When the city heats up, families head for the water. The Isar runs clean enough to wade in right through town, the outdoor pools open up big shaded lawns, and clear bathing lakes sit at the end of an S-Bahn or bike ride. Here's what we checked, from the gravel banks at the Flaucher to the jetties at Ammersee.
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.
Naturbad Maria Einsiedel is a natural swimming pool in the Isar meadows, open since 1899. The Isar canal runs almost 400 meters through the grounds, and the water in the 50-meter pool, the non-swimmer area and the large kids' paddling pool is cleaned by microorganisms instead of chlorine. Kids also get a playground, a soccer lawn, table tennis and giant ground chess, with old shade trees over the lawns.
Prinzregentenbad is a public outdoor pool with a 25 m lap pool, a leisure pool with water features, 1 m and 3 m diving boards and a 50 m water slide. Younger kids get a paddling pool with a water play area.
Families spread out on a big lawn under old trees, and there are beach volleyball courts, a restaurant and a kiosk with a beer garden.
A city-run outdoor pool by the Isar in Giesing, with a 50-meter pool (three lap lanes), a non-swimmer pool and a paddling pool with play features for small kids.
Around them sit a wide slide, a playground, table tennis, an outdoor chess board and a big lawn under old trees.
Dantebad is a city-run outdoor pool that stays heated through the winter, so kids can swim outside in any season. There is a 50-meter lap pool at about 30°C and a warmer leisure pool with bubble loungers, a bubble grotto, a current channel and a water mushroom.
Table tennis, a restaurant and a separate sauna area for adults round it out.
Feringasee is a 32-hectare former gravel-pit lake, up to 7 meters deep, ringed by 21 hectares of lawns. In season the south third is the buoyed swimming zone, with a step-free entry on the south shore.
Kids can walk or bike the 2 km loop path, try the beach volleyball court and fitness trail, or explore the wetland on the north shore. A restaurant with beer garden is open year-round.
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.
Langwieder See is an 18-hectare swimming lake, up to 8 meters deep, and the largest of the three Langwieder lakes alongside Lußsee and Birkensee. Wide lawns around the shore leave room for picnics and ball games, and a restaurant with a beer garden sits by the water.
Barbecues are allowed only in the signed grill zones. Divers have a marked area at the north end, away from the swimming lawns.
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 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.
Lake Starnberg (Starnberger See) is Bavaria's second-largest lake, a glacial lake stretching 21 km and up to 128 m deep. Families swim and paddle from its shores, rent boats, or ride the excursion boats that run in spring and summer.
A bike path of almost 50 km circles the lake away from main roads. An electric ferry crosses to the Roseninsel, an island off Feldafing.
Bavaria's third-largest lake is a long, narrow stretch of water southwest of Munich. In Herrsching, an eight-kilometer lakeside promenade has lawns, playgrounds, jetties and sports fields along the shore.
From June the water is usually above 20°C, warm enough for a swim. Historic paddle steamers cross between the lakeside towns, and a forest trail of just under two hours climbs to Kloster Andechs.
When the city heats up, families head for the water. The Isar runs clean enough to wade in right through town, the outdoor pools open up big shaded lawns, and clear bathing lakes sit at the end of an S-Bahn or bike ride. Here's what we checked, from the gravel banks at the Flaucher to the jetties at Ammersee.
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.
Naturbad Maria Einsiedel is a natural swimming pool in the Isar meadows, open since 1899. The Isar canal runs almost 400 meters through the grounds, and the water in the 50-meter pool, the non-swimmer area and the large kids' paddling pool is cleaned by microorganisms instead of chlorine. Kids also get a playground, a soccer lawn, table tennis and giant ground chess, with old shade trees over the lawns.
Prinzregentenbad is a public outdoor pool with a 25 m lap pool, a leisure pool with water features, 1 m and 3 m diving boards and a 50 m water slide. Younger kids get a paddling pool with a water play area.
Families spread out on a big lawn under old trees, and there are beach volleyball courts, a restaurant and a kiosk with a beer garden.
A city-run outdoor pool by the Isar in Giesing, with a 50-meter pool (three lap lanes), a non-swimmer pool and a paddling pool with play features for small kids.
Around them sit a wide slide, a playground, table tennis, an outdoor chess board and a big lawn under old trees.
Dantebad is a city-run outdoor pool that stays heated through the winter, so kids can swim outside in any season. There is a 50-meter lap pool at about 30°C and a warmer leisure pool with bubble loungers, a bubble grotto, a current channel and a water mushroom.
Table tennis, a restaurant and a separate sauna area for adults round it out.
Feringasee is a 32-hectare former gravel-pit lake, up to 7 meters deep, ringed by 21 hectares of lawns. In season the south third is the buoyed swimming zone, with a step-free entry on the south shore.
Kids can walk or bike the 2 km loop path, try the beach volleyball court and fitness trail, or explore the wetland on the north shore. A restaurant with beer garden is open year-round.
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.
Langwieder See is an 18-hectare swimming lake, up to 8 meters deep, and the largest of the three Langwieder lakes alongside Lußsee and Birkensee. Wide lawns around the shore leave room for picnics and ball games, and a restaurant with a beer garden sits by the water.
Barbecues are allowed only in the signed grill zones. Divers have a marked area at the north end, away from the swimming lawns.
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 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.
Lake Starnberg (Starnberger See) is Bavaria's second-largest lake, a glacial lake stretching 21 km and up to 128 m deep. Families swim and paddle from its shores, rent boats, or ride the excursion boats that run in spring and summer.
A bike path of almost 50 km circles the lake away from main roads. An electric ferry crosses to the Roseninsel, an island off Feldafing.
Bavaria's third-largest lake is a long, narrow stretch of water southwest of Munich. In Herrsching, an eight-kilometer lakeside promenade has lawns, playgrounds, jetties and sports fields along the shore.
From June the water is usually above 20°C, warm enough for a swim. Historic paddle steamers cross between the lakeside towns, and a forest trail of just under two hours climbs to Kloster Andechs.
