In and around Munich there many large and smaller sized and very well kept public parks where you can sunbathe, take the children out to play, run, walk the dog or enjoy beer at a Biergarten. The most popular parks of the city are: Englischer Garten, Olympiapark, Hirschgarten, Westpark, Botanischer Garten and Hofgarten. Each of them are always worth a visit, this time we’ll focus on the huge Englisher Garten and the Westpark.

Englischer Garten

One of the largest parks of the world stretches from the centre of the city to the northeastern city limits. With an area of 3.7 km2 (1.4 sq mi), the Englischer Garten is one of Europe's largest urban public parks, it is larger than New York's Central Park. It is divided into the northern and southern part by the Westrring (Isarring). Locals and tourists alike, as well as their dogs, can enjoy the over 78 kilometres of walkways, walk across over 100 smaller and larger bridges, horse ride on 12 kilometers, and even – surf, as the video below shows.

The easiest way to get to the more popular southern part of the park, with the huge Biergarten at the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower), is to take bus lines 54 or 154.

Westpark

We’ve picked the Westpark as the second park to say a few words about, because it is one of the most beautiful parks of the city, both in summer and winter. It is also one of the youngest parks of Munich, founded in 1983 for an international gardening exhibition. It has small lakes, a few playgrounds and you can barbeque at the Westpark. During the summer there are open air film screenings. In the winter you can sled down five hills.

The next time we’ll tell you which park hosts the world’s largest Biergarten.