Some days the only plan is to get outside and let the kids run. These are the green spaces and playgrounds we head to for exactly that: big lawns for a picnic, adventure playgrounds with ropes, sand and water to build with, and lakeside parks where a whole afternoon goes by without anyone asking for a screen.
Maximiliansanlagen is about 2 km of wooded parkland on the high east bank of the Isar. Paths run under old trees past the Friedensengel column and the Maximilianeum, with views across to the old town and down to the river's weirs.
After a snowfall, the short slopes near the Maximilianeum are one of the most central sledding spots in town, with steep runs and gentle ones for small kids.
Aubinger Lohe is a forest recreation area on the western edge of the city, crossed by woodland paths for walking and cycling. Its main hill rises about 25 meters above the surrounding fields and becomes a sledding run when snow falls, with plenty of smaller slopes where young kids can try their first runs.
In summer, families come for the two Böhmerweiher ponds and the playgrounds.
Abenteuerspielplatz Neuhausen is an open-air yard where school kids handle hammers, nails and real tools, play with water and gather at the fire pit. Wild animals live on the grounds, signs show where to spot them, and a beekeeper looks after the hives by the workshop. Big play structures fill the rest.
The Kreisjugendring München-Stadt runs it as part of Oase Neuhausen.
Maulwurfshausen is a staffed adventure playground in Neuperlach, laid out as a play town run by kids. They rent and build wooden huts, take on jobs, cook at a covered fire pit with an outdoor kitchen, and play on a football lawn and bird's-nest swing. A water slide opens on hot summer days, and a play house with table football, ping pong and a workshop covers rainy afternoons.
ABIX is a staffed adventure playground run by the Kreisjugendring München-Stadt. Kids build huts with hammers, saws and scrap timber, earning ABIX-Taler by raking leaves or pulling old nails to buy boards and paint. There's a rope swing over a pond, campfires and a free organic lunch. On rainy days the play house opens, with table football, ping pong and a padded romping room.
A large water playground on the former grounds of the 2005 Federal Garden Show (BUGA). Kids pump water by hand, scoop it into wooden channels, dam the streams and dig in the mud areas. Around the water zone are climbing structures, monkey bars, swings and slides, plus shady lawns for a picnic. Riemer See, in the same park, has swimming and pedal boats.
A large water playground in the eastern part of Westpark. A shallow stream runs through it, and kids dam it with stones, wade and splash.
Stone slides, a wooden climbing tower and plenty of play equipment fill the rest, so the dry side stays busy too. There is enough shade for parents to sit out of the sun while kids play.
A forest education center run by the Bavarian forestry office in the Grünwald Forest. Its 2.8 km loop trail starts at the main building, passes the wild boar enclosure and has 13 stations, including a barefoot path, sounding logs, a sound labyrinth, a climate arboretum and an adventure playground.
There is also a biodiversity exhibition, an insect house, an ant trail and a yearly program of guided forest walks.
A groundwater-fed swimming lake of nearly 8 hectares, ringed by about 5 hectares of lawn and sandy shoreline in the Dachauer Moos north of Munich. A shallow beach is set aside for small children, with a sand playground near the water rescue station.
Older kids can play beach volleyball on two courts or table tennis by the beer garden. A grill zone allows small family grills.
A groundwater-fed swimming lake dug as a gravel pit in the late 1930s, with about 11 hectares of water ringed by roughly 7 hectares of lawn. A swimming platform floats in the middle, rare for lakes around Munich, and the water reaches about 5 meters deep.
The north shore has a playground, a small soccer field, ping-pong tables and a beer garden, plus a marked barbecue zone.
A 21-hectare botanical garden, opened in 1914, beside Nymphenburg Palace park. Indoors, a chain of greenhouses runs from a tall palm house to a giant cactus hall, a tree fern house on lava rock, an orchid house and the Victoria house with its huge water lilies.
Outside, kids can follow paths through an alpine rock garden with over 2,000 species, an arboretum and pond areas.
Flaucher is the stretch of the Isar between the Flauchersteg footbridge and the Braunauer railway bridge, where the river splits into shallow side channels around wide gravel banks. Kids wade and splash in alpine water that rarely tops 20°C, even in midsummer.
The banks double as a grilling and meeting spot, so summer weekends get crowded, though quieter corners turn up along the branching channels.
Riemer See is a swimming lake dug for the 2005 federal garden show, which is why locals also call it Bugasee. It is about 700 meters long, up to 18 meters deep, and one of the cleanest lakes around.
Families head for the east shore, where a wide gravel beach runs into a big lawn. A playground sits on the north shore, plus swings and three volleyball courts.
Luitpoldpark spreads 33 hectares of open lawns around a 1911 obelisk and linden grove. North of the Bamberger Haus, a playground holds a winding hedge maze and the Pumuckl fountain.
The 37-meter Luitpoldhügel, a hill built from wartime rubble, is a quick climb with views to the Olympic Tower. In winter its shaded north slope is one of the city's steepest toboggan runs.
Ostpark spreads over 56 hectares around a lake with an island, quieter than the city's other big parks. Kids find Maulwurfshausen adventure playground at the east end, a skate park, table tennis and volleyball, and a barbecue zone by the lake. The Michaeligarten beer garden sits on the shore.
In winter the lake draws ice skaters, the hill becomes a sledding run, and a groomed cross-country ski trail follows the water.
Westpark is a 60-hectare park built for the 1983 garden show, with artificial hills, two lakes and a rose garden of 20,000 roses. The western half holds a Thai Sala, a carved wooden Nepal pagoda and Chinese and Japanese gardens.
Kids can push the 1.8-ton spherical fountain by the southeast entrance, splash at the water playground, and run the wide meadows. The Mittlerer Ring splits the park in two.
Königlicher Hirschgarten has been a deer park since 1780, and its two-hectare enclosure of fallow deer and mouflon is still the main draw: kids can feed them, following the signs on the fence.
The south end has the elephant playground, with a huge sandbox and elephant slide, plus a water playground with a water slide. There's also a climbing tower, a small skate park, sledding hills and Munich's largest beer garden.
Built for the 1972 Olympics, the park wraps around a lake and the 60-meter Olympic Hill, a grassy mound piled from wartime rubble with views over the city to the Alps. Kids climb the easy paths to the summit and run the open lawns, and there is boat hire on the Olympic Lake. SEA LIFE, minigolf and the Munich Action Park's climbing kids area sit inside the grounds.
The English Garden is a 376-hectare landscape park of flat paths, streams, more than 100 bridges and wide meadows. A historic children's carousel stands beside the Chinese Tower beer garden, and pedal and rowing boats rent on Kleinhesseloher See.
Kids can watch surfers ride the Eisbach wave, climb the Monopteros hill for a view over the city, and spot grazing sheep in the quieter north.
Some days the only plan is to get outside and let the kids run. These are the green spaces and playgrounds we head to for exactly that: big lawns for a picnic, adventure playgrounds with ropes, sand and water to build with, and lakeside parks where a whole afternoon goes by without anyone asking for a screen.
Maximiliansanlagen is about 2 km of wooded parkland on the high east bank of the Isar. Paths run under old trees past the Friedensengel column and the Maximilianeum, with views across to the old town and down to the river's weirs.
After a snowfall, the short slopes near the Maximilianeum are one of the most central sledding spots in town, with steep runs and gentle ones for small kids.
Aubinger Lohe is a forest recreation area on the western edge of the city, crossed by woodland paths for walking and cycling. Its main hill rises about 25 meters above the surrounding fields and becomes a sledding run when snow falls, with plenty of smaller slopes where young kids can try their first runs.
In summer, families come for the two Böhmerweiher ponds and the playgrounds.
Abenteuerspielplatz Neuhausen is an open-air yard where school kids handle hammers, nails and real tools, play with water and gather at the fire pit. Wild animals live on the grounds, signs show where to spot them, and a beekeeper looks after the hives by the workshop. Big play structures fill the rest.
The Kreisjugendring München-Stadt runs it as part of Oase Neuhausen.
Maulwurfshausen is a staffed adventure playground in Neuperlach, laid out as a play town run by kids. They rent and build wooden huts, take on jobs, cook at a covered fire pit with an outdoor kitchen, and play on a football lawn and bird's-nest swing. A water slide opens on hot summer days, and a play house with table football, ping pong and a workshop covers rainy afternoons.
ABIX is a staffed adventure playground run by the Kreisjugendring München-Stadt. Kids build huts with hammers, saws and scrap timber, earning ABIX-Taler by raking leaves or pulling old nails to buy boards and paint. There's a rope swing over a pond, campfires and a free organic lunch. On rainy days the play house opens, with table football, ping pong and a padded romping room.
A large water playground on the former grounds of the 2005 Federal Garden Show (BUGA). Kids pump water by hand, scoop it into wooden channels, dam the streams and dig in the mud areas. Around the water zone are climbing structures, monkey bars, swings and slides, plus shady lawns for a picnic. Riemer See, in the same park, has swimming and pedal boats.
A large water playground in the eastern part of Westpark. A shallow stream runs through it, and kids dam it with stones, wade and splash.
Stone slides, a wooden climbing tower and plenty of play equipment fill the rest, so the dry side stays busy too. There is enough shade for parents to sit out of the sun while kids play.
A forest education center run by the Bavarian forestry office in the Grünwald Forest. Its 2.8 km loop trail starts at the main building, passes the wild boar enclosure and has 13 stations, including a barefoot path, sounding logs, a sound labyrinth, a climate arboretum and an adventure playground.
There is also a biodiversity exhibition, an insect house, an ant trail and a yearly program of guided forest walks.
A groundwater-fed swimming lake of nearly 8 hectares, ringed by about 5 hectares of lawn and sandy shoreline in the Dachauer Moos north of Munich. A shallow beach is set aside for small children, with a sand playground near the water rescue station.
Older kids can play beach volleyball on two courts or table tennis by the beer garden. A grill zone allows small family grills.
A groundwater-fed swimming lake dug as a gravel pit in the late 1930s, with about 11 hectares of water ringed by roughly 7 hectares of lawn. A swimming platform floats in the middle, rare for lakes around Munich, and the water reaches about 5 meters deep.
The north shore has a playground, a small soccer field, ping-pong tables and a beer garden, plus a marked barbecue zone.
A 21-hectare botanical garden, opened in 1914, beside Nymphenburg Palace park. Indoors, a chain of greenhouses runs from a tall palm house to a giant cactus hall, a tree fern house on lava rock, an orchid house and the Victoria house with its huge water lilies.
Outside, kids can follow paths through an alpine rock garden with over 2,000 species, an arboretum and pond areas.
Flaucher is the stretch of the Isar between the Flauchersteg footbridge and the Braunauer railway bridge, where the river splits into shallow side channels around wide gravel banks. Kids wade and splash in alpine water that rarely tops 20°C, even in midsummer.
The banks double as a grilling and meeting spot, so summer weekends get crowded, though quieter corners turn up along the branching channels.
Riemer See is a swimming lake dug for the 2005 federal garden show, which is why locals also call it Bugasee. It is about 700 meters long, up to 18 meters deep, and one of the cleanest lakes around.
Families head for the east shore, where a wide gravel beach runs into a big lawn. A playground sits on the north shore, plus swings and three volleyball courts.
Luitpoldpark spreads 33 hectares of open lawns around a 1911 obelisk and linden grove. North of the Bamberger Haus, a playground holds a winding hedge maze and the Pumuckl fountain.
The 37-meter Luitpoldhügel, a hill built from wartime rubble, is a quick climb with views to the Olympic Tower. In winter its shaded north slope is one of the city's steepest toboggan runs.
Ostpark spreads over 56 hectares around a lake with an island, quieter than the city's other big parks. Kids find Maulwurfshausen adventure playground at the east end, a skate park, table tennis and volleyball, and a barbecue zone by the lake. The Michaeligarten beer garden sits on the shore.
In winter the lake draws ice skaters, the hill becomes a sledding run, and a groomed cross-country ski trail follows the water.
Westpark is a 60-hectare park built for the 1983 garden show, with artificial hills, two lakes and a rose garden of 20,000 roses. The western half holds a Thai Sala, a carved wooden Nepal pagoda and Chinese and Japanese gardens.
Kids can push the 1.8-ton spherical fountain by the southeast entrance, splash at the water playground, and run the wide meadows. The Mittlerer Ring splits the park in two.
Königlicher Hirschgarten has been a deer park since 1780, and its two-hectare enclosure of fallow deer and mouflon is still the main draw: kids can feed them, following the signs on the fence.
The south end has the elephant playground, with a huge sandbox and elephant slide, plus a water playground with a water slide. There's also a climbing tower, a small skate park, sledding hills and Munich's largest beer garden.
Built for the 1972 Olympics, the park wraps around a lake and the 60-meter Olympic Hill, a grassy mound piled from wartime rubble with views over the city to the Alps. Kids climb the easy paths to the summit and run the open lawns, and there is boat hire on the Olympic Lake. SEA LIFE, minigolf and the Munich Action Park's climbing kids area sit inside the grounds.
The English Garden is a 376-hectare landscape park of flat paths, streams, more than 100 bridges and wide meadows. A historic children's carousel stands beside the Chinese Tower beer garden, and pedal and rowing boats rent on Kleinhesseloher See.
Kids can watch surfers ride the Eisbach wave, climb the Monopteros hill for a view over the city, and spot grazing sheep in the quieter north.
