Traditionally, beer gardens were tables placed under chestnut trees planted above the storage cellars to keep beer cool in summer. Naturally, people started to drink close to the source of their pleasure, and the tradition has remained. Lids on beer steins, incidentally, were meant to keep out the flies. It's estimated that today Munich has at least 400 beer gardens and cellars. Food, drink, and atmosphere are much the same in all of them.
Prices are affordable and the selection is diverse.
The season of summer concerts at Nymphenburg Palace alone is worth the trip to Munich. A CEO we know in Munich claims that on a summer day he has to go to this park and take off all his clothes and sunbathe naked to regain the strength necessary to work the rest of the day. Whether this is the truth or a far stretch, he is not alone. On any summery sunny day, it seems that half of Munich can be seen letting it all hang out. The sentimental founders of this park with their romantic ideas surely had no idea they were creating a public nudist colony.