One of the distinctive features of the city are the distinctive beer gardens and when the weather is mild, there is nothing more pleasant than having a drink in one of Munich’s more than 100 beer gardens. The gardens are such an important part of the city’s culture that there was a huge demonstration in the city in 1995 when the council proposed cutting back on the hours that the gardens were allowed to open.
Many beer gardens are owned by a particular brewery who will allow you to bring in your own food – in exchange, of course for you buying lots of their product. Don’t expect the height of comfort if you visit a beer garden; seating is usually on hard wooden benches with no seat backs. During the warmer months, you can usually enjoy a drink in the shade - trees were planted long ago around most gardens as an aid to help keeping the beer in cellars cool. Strangely, for such a lively city, Munich has strict noise laws and many beer gardens close around 11pm.
One of the most famous and picturesque beer gardens is the Chinese Tower beer garden, situated in Munich’s main park, the English Garden. It’s one of four beer gardens in the park and is an easy walk from many of Munich’s museums, making it popular with tourists as well as locals. This is supposedly the world’s largest outdoor beer garden and the site of a major festival in July (the Kocherlball) when locals dress in Victorian costume for a candlelight breakfast.