How to Visit a Bavarian Beer Garden

There's nothing quite like visiting a beer garden (Biergarten) in the summer. They're largely found in southern Germany, especially Bavaria, and they are a wonderful place to hangout and have a beer with friends. At a traditional beer garden, you can bring your own food, the beer is self-serve, and it is drunk out of a Maß (pronounced "mahss").

While we were in Munich last week, we visited the Hirschgarten, which is a big public park with tame deer (aka, Hirsch) and one of the largest beer gardens in the world. It has over 9,000 seats! Here's how it works:

Step 1. Grab a table.

At a traditional beer garden like the Hirschgarten, you have two choices of where you sit: a picnic table where you can bring your own food or a regular table where a waiter brings you food from the restaurant. The tables with waiters will have tablecloths, while the picnic tables are bare.

We have always sat at the picnic tables, where you'll see families with picnic baskets from home as well as groups eating food purchased at the beer garden. Some people bring their own tablecloths to make the picnic tables more festive. If you're a smaller party (less than 5) then you may need to share a table. This isn't a big deal--aside from asking if the table is free and then saying thank you, you pretty much ignore your table mates :)

Step 2. Grab your beer.

This is the fun part. First, get a glass from one of the big stacks near the drink station. You can choose from two sizes: a Maß (1 liter) or a half Maß.

Next, rinse your Maß off at the sink station. There is no soap, but we haven't gotten sick yet and we just assume that the alcohol must kill any bad bugs. Even if germs make you nervous, just go with it--it's part of the beer garden experience!

Once your glass is ready, head over to the beer station. Here you have two choices: beer or radler (lemon soda + beer). If you want radler, add the lemon soda first--about a third of the glass, or to taste. Then fill the Maß from the beer spigot, and pay the barman at the end of the line.

Augustiner is the brand of beer served at the Hirschgarten, and it ran about 6.50 Euros for a Maß when we visited earlier this month. Augustiner is one of the oldest Munich beers, and it's stored in wooden barrels rather than metal. Once you've got your beer, take it back to the table and proceed to step 3...

Step 3. Grab some grub.

If you didn't bring your own food, there's a cafeteria-style counter where you can pick and choose what you'd like to eat. They have many traditional German dishes such as halbes Hendl (half a roast chicken), wurst with sauerkraut, potato salad, cabbage salad (crunchy and fresh!), and soft pretzels. This beer garden also has a stall where you can buy smoked mackerel on a stick and another where you can get crepes, ice cream, and other desserts.

Step 4. Eat and enjoy!

You can hang out as long as you like--the only rule at a traditional beer garden is that you buy your beer there. When you're ready for another round, take your Maß to the sink station, rinse it out, and fill it up again!

many thanks are due to my patient husband and our friend Mr. M. Hatton for their help in producing this post!