Munich’s famous city park is one of the largest (922 acres) and most beautiful city parks in Europe. Established in 1789, the Englischer Garten also is the oldest public park in the world. Its name comes from the fact that it was not only designed by an Englishman, Sir Benjamin Thompson, but was laid out in the informal English style of landscape architecture, meant to replicate natural countryside. You can wander for hours along its miles of tree-shaded walks. Special features include a Japanese teahouse on a small island at the park’s south end; a large lake, Kleinhesseloher See, which you can paddle around on pedal boats; and the round, hilltop temple called the Monopteros, constructed in the 19th century, which offers great views of Munich’s Altstadt. A giant beer garden (open Apr–Oct) occupies the plaza near the picturesque Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Pagoda), a postwar reconstruction of a park folly first built in 1790. The banks of the Eisbach, the stream that runs through the park, are popular nude-sunbathing spots; on a section of the stream at the park’s southern end, surfers and kayakers can even ride manmade waves.