fluffy
Place the crate of beer in the current, drape the salad bowls on the picnic blanket and anchor the grill between the pebbles: everything is ready for the end of the day on the Flaucher. The smell of sizzling sausages hangs in the air, children splash each other. One has been here way too long, judging by his sunburn. One of them has brought his Mediterranean pasta salad, which everyone is greedily shoveling onto the paper plate. As always, one scrounges through, another has a good red wine with him, oh, only beer, the wine goes just as well with the steak. The young people up front are playing really good music, back there, at the Cuban party, a whole piglet is turning on a spit, but really, look – and again nobody thought of candles for later.
The Flaucher is Munich’s favorite barbecue spot, a summer-drunk Ali-Mitgutsch hidden-object with room for everyone. Those who go to great lengths and lug around trestle tables and umbrellas and those who have stocked up at the gas station on the way, those who are new to Munich and those who were born here, the extended families, the Tinder dates, colleagues and a motley group of friends, the noisemakers and braggarts, the silent observers and those who ensure that everything runs smoothly and have packed cutlery for everyone. But the Flaucher is by no means the only place in town where the barbecue is pulled out. What applies everywhere: please take your rubbish with you.
Isar
It is also permitted to set up the grid away from the Flaucher. Only the city center is completely taboo, i.e. between the Brudermühl Bridge and the Oberföhringer Weir. Otherwise, the following applies: you can barbecue on the gravel banks, but not on the meadows. There are a few nice spots in the north, for example, near the St. Emmerams mill, and from Flaucher further down to the south. If you are unsure, you can go to isar-map.de indicate whether or not its current location is a designated grilling zone.
parks
Barbecuing is prohibited in the English Garden – with the exception of the areas near the St. Emmerams Mill. But the city also has other parks to offer: the Westpark, for example. In spring, tens of thousands of roses bloom there, and two small lakes adorn the grounds. The hippie-esque Bauwagen-Café “Gans am Wasser” has set up at one of them, which is a good place to go if the essentials of the grilled food have been forgotten at home. With its open-air cinema, the Westpark attracts people from all over the city in summer anyway, and official barbecue areas are designated here, which are gratefully used. The most popular is probably around the lake in the western part, where even stone grills with rust are waiting to be put into operation.
The Ostpark is more familiar to residents from Ramersdorf and Neuperlach, their local piece of greenery with streams and ponds. A resident of the west of Munich is unlikely to stray here, there are simply too many green spaces and the Isar in between. But the Ostpark has a lot to offer: In winter, for example, a cross-country ski run and a toboggan hill, ice skaters circle the small island on the lake, in which unfortunately you cannot swim in summer. On the other hand, it’s good for jogging, dog walking and, of course, barbecuing. And so Munich-East barbecues here comfortably among themselves, next to the skater park at Michaelibad there is a designated area that is popular in summer.
When people from Munich ask “are you going to the Hirschgarten?” he usually means the beer garden. First and foremost, the Hirschgarten is a park, and barbecuing is allowed there, but only around the skate park (but not in it). The area is not very large compared to the beer garden – which gives the company “go to the Hirschgarten for a barbecue” an almost anarchic touch.
lakes
Not only on the Isar can you combine barbecue fun with a cool down in between – this is also possible at numerous lakes in the city. For example, on the Munich Dreiseenplatte with Lerchenauer, Fasanerie and Feldmochinger See. The redesigned quarry ponds were created by removing gravel for construction work back in the 1930s. But the same applies here: Barbecues only in the designated zones. The Feldmochinger See is the largest of them at 16 hectares and is also the place with the most activity. Lots of old trees on the banks provide shade, the western side is particularly popular, where barbecuing is allowed. If you haven’t brought enough drinks with you, you can get supplies at a small kiosk, and for the sporty there are volleyball courts and a fitness course.
From the city center, the smallest, the Lerchenauer See near the OEZ, can be reached most quickly by bike, simply through Schwabing and further – barbecuing is allowed here on the lower east and south banks. There isn’t a huge range of leisure activities here, but what more do you need for a nice evening at the barbecue than what you’ve brought with you, a pretty backdrop and maybe a dip in the water?
The Fasaneriesee is close to the Fasanerie S-Bahn station and therefore also suitable for anyone who doesn’t want to or can’t cycle. Barbecues are permitted on the south and west sides. On large meadows between shady trees there are volleyball courts, table tennis tables and space for table football or badminton to whet your appetite for the next steak roll. Most of the banks are so shallow that children can also splash around in the water.
The Lusssee and the Langwieder See in the northwest are also worth a trip with barbecue equipment. The Lußsee is popular with families, the nearby Birkensee with Nackerten. The barbecue zone on the southern shore of Lake Langwieder offers plenty of shady spots, and if you feel the urge to move after dinner, you can let off steam on the volleyball and football pitches. Many young people appreciate this place on warm summer days. When the weather is nice, the MVG bathing bus commutes from Lochhausen S-Bahn station to Langwieder See every 20 minutes.