Is this seat taken? Not tonight.

Munich shuffles up

Munich has a reputation for being smart and a little aloof. Not in the beer garden: you sit down with strangers at the long tables, ask “Is this seat free?” and you are chatting by the end of your first Maß (a litre of beer). Many traditional beer gardens even let you bring your own food.

From spring to autumn the evening starts outdoors, in a beer garden or by the Isar at the Flaucher. In winter people head to the Glockenbachviertel, Schwabing or the Maxvorstadt. In September the Wiesn begins, and for a good two weeks half the city revolves around Oktoberfest.

YesTonite brings the beer garden moment to your phone: you see who is out tonight, and one message is enough to join in.

Thursday to Saturday are the big nights. In summer everything starts earlier, outdoors and in daylight; many beer gardens close around eleven, and then it is on to a bar.

Where Munich goes out

• GlockenbachviertelBars and cafés between Gärtnerplatz and Müllerstraße, open-minded and colourful.
• SchwabingAround Münchner Freiheit and Leopoldstraße, a classic for a night out.
• MaxvorstadtThe university quarter, with pubs and cheaper bars.
• IsaruferIn summer lots of people sit by the river into the evening, for example at the Flaucher.
• FeierbananeThe club strip around Sonnenstraße and Sendlinger Tor.