Photo story

Munich's beer gardens, in nine photos

By The Beer CartographerJuly 17, 2026Updated August 2026

Munich's beer gardens are the city's outdoor living room: tens of thousands of seats under chestnut trees where anyone may sit down, unpack their own picnic, and buy only the beer. Nine photographs tell the story better than nine paragraphs — swipe through the gardens that define the culture, then steal our plan at the end.

The wooden pagoda of the Chinesischer Turm rising above rows of empty beer benches in Munich — Start here: the Chinesischer Turm in the Englischer Garten, a pagoda with about 7,000 seats around it.Wikiolo · CC BY SA · Wikimedia Commons

Crowded beer garden tables under chestnut trees at the Chinesischer Turm in Munich's Englischer Garten — The same benches on a summer evening — the brass band plays from the tower's first floor.AxelCruise · CC BY SA · Wikimedia Commons

Beer garden visitors at long tables beneath tall trees near the Chinesischer Turm — Brass over beer: the band at work beside the Chinesischer Turm.Heribert Pohl --- Thanks for half a million clicks! from Germering bei München, Bayern · CC BY SA · Wikimedia Commons

Rows of benches under blue Augustiner umbrellas at the crowded Hirschgarten beer garden — The Hirschgarten, out past Nymphenburg: roughly 8,000 seats — the largest traditional beer garden anywhere.GFreihalter · CC BY SA · Wikimedia Commons

Long rows of beer garden benches beneath tall trees at the Hirschgarten in early spring — Deer still graze in the enclosure next door — the garden kept the name and the neighbours.Rufus46 · CC BY SA · Wikimedia Commons

The entrance gate of the Augustiner-Keller beer garden in Munich — Augustiner-Keller, near the Hauptbahnhof: through this gate is what many locals call the city's best Maß.Chris Light · CC BY SA · Wikimedia Commons

Long rows of tables in the tree-shaded Augustiner-Keller beer garden in Munich — Edelstoff from wooden barrels, drunk under about a hundred chestnuts.Chris Light · CC BY SA · Wikimedia Commons

The beer garden at Viktualienmarkt in central Munich surrounded by market stalls — Viktualienmarkt, mid-market: the only garden that rotates all six Munich breweries on its taps.Avi1111 dr. avishai teicher · CC BY SA · Wikimedia Commons

The Viktualienmarkt in Munich at night with its maypole and glowing market stalls — After the last pour: the market's benches under lantern light.Burkhard Mücke · CC BY SA · Wikimedia Commons

The one rule that explains everything

An 1812 royal decree allowed Bavarian brewers to serve beer over their lagering cellars — but not food. Two centuries later that compromise is still the deal: in any traditional garden you may bring your own bread, cheese, radishes, even a tablecloth, and buy only the beer. It is why a beer garden feels less like a bar than a public park with taps.

Steal this plan

Do it in one unhurried day: Viktualienmarkt at noon while the market is loud, the Chinesischer Turm through the afternoon with a detour along the Eisbach, and the Augustiner-Keller for the evening barrel pour. Save the Hirschgarten for a lazy weekend — it earns the S-Bahn ride. A Maß runs nine to ten and a half euros in 2026; carry a little cash, claim any table without a Stammtisch sign, and clink at the base of the glass.

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Munich's beer gardens, in nine photos

The one rule that explains everything

Steal this plan

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Munich

Augustiner

Augustiner-Keller

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Oktoberfest Munich