Grilling on the Isar - Munich Barbeque Season

Top Tip: There is now a BEER COURIER!!! It's a guy who cycles along the Isar bringing whatever you've run out of. You call him up and he delivers ciggies, beers, snacks, candles, meat, and even a grill pack with a disposable barbecue, meal, bread, plates etc.! We think the prices were fine, € 1,80 for an Augustiner for example... worth ordering instead of lugging beer crates down there then having to get rid of them again. Mob: 0163-243-7783

He actually cycles around handing out a list which you order by SMS, but you can also just call him. I'm not sure if he goes the whoel way down to Flaucher, but he certainly does the whole area south of the Deutsches Museum.

Well that's great, but a group of friends of mine were out on the Isar on Thursday night when they got hounded by loads of coppers telling them to put their barbies out as it's Illegal...

Ah well you see the thing is that the Munich Police have very strict guidelines on BBQ's, Grills, Brai or whatever you want to call them. Apparently (and please correct me if I am wrong) you are not allowed to make a fire directly on the ground or stones on the Isar. If you take a real barbeque and the fire is off the ground you are ok.

All the official information about barbequeing in Munich this summer is online here: Grillen in Münchens Grünanlagen

...but it's only in German.

The essential info in English is as follows:

• Grilling only allowed in clearly marked areas on the banks of the Isar, lakes, and in parks.
• Fuel must be charcoal or gas.
• All ground fires (regardless of fuel) are forbidden.
• Tables, stools, benches, and umbrellas are not allowed.
• Grills must be on stoney ground, not grass.
• BBQ must be at least 10 meters away from trees or grass or any other vegetation.

The reasons they give for all these restrictions are:

• To prevent fires getting out of control and setting the neighbouring vegetation alight.
• Burning of other fuels can produce toxic chemicals.
• With too much smoke the air conditioning of nearby hospitals is overloaded.
• Neighbours complain about the noise.

Anyone rember the headline story on the front of the TZ last year about the "Grill Polizei" ? Yeah good old Munich police has a special unit to make sure you have the right mustard with your sausage and don't eat a Weisswurst after midday.

The rules as they are are far too restrictive, I can't see why BBQs are banned between the Reichenbachbrücke and Wittelsbachebrücke for example.

Most of those rules seem fairly reasonable, but:

Why?

Drunken fire risk?

P

no, they are just fascists and made up that rule to annoy us.

don't worry, i saw people using tables last week and the police didn't stop them.

I think it is because people take shitty old stuff with them to use it and then dump it, so they just banned it for everyone to make sure. Apparently the locals along the river complained about all the stuff being dumped after grill nights, not everyone is "brav" and uses the bins...

Problem with the bins is that Munich ity Council doesn't empty them enough!
Once a week is OK in the winter but they need emptying several times a day in the summer!

And how many people actually live near the river compared to the number of people who want to get out into a bit of green and have a BBQ and a beerß Fucking NIMBYs!

This weekend me and a few mates wanted to have a bbq on the Isar but in the end it didn't happen cos none of us could agree on what the rules were!! Apparently in this country all spontaneous activity is strongly discouraged and there was talk of having to "anmeld" the fact that you wanted to have a bbq, arguments over how high or low the grill had to be and where exactly you were allowed to do it etc etc...In the end it was so stressful that we thought sod this, and found a beer garden instead...
Does anyone out there actually know if a) you CAN bbq by the river, and if so where and how?

TT Isar BBQ Party

tis weird, cos we went walking along the Isar with a bag full of sausages and no bbq, big signs everywhere saying Grillen verboten, but still loads of people seemed to be bbq-ing. Then these 2 guys in green shirts came along and scared everyone off...hard to tell whether they were the Grill Police or the Weather Boys cos as soon as they'd told everyone to pack up the heavens opened!!!

Screw the rules! The Germans have far too many! Me and my mates bbq in the English Garden which is verboten (the German's favorite word ) and haven't been told off yet. The plan is to play the dumb tourist routine if the Polizei come to bust up our bbq. Or we could bribe them with a bratwurst and some Augustiner Helles. Maybe that would work?

But you are allowed to bbq on the Isar near the zoo (Thalkirchen). There are always lots of people there having a bbq.

I have no idea if there is an allowable grill height (it sounds a bit ridiculous really) but if is a law then I wouldn't be surprised.

Hiya
münchen.de (so the City Council)'s guide to BBQ.
Public areas where BBQs are allowed have signs up to indicate this but you can get a downloadable leaflet from the link above.
Here are some parts of the info summarised in English:
You may only grill with charcoal or gas in a usual grill. Nothing else. One-way grills are fine (the Wal-Mart ones with the flip-out legs are excellent I find).
You are not allowed to build a fire that has direct ground contact due to safety and enviromental reasons.
No tables, beer banks, proper chairs, pavillions or pagodas are allowed - it is a natural area, not yer living room. A small removable sunshade is probably OK, a big beer garden brolly isn't.
You must keep about 10m distance away from trees and dried-out grass (fire risk), take all your rubbish with you when you leave (or place it in the bin provided - yes you should also divide your rubbish - this is for safety and enviromental reasons) and keep the noise down as there are people living nearby.
Around the Isar you are permitted to BBQ on the pebble banks south of the Brudermühlbrücke (Mittlerer Ring South). The "Grillzone" starts 100 meters south of the Brudermühlbrücke, running down towards the city limits, so until about 500 meters before Großhesseloher Brücke. To the North of the Oberföhringer Wehrs near St. Emmeram you can grill as well.
BBQs are not allowed in the following areas:
In the central areas from Brudermühlbrücke to Oberföhringer Wehr, so that includes the Braunauer Eisenbahnbrücke, Wittelsbacher Brücke, Reichenbachbrücke, Museumsinsel and Praterinsel.
Grill in those areas and you should expect a fine.
Katrina

Tub of vaseline, some rubber gloves, and a copy of "farmer boy weekly" would be more successful.

Don't you be giving country boy policemen's secrets away there don_riina !

Was in the papers last week (Süddeutsche) that the cops are preparing a big BBQ crackdown with on the spot cash fines!

Cheers for the warning. How much is the fine?

Oops! Sorry!

I heard it was 60€ per person present!

Damn! 60€ per person! I might have to rethink my illegal activites then. Well at least the bbq one

Having a company BBQ there on Thursday night. These are the rules as explained to me:

The City forbids the installation of tables, benches and tents, as well as open fire, and prefers that disposable dishes are not used. Please bring cushion, blankets, cups/mugs/plates/utensils, torch and any other things you may need: sun creame, sun protection, protection...

I guess you can see why. If they had no rules, the place would end up looking like Littlehampton. Call me a cynic, but I think if us humans were allowed to do what we wanted, the whole place would go to rats. So, probably in a minority, I think it’s a good idea to get people to be responsible when it comes to being outdoors. Not all of us are responsible enough to take our shit home with us; the police are just accepting that by making people bring their own things from home, they’ll not throw their own shit away.

Had a brilliant evening down at the Isar. BBQ, Beer and I even met the beer courier. Seems popular, the police turned up and paraded for a while but all were properly behaved. Top night and will be going there again mit family.