Munich: ice skating in the English Garden and other fun places

Ice Skating on Munich's Kleinhesseloher See

The best part about the crazy cold spell we’ve been having is all the natural ice skating opportunities that came with it.

one of the islands in the lake, with a little ice path cleared around it

So much frozen water, just begging me to glide around on top of it. How could I say no? 

someone was nice enough to clear off the snow for us

The other day we went for a spin around the Kleinhesseloher See, a lake in the middle of the English Garden (Munich’s gigantic urban park). A couple inches of snow covered the ice, but skaters who came before us had cleared off various-sized areas all over the lake, leaving us a variety of private rinks to choose from.

a skating path around an island in the Kleinhesseloher See

Paths were cleared connecting various parts of the lake, allowing us to skate in circles around the two islands.

Technically, skating on the Kleinhesseloher See is verboten, but in a very un-German fashion, the ban is never enforced. Lucky for us.

skate marks carved through the snow

The relative emptiness of the lake comes in stark contrast to the officially-sanctioned skating on canals at Nymphenburg Palace, which is equally picturesque but usually quite crowded. One can find out whether the ice is hard enough for skaters (and make reservations for Eisstockschiessen, the funny curling-like game played on the canals) here.

the crowds skating on the Nymphenburg Palace canals

6 thoughts on “Munich: ice skating in the English Garden and other fun places”

  1. Wow!, it looks fantastic. We walked across one lake in the Cologne ring, and it was an amazing feeling for a first timer like me. Keep warm!

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