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The Englischer Garten: A Visitor Guide to Munich Great Park
Munich central park stretches from the city centre along the Isar. A practical guide to its meadows, beer gardens and the famous surf wave.
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The Englischer Garten is Munich great central park, a long ribbon of green that runs north from the edge of the old city alongside the Isar river. Laid out in the late eighteenth century in the naturalistic English landscape style that gives it its name, it is one of the largest urban parks in the world and a place where Munich residents walk, cycle, sunbathe and gather on warm days.
The southern half, closest to the centre, is the busiest and holds most of the landmarks. The Chinesischer Turm, a wooden pagoda first built in the eighteenth century, stands at the heart of one of the city best known beer gardens, where a brass band often plays on summer afternoons. Nearby, the small Greek-style Monopteros temple sits on an artificial hill that offers one of the finest free views over the Munich skyline and the towers of the Frauenkirche.
Further north the park opens into broad meadows and quieter woodland around the Kleinhesseloher See, a lake with a lakeside restaurant and rowing boats for hire in the warmer months. Paths on both sides make it easy to lose the crowds within a short walk.
The garden most photographed feature sits at its southern tip, where the Eisbach, a fast artificial channel of the Isar, forms a standing wave beneath a road bridge. Wetsuited surfers ride it in relays all year round, and the spot has become one of the most recognisable images of the city. The water is cold and powerful and the wave is for experienced surfers only, but it is a compelling thing to watch.
Getting there is simple. Several U-Bahn stations sit along the western edge, and the park is an easy walk from Odeonsplatz and the university quarter. Entry is free and it is open at all times. Cyclists should keep to marked paths, and swimming in the Eisbach and the park streams is a local tradition that nonetheless demands real caution because of strong currents. For visitors with a single free afternoon in Munich, a stroll from the Eisbach wave up to the Chinese Tower and on to the lake takes in the best of the park at an unhurried pace.