The 5 Beer Garden Biergarten You Can’t Miss in Munich
Munich does not have one beer garden neighbourhood so much as five different Munich neighbourhoods, each defended
by an institution that has been pouring Helles under chestnut trees since long before “beer garden” was a phrase
tourists brought home with them: the Englischer Garten, Haidhausen, the Altstadt, Maxvorstadt near the Hauptbahnhof,
and Nymphenburg out toward the old royal grounds. We went through every beer garden and beer-garden-adjacent
Bavarian restaurant with a Google Business listing across the city — filtering out the cafes and generic
restaurants that turn up under the same search — and weighted each one’s rating against how many people actually
left it, because a 4.4 from nine thousand reviews and a 4.3 from over a hundred thousand are not making the same
claim. Five came out clearly ahead, and between them they cover most of what a Munich beer garden can be: the
world-famous beer hall every visitor has heard of, the tree-shaded classic inside the English Garden, a former
brewery building turned neighbourhood institution, an Augustiner house with its own winter program, and a beer
garden that calls itself the largest in the world and has the seating count to back it up.
Hofbräuhaus München, Altstadt
Start with the name that brought most of these visitors to Munich in the first place: Hofbräuhaus München, 4.3★ from 109,611 Google reviews — more than any other venue on
this list by a wide margin, and more than most restaurants anywhere collect in a lifetime. The house calls itself
“the world’s most famous pub” on its own site, and organises itself around that fame: eight distinct areas under
one roof, from the ground-floor Schwemme with open seating for anyone who walks in, up to the Festsaal and
Wappensaal for private functions. Regulars keep their own Stammtische and their own marked beer mugs, a detail that says more about the house
holding onto its identity as a genuine neighbourhood pub underneath all that tourist traffic than any amount of
review volume could. On Platzl 9 in the Altstadt, open daily 11:00 AM to midnight.
Biergarten am Chinesischen Turm, Englischer Garten
The one most people picture when they hear “Munich beer garden.” Chinesischer Turm
sits under the wooden pagoda inside the English Garden itself, run by the Haberl family since 1974, who describe it
as “one of Munich’s most beautiful beer gardens, and perhaps the most famous beer garden in the world” — a claim a
brass band performing from a platform inside the tower every Wednesday through Sunday does a fair job of backing
up. The kitchen prepares everything on site from regional ingredients, including an Ochsensemmel (a roast ox
sandwich) that’s become the house signature alongside Obazda and schupfnudeln, with vegetarian and vegan options
built in rather than added on. The beer garden also partners with Regenbogen Arbeit, a nonprofit employing people
with disabilities and the long-term unemployed in its hospitality roles. 4.4★ from 16,395 reviews at
Englischer Garten 3, open daily 10:00 AM to 11:00 PM, weather permitting — a kiosk stays open on the days it
isn’t.
Hofbräukeller, Haidhausen
Not to be confused with the Hofbräuhaus above — Hofbräukeller is a separate house,
on the other side of the Isar in Haidhausen, occupying a former brewery building directly on Wiener Platz. Its own
site calls its beer garden “wohl Münchens schönster” — arguably Munich’s most beautiful — shaded by old chestnut
trees rather than built around a landmark, which gives it a quieter, more residential feel than the Altstadt
original. The kitchen’s signature is Resche Bauernente, a crispy roasted duck, alongside seasonal pours like
Hofbräu’s own Oktoberfestbier, and the venue’s grand hall regularly hosts weddings. It’s run by the Steinberg
family, who also operate the Hofbräu tent at Oktoberfest itself — so the same hands pouring here are pouring at
the Wiesn every autumn. 4.4★ from 9,157 reviews at Innere Wiener Straße 19, open daily 11:00 AM to 11:00
PM.
Augustiner-Keller, Maxvorstadt
The one built around Munich’s oldest brewery rather than a single dish or a single tree canopy. Augustiner-Keller sits on Arnulfstraße near the Hauptbahnhof, and pours its own brewery’s
Edelstoff straight from the wooden cask — a detail the house leads with, since most Munich beer gardens serve from
steel kegs by comparison. Beyond the outdoor garden, the building holds several distinct indoor rooms — the
Lagerkeller, Bürgerstube, Jagdstube and a full Festsaal — which is why it doubles as a venue for conferences and
weddings as much as a straightforward beer garden. Its most distinctive touch is seasonal: a “Winterzauber” program
that turns part of the grounds into a real ice-stock-shooting rink beside an alpine hut, with dining inside
traditional shepherd’s wagons. 4.4★ from 39,898 reviews at Arnulfstraße 52, open daily 10:00 AM to
midnight.
Königlicher Hirschgarten, Nymphenburg
The largest by a distance, and the farthest out from the centre. Hirschgarten calls
itself the largest beer garden in the world on its own site, and the seating count supports it: 500 seats indoors,
1,200 served spots outdoors, and roughly 7,000 self-service places under the trees. It has operated as a restaurant
and beer garden since 1791 on the edge of the old royal Nymphenburg grounds, and takes its name from the
Hirschgehege, a genuine deer enclosure still on the property today — a detail no other beer garden on this list
can offer. The kitchen, led by Dominik Kreuzig under proprietor Thomas Fesenmair (chef, gastronome and hunter by
his own description), keeps to homemade Bavarian pub cooking rather than a tourist menu. 4.4★ from 14,026
reviews at Hirschgarten 1, open daily 11:00 AM to midnight.
All five, on the map
The interactive map has every qualifying beer garden and Bavarian beer hall we found
across Munich, these five marked and numbered, and a button that hands the transit route between them straight to
Google Maps on your phone.
Getting the most out of a Munich beer garden crawl
These five span the whole city, from the Englischer Garten in the centre out to Nymphenburg on the western edge
— Hirschgarten alone is a proper tram or S-Bahn trip from the other four, not a walk. If you’re visiting rather
than living here, a local eSIM from Airalo means Google Maps and the MVV transit
app work the moment you land at MUC, and a booked transfer from Welcome
Pickups takes the guesswork out of getting from the airport into the city in the first place. Munich beer
gardens run on cash more than most German venues, and a full afternoon of half-litres and Ochsensemmel adds up fast
— a Wise card avoids the foreign-transaction fee on every round without forcing you
to carry euros for the whole trip. And if the beer gardens are one stop on a longer Munich itinerary,
Tiqets covers skip-the-line tickets for the Residenz, the Deutsches Museum and
whatever else is on the list between rounds.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the best beer garden in Munich?
By rating weighted against review volume, four of the five sit at 4.4★ — Chinesischer Turm, Hofbräukeller,
Augustiner-Keller and Hirschgarten — while Hofbräuhaus München trails slightly at 4.3★ despite carrying by
far the most reviews of any venue on this list, 109,611. “Best” depends on what you want: Chinesischer Turm for the
classic English Garden setting, Hirschgarten for scale and the deer park, Hofbräuhaus for the name everyone’s
already heard.
Which is the largest beer garden in the world?
Königlicher Hirschgarten claims that title on its own site, with roughly 500 indoor seats, 1,200 served outdoor
spots and 7,000 self-service places under the trees — easily the biggest capacity of the five on this list.
Are these beer gardens open in winter?
Most run the same hours year-round per Google’s current listing, but Chinesischer Turm is explicitly
weather-dependent — its outdoor seating scales back to kiosk-only service in poor conditions — and
Augustiner-Keller runs a specific winter program (Winterzauber, with an ice-stock-shooting rink) rather than a
scaled-down version of its summer garden. Check the individual listing on the map before a cold-weather visit.
What’s the difference between a Munich beer garden and a beer hall?
Google’s own categorisation across these five reflects the split: Chinesischer Turm and Hirschgarten are
classified as a straightforward “Beer Garden,” while Hofbräuhaus and Hofbräukeller are Bavarian restaurants built
around a historic indoor hall with a beer garden attached, and Augustiner-Keller is a German restaurant with
several indoor rooms plus its own outdoor Keller. All five serve outdoors under trees; the hall-style venues just
have a serious indoor half as well.
- 1. Hofbräuhaus München — Platzl 9, 80331 München, Germany
- 2. Biergarten am Chinesischen Turm — Englischer Garten 3, 80538 München-Altstadt-Lehel, Germany
- 3. Hofbräukeller — Innere Wiener Straße 19, 81667 München-Au-Haidhausen, Germany
- 4. Augustiner-Keller — Arnulfstraße 52, 80335 München-Maxvorstadt, Germany
- 5. Königlicher Hirschgarten — Hirschgarten 1, 80639 München, Germany
