English Garden

Covering around 3.7 square kilometers, the English Garden is one of the largest urban parks in the world - bigger than Central Park in New York and Hyde Park in London. Since its creation in the late 18th century, it has become a fixture of everyday life in Munich and one of the most beloved green spaces for visitors from around the world.

History of the English Garden

The park was laid out starting in 1789 at the initiative of American-born Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count von Rumford, who served as an advisor to Elector Karl Theodor. The actual landscape design was carried out by Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, who gave the park its still-characteristic, deliberately "unstructured" English landscape style - a conscious counterpoint to the strict, geometric French Baroque gardens of the era. Originally, the park was also intended partly as a military garden where soldiers could be employed in agricultural work, though this function quickly gave way to its role as a public recreational space.

Highlights: Chinese Tower, Monopteros & the Eisbach Wave

The Chinese Tower, a wooden pagoda from 1789/1790, is one of the park's best-known landmarks; after being destroyed by bombing in 1944, it was faithfully rebuilt and today houses one of Munich's largest beer gardens. On a small rise stands the Monopteros, a Greek-style round temple built by Leo von Klenze between 1832 and 1836, offering a lovely view of the Munich skyline. In recent decades, the Eisbach wave near the Haus der Kunst has achieved worldwide fame: a standing wave in the artificially created Eisbach canal has been ridden by surfers since the 1970s and was officially legalized for surfing in 2010 - a popular photo spot for park visitors. On an island in the Schwabinger Bach stream also sits a Japanese Tea House, built in 1972 for the Munich Olympics.

Visitor Tips & Getting There

The park stretches from the city center far north toward Schwabing and is accessible via several U-Bahn and bus stops, including Odeonsplatz, Universität and Münchner Freiheit. Since the grounds are so generously sized, it is worth allowing plenty of time for an extended walk or bike ride. Picnicking is explicitly permitted across much of the park and is one of the most popular pastimes among locals on warm days.

Nearby Attractions

At the park's southern edge lies the Haus der Kunst, a major museum of contemporary art, along with Prinzregentenstraße and the Friedensengel monument. Heading toward the city center via the Hofgarten, the Munich Residenz is just a few minutes away.

Flora, Fauna and Everyday Life in the Park

The English Garden is far more than a historic garden complex - it is a fixture of everyday life in Munich. On the meadows around the Kleinhesseloher See lake, a small flock of sheep still traditionally grazes, a practice dating back to the park's founding era and in keeping with its original agricultural use. With over 78 kilometers of paths, the park is popular year-round with joggers, cyclists and walkers, while its large open lawns invite sunbathing and picnicking on warm days. This combination of designed landscape architecture and lived recreational space has made the English Garden a model for numerous later city parks across Europe.

Count Rumford and the Social Idea Behind the Park

Sir Benjamin Thompson, better known as Count von Rumford, was not only a landscape planner but also a significant physicist and social reformer. Alongside designing the park, he worked in Munich to improve poor relief, including through the introduction of the so-called "Rumford soup", a nutritious and inexpensive meal for those in need. This close link between social engagement and urban planning is still reflected today in the name of the nearby Rumfordstraße, and shows that the English Garden was conceived from the outset as a space for all levels of society, not merely as a courtly pleasure garden.

Boating on the Kleinhesseloher See

In the park's southern section lies the Kleinhesseloher See lake, where pedal boats and rowboats are traditionally rented out during the summer months - a popular pastime for families and couples. Several cafés and a small restaurant line the lakeshore, inviting visitors to linger, so that this part of the English Garden deliberately stands apart from the livelier atmosphere around the Chinese Tower, offering a quieter counterpoint for a relaxed afternoon.

Size Comparison and Protected Status

At around 3.7 square kilometers, the English Garden not only surpasses New York's Central Park but also clearly exceeds London's Hyde Park and Regent's Park in size. The entire park is now a protected heritage site, covering both its historic pathway layout and individual structures such as the Monopteros and the Japanese Tea House. This special protected status ensures that future generations will also be able to experience the park in its historically grown form, without uncontrolled construction altering its character.