Beer Garden Ambles in Southern Munich

~The Lay of the Land~

Munich. Beer gardens. And beer hiking. Three things I can’t get enough of. Put them all together and you have a ramble that takes you to some of Munich’s most beloved and most illustrious beer gardens.

For years I’d had an urban beer hiking itinerary in mind that would take in the fine beer gardens in the woods along the Isar River in southern Munich. With indoor dining still subject to Covid regulations in the early autumn of 2021, I had the perfect opportunity to do just that. And now I’ve finally gotten around to putting it all together in a post.

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Mid-September is a time when you can get drenched in a downpour one year and need nothing more than summer apparel the next. The forecast previous to my arrival called for sunshine, but by the time I arrived in Munich a light drizzle had descended upon the city. Undaunted, I took Tram 25 to its terminus in Grünwald in the southern reaches of Munich to piece together a beer garden jaunt from beer gardens I had visited in the past.

This 15-kilometer walk takes you north from your starting point at the Brückenwirt along the Isar through wooded areas and small hamlets. Beer garden stops along the way include the Waldwirtschaft, the Menterschwaige, and Hinterbrühl. Zum Flaucher rounds it all out. Just as enjoyable as the beer gardens themselves are the amusing stories and legends attached to them.

Time to go exploring!

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Brückenwirt

Only a half-hour by tram from the center of town, Grünwald feels like a village, one presided over by a medieval castle at that. It’s a short walk from the Tram 25 terminus past the old castle and across the bridge to the first stop on this urban beer garden ramble, the Brückenwirt.

Built in the 1840s, this one-time estate served as a staging ground for the transport of stone hewed from a nearby quarry. Stone was hauled here by horse and cart, then loaded onto log rafts for transport further downstream. Before becoming a leisure destination with a fashionable beer garden around the turn of the twentieth century, the estate also served as accommodation for the Italian workers who made the trek across the Alps to work in the quarry.

The Flöße (Log Rafts)

River rafting on the Isar has a long history. As early as the Middle Ages, lumberjacks felled trees along the upper reaches of the Isar, bound the logs together, and floated the bounty of the forests downriver to the mills of Munich. In fact, the wood for the construction of Munich’s iconic Frauenkirche was shipped in this very fashion. The rafts also carried goods that had arrived across the Alps from Italy, or were loaded with local cargo (like quarried stone) and shipped on to Munich.

Someone needed to steer these rafts safely to market, and the ones who did took advantage of the languid journey downriver singing songs and drinking (what else?) beer along the way.

Trains eventually supplanted the need for river transport. But it was these same trainlines that kept the rafting tradition alive. Instead of cargo, the raftsmen started carrying people who ventured out to the margins of the city for river excursions surrounded by nature. By the late nineteenth century, log rafting on the Isar had become a popular weekend leisure pursuit in its own right, an escape from the city made possible by trains. Today, the log rafts hold dozens of imbibers and an oompah band. The Brückenwirt is one of the beer garden stops.

*The Brückenwirt is currently closed for renovations. It was slated to reopen in 2025, but I haven’t seen any new announcements since the beginning of the year — and it’s now midsummer. Regardless, it’s still worth taking the trip out to Grünwald to check out this piece of Munich’s cultural history. Hopefully it’ll be open again soon.

Waldwirtschaft

The rain began pelting down, releasing the fragrance of fallen leaves covering the path as I rolled up the 4 kilometers between the Brückenwirt and the Waldwirtschaft. The sun eventually got the better of the clouds, brightening the colours of the autumn flowers covered in raindrops.

It’s easy to be lulled by the languid landscape of the Isar valley, but keep a lookout for the sign that directs you up the steep embankment to the Waldwirtschaft (WaWi).

Just beyond the gate you’ll find a Liberalitas Bavariae statue standing sentry with her lion near the entrance to the beer garden. Pass the bandstand where jazz musicians regularly perform and find a spot at the edge of the beer garden for sweeping vistas across the Isar valley.

The Waldwirtschaft is impressive enough in its own right, but what’s not to like about a place that was at the center of a “beer garden revolution”? It all started when residents of the upscale neighbourhood beyond the WaWi’s gates filed a noise complaint. Thousands of people gathered on Marienplatz in May 1995 to protest the court’s decision to double down on earlier closing times for beer gardens. Not long after, the Bavarian government passed a law that balanced the desire of Bavarians to preserve the traditional “beer garden way of life” with residents in need of sleep.

Menterschwaige

The short walk from the WaWi to the Menterschwaige takes you down a path toward the foot bridge spanning the Isar, and then up to a wooded trail along the embankment high above. It’s this kind of walk that gives you a sense of how the topography of the Isar Valley favoured the sinking of beer cellars in and around Munich. The cellars no longer store beer, but the stands of trees still cast their shade over the cellars for those of us who enjoy the respite of the beer garden.

A Swiss-style hut stands just to the side of the Menterschwaige beer garden on the grounds of this onetime estate of the Wittelsbach dynasty. Once the location of the royal blacksmith, this unassuming hut was where King Ludwig I allegedly met Lola Montez for their nightly trysts. Local historians have debunked the story about the love nest at the Menterschwaige, but the legend still echoes through the beer garden, adding a little extra spice to your beer. Be sure to check out all the rustic cow bells on display at the stands where you order your beer and food.

Once you’ve replenished your energy reserves, retrace your steps across the bridge and continue north along the Isar path to Hinterbrühl, a rustic inn and beer garden that will make you feel like you’re miles from the big city.

Hinterbrühl

It’s twilight now, and the beer garden lights have just flickered on. I pass stacks of wood waiting to warm frosty nights, find a seat on the terrace, and watch the last of the kayakers navigate the course along the raft canal before the sun disappears from the sky.

Even though this chalet-style inn is surrounded by woods, it’s the water features that’ll draw your attention. The beer garden affords a view of the Hinterbrühler See, an artificial lake that was created at the beginning of the twentieth century as part of the extension of the Isar waterworks canal and the construction of the Ländkanal. This canal flows right past the terrace in front of the inn, which became a magnet for the Isar raftsmen.

Hinterbrühl’s history shares something in common with that of the Brückenwirt upstream. Both were waystations for the raftsmen who floated their log booms downstream from the forests of Upper Bavaria. The Flöße still float by, but instead of lumberjacks and raftsmen they carry revelers quaffing beer and singing merrily.

Zum Flaucher

Zum Flaucher, our final destination, is a convivial beer garden in the woods. To get there, head north from Hinterbrühl, then follow the Isar Canal past a yellow nineteenth-century hydroelectric plant that looks more like a villa stretched across the water. Soon you’ll come to a footbridge across the canal. Cross it, continue on through the woods, and you’ll end up at Zum Flaucher.

Back in 1871, Johann Flaucher opened an inn and beer garden in what was once part of a Wittelsbach hunting preserve. Today “Flaucher” names both this ample stretch of one-time hunting preserve along the Isar and the beer garden situated within this expanse of woodlands and meadows. With its proximity to the center of town, the parkland is a popular destination for picnics and grill parties.

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I well remember my first visit to Flaucher. It was one of those glorious late-spring mornings, sky as blue as the Bavarian flag. I arrived twenty minutes before opening time to a rare treat: the beer garden staff tidying up fallen horse chestnut blossoms from the tables and carefully raking the gravel. It was as if the staff were preparing for the day’s performance.

Before long, a steady procession of cyclists, walkers, joggers, and families with strollers began lining up outside the gates. Granted, this was a Sunday, but the lineup by 11 a.m. says something about the popularity of this place.

All of this is to say that it might be crowded when you arrive at the tail-end of your urban beer garden hike. If so, don’t be shy. Just ask if you can join a table where it looks like there might be space. After all, sharing tables at beer gardens is the done thing. Once you’re done with your beer, it’s just shy of a kilometer to the U3 line and the big city beyond.

Related Posts

Beer Gardens in Baden-Württemberg, Germany’s Southwest

Berchtesgaden and the Königssee: Alpine Breweries and Lakeside Beer Gardens

The Art of the Beer Garden Food Feast

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Sources

“Gutshaus–heutiger Brückenwirt,” information plaque (Pullach im Isartal).

Gasthof Hinterbrühl: website.

München Tourismus, “The Flaucher Stretch: Munich’s Most Popular Recreation Area,” Simply Munich.

München Tourismus, “Isarfloßfahrt: Einfach eine Riesengaudi,” Einfach München. Includes a timeline of the history of raft transport along the Isar.

Jürgen Wolfram, “Bastion des Brauwesens,” in Mir san Bier: Braukunst und Biergärten in und um München (Munich: Süddeutsche Zeitung Edition, 2013).

Larry Hawthorne, The Beer Drinker’s Guide to Munich, 7^th ed. (2015).

Photos by Franz D. Hofer

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