsbach estate in Harlaching, reached along a path lined with villas, with about 2,000 seats under the trees. The small Swiss-…
  • Zum Dürnbräu — In business since the late fifteenth century on a lane running towards Marienplatz, back when merchants and farmers stopped here to rest th…
  • Augustiner Klosterwirt — A monastery inn beside the towers of the Frauenkirche, on ground where Augustinian brewing goes back close to 700 years. Tables stand out i…
  • Augustiner Bräustuben — The former dray horse stables on the working Augustiner brewery site, which is why the smell of mashing grain reaches you before the buildi…
  • Augustiner Stammhaus — Behind a façade that disappears into the shopfronts of Neuhauser Straße sits one of the last Jugendstil interiors in Munich, known locally…
  • Augustiner am Platzl — Stands directly opposite the Hofbräuhaus and pours the beer of Munich's oldest brewery, founded in 1328, which is the whole argument for cr…
  • Der Pschorr — On the Viktualienmarkt side of the old town, with the Resi im Pschorr function room taking groups of up to 200. Step-free access runs from…
  • Insel Mühle — Built around a historic mill on the fast-flowing Würm in Obermenzing, with iron wheels, pulleys and gears left scattered among the tables.…
  • Park Cafe — The garden sits behind the old botanical garden, about fifteen minutes on foot west of the Hauptbahnhof, which makes it the first beer gard…
  • Waldheim — Two and a half thousand seats in Großhadern, with a meadow next door that does duty as a football pitch while the adults stay at the table.…
  • Taxisgarten — The posted hours carry a condition rather than a promise: open only in Biergartenwetter, which in practice means the staff decide in the mo…
  • Augustiner Schützengarten — The garden belongs to the Königlich Privilegierte Hauptschützengesellschaft München, a shooting society centuries old, and sits in the shad…
  • Hirschau — Sits in the northern half of the English Garden, with seat counts given variously as 1,500 and 1,700 depending on who is counting. Spaten o…
  • Löwenbräukeller — The turret on the façade marks the 1883 beer palace at Stiglmaierplatz, one of the great cellar-and-restaurant complexes built when brewers…
  • Hirschgarten — Eight thousand seats at the western end of the Nymphenburg grounds, next to the fenced deer paddock the garden takes its name from. Two bre…

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