The English Garden (Englischer Garten) in Munich is one of the largest urban public parks in the world, larger than New York’s Central Park, stretching roughly 5.5 kilometers through the heart of the city. Created in 1789 on the initiative of Sir Benjamin Thompson, it was designed as a park for public recreation rather than a royal garden, an unusually democratic idea for its time.
The park’s most famous modern feature is the Eisbach wave, a standing river wave at its southern entrance where surfers ride year-round, drawing crowds of onlookers. Elsewhere, the Chinese Tower and Seehaus beer gardens offer traditional Bavarian food and beer beneath chestnut trees, while wide meadows, streams, and a Japanese teahouse give the park a varied, unhurried character.
Admission is free and the park has no set closing time, making it equally popular for morning jogs, afternoon picnics, and evening strolls. Its central location just north of Munich’s old town makes it an easy add-on to a day of sightseeing.