Dog Friendly City Guide: Munich, Germany

For the 1972 Olympic Games, Munich chose a dachshund as its mascot and called him Waldi. The tourist office says the breed was hunting here in the days of the Wittelsbach dynasty, long before that, and it is still a favourite pet in the city. As a rule dogs come into its restaurants and beer gardens, one rides free on your U-Bahn ticket, and they walk one of the largest city parks in the world. The rules on leads are firm, and once you know them Munich is one of the easiest cities in Europe to visit with a dog. This guide is built from our own venue and walk data, the city's own tourism and transport pages and the Munich hotels we have assessed and ranked.

Getting There With a Dog

Germany follows the European Union's pet travel rules, which the EU sets out in its Your Europe guide. Your dog must be microchipped before its rabies vaccination, must be at least 12 weeks old when that vaccination is given, and you then wait at least 21 days before you travel. Within the EU the dog travels on its European pet passport; from outside it needs an EU animal health certificate issued by an official state vet in the country you leave from, no more than 10 days before the dog arrives, and you must enter through a designated travellers' point of entry. From most non-EU countries a rabies antibody blood test is also required, with a three month wait from the day the sample is taken, so check your own country on that page before you book.

Germany adds one rule of its own. Its customs service bars four breeds and their crosses, the Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the Bull Terrier, on its page on dangerous dogs. Visitors staying no more than four weeks are exempt, provided they carry the original papers, such as a pedigree, vaccination record or temperament test certificate. Our guide to taking your dog abroad puts the rest of the paperwork in the order it has to be done.

Where to Stay

The hotel to know is The Charles Hotel, ranked A+, a five-star Rocco Forte hotel of 160 rooms on Sophienstraße beside the Old Botanical Garden, so the first walk of the day starts at the door. Most of its rooms take dogs and there is no weight limit. The room has a bed and bowls ready, the hotel sells dog food, and the staff can suggest walks and arrange a walker or a sitter. Your dog may join you in the bar and the lounge and in the hotel's garden, and a settled dog may stay in the room while you are out. The fee is 100 euros per dog, with no deposit. There is more in our feature on The Charles.

In Bogenhausen, the family-run Hotel München Palace, ranked B, is a five-star hotel of 89 rooms which, in its own words, sits under the wings of the Angel of Peace, between the Isar and the Prinzregententheater. Most rooms take dogs, the dog is welcome in the Palace Bar, the lounge and on the terrace by its quiet garden, and the room comes with a bed and a water bowl. There is no weight limit, two dogs may share a room, a settled dog may be left in the room, and the fee is 25 euros per dog.

We have ranked one more. On Bayerstraße, the 396-room Sofitel Munich Bayerpost, ranked D, lays on a bed, bowls and treats, works with the dog brand LILA LOVES IT on a pillow and a few small gifts, and will suggest walks. Dogs may use its lounge, there is no weight limit, and the fee is 35 euros per dog per night.

Eat and Drink

Every place below is in our own venue records, and each is named in the city magazine 1000things' guide to dog friendly places in Munich by Simone Bauer, updated in September 2026, which also advises a quick call before you go anywhere else, because a welcome outdoors is not automatic.

Start in Maxvorstadt at Lost Weekend, on Schellingstraße right by the Universität U-Bahn stop and a short walk from the Englischer Garten. It is a café and bar with seats inside and out, a vegan menu, Franzbrötchen on the counter and a puppuccino for the dog, and its events calendar runs from line dancing and an open stage night to a lip sync battle.

Further north in Schwabing-West, Patisserie Sießl on Hiltenspergerstraße serves vegan cakes and breakfasts every day except Thursday, from a long cake counter. 1000things recommends the monkey bread, and the Olympiapark is about a quarter of an hour away for afterwards.

By Sendlinger Tor, Daddee Blu on Angertorstraße is a queer-run café and cocktail bar with two resident Golden Retrievers, Pera and Iva, who have a brunch named after them on its menu. 1000things suggests booking online and bringing the dog early in the day, because a DJ plays from Thursday to Saturday.

For the dog's own treat, walk to Odeonsplatz and Pintu on Amiraplatz, the Viennese dog accessories brand whose Munich flagship store holds its dog spa. Its small café pours an espresso or a cappuccino for you, and for the dog there is a puppuccino, doughnuts in two sizes, beef salami or game jerky. The large puppuccino, topped with treats, costs 4.50 euros.

South of the centre in Giesing, the Paw-Over Café on Freibadstraße puts matcha into its drinks and its cinnamon rolls and keeps a resident cat. It opens Thursday to Sunday.

Walks and Parks

The great walk is the Englischer Garten. Elector Karl Theodor ordered it laid out in 1789 for all of Munich, on an idea of the American-born Count Rumford, and the Bavarian Palace Administration puts it at 376 hectares with 78 kilometres of paths, larger than Central Park and Hyde Park. Walk up past the Chinese Tower of 1790, round the Kleinhesseloher See and on to the Monopteros, Leo von Klenze's temple of 1837 on its hill, then keep going north into the meadows of the Hirschau. Dogs are welcome on the lead throughout. The tourist office's own pick for a drink inside the park is the Mini Hofbräuhaus, the beer garden on Gyßlingstraße that Munich calls the dog beer garden, where it says your dog will find playmates.

For a dog that needs to run, head to Luitpoldpark in Schwabing, with roses on its slopes and old chestnut trees, the one park the tourist office names with open spaces where dogs can play off the lead.

The Olympiapark, built for the 1972 Games and shaped on the hills of the Alpine foothills, is made for a long walk on foot, with the dog on its lead. Its lake, the Olympiasee, is one of only two lakes in and around Munich where dogs may swim.

The river is the other walk. The Isar has been returned to a more natural course, and along the Flaucher, the stretch between the Brudermühlbrücke and the southern edge of the city, it spreads into wide gravel banks crossed by the Flauchersteg, a footbridge about 340 metres long. The tourist office lists numerous spots along the Isar where dogs can cool off, but it is a wild river: let your dog in only where the current is gentle and the bed is shallow, and keep it on the lead on every stretch.

Good to Know

The city's tourist office sets out the rules. Every dog stays on the lead in the whole of the Westpark and on any meadow marked by a green post showing a crossed-out dachshund, and dogs are on the lead in the Englischer Garten, the Olympiapark, the Ostpark and along the Isar. Large dogs from 12 months old must also be on the lead inside the Altstadtring, in pedestrian zones, on public transport, near playgrounds and at markets, concerts and festivals. There is no general muzzle rule. Dogs may not swim in the city's bathing lakes, except in the Olympiasee and the Mallertshofer See, a dog lake in Oberschleißheim. Dogs classed as fighting dogs must, without a negative certificate, be on a short lead throughout the city, and may not use public transport. For everyone else, the MVV transport rules let one dog ride free with a valid ticket or a Deutschlandticket, while each further dog needs a child's ticket unless it fits in a basket or bag, and dogs are on the lead in every vehicle and station, muzzled if they could endanger other passengers. The Tierklinik Oberhaching is open round the clock, and there is a small animal clinic in Schwabing on the edge of the Englischer Garten. At The Charles one dog may stay per room, dogs are kept out of the restaurant and off its terrace, and only some rooms take dogs at the Sofitel, where dogs stay out of the bar and restaurant, so tell the hotel you are bringing a dog when you book.