Westpark parkrun, Munich

Another international parkrun adventure for me this week, with my first visit to Westpark parkrun, Munich! This is my second international parkrun adventure this year, after my first event in Denmark at Amager Fælled parkrun during their 2025 special event. And it is also my third German event, after Nidda parkrun in Frankfurt and Riemer parkrun, the other Munich parkrun currently available.

The third visit to a German event also brought an interesting tidbit in terms of obscure parkrun challenges: my Pc Index has increased to 3. This means that there are 3 parkrun countries where I have run at least 3 events. In my case obviously the UK and now Italy (x4) and Germany (x3).

I have been in Munich for work at least once or twice a month for a couple of years now and it was a disgrace I had only visited one of the two parkrun events available in the capital of Bavaria. This week I was in Cologne mid week and had the option to schedule further meetings for the end of the week in NRW, Frankfurt or Munich. I considered the first two regions, since they host a lot of great events, but missing Westpark parkrun kept bugging me. So I opted for the long train trip down to Munich, enjoying the comfortably and reliably consistent Deutsche Bahn delays.

Last time I was parkrunning in Munich was also a hot July day and Riemer parkrun, while great, is fully exposed to the sun. This time, the bright sunny day was actually a positive, given Westpark parkrun offers a huge amount of shade, with views on the water enhanced by good lighting. So if you are coming to town, you have both options.

Finally, Westpark parkrun is pretty close to the area where Oktoberfest takes place. Not sure how an early Saturday morning run fits into a week of drinking and partying the night (and afternoon, and morning) away, but bear it in mind if you are around in September and October.

Anyway, enough with my rumblings. It’s time to dive into some more info about Westpark parkrun, Munich!

Trip to Westpark parkrun and parking

If you are reading this post in English on a London-focused parkrun website, chances are you are not German or living in Germany. If you are, welcome and hope you enjoy my adventures. But if you are coming from abroad, the first step is obviously getting to Munich. The local airport is very well connected to most European cities, so that will not be an issue. Or you always have the great ICE train network if you are in Germany already. German ICEs are awesome, they get you pretty much everywhere. As long as you are ok to deal with the inevitable delays. Yes, the stereotype of German efficiency is just a brilliant marketing success, but it’s not really rooted in reality.

German precision, however, is not only a stereotype. The official event site offers very detailed help to reach the event from Munich and surrounding ares. Subway, S-Bahn and local buses are all available since the location is just outside Munich’s centre.

However, I will be honest and confess I have let my ultimate lazy spirit win and took a taxi both ways. I was staying in an hotel not far from Munich central station and the taxi ride cost about 20 euros each way. Traffic in Munich can be pretty bad during the week because there always seem to be roadworks somewhere, but roads were virtually empty on the way there and not much worse after parkrun. The taxi ride took less than 15 minutes each way. Yes, German taxis are expensive.

In Germany I usually use FreeNow as an app to source car and taxi rides and it works well. I put Restaurant Nestroy-Garten as a destination, since the map shows it being just at the entrance of the park. The taxi driver thought it was a Beer Garden, which made for a short funny conversation just after 8am on a parkrunday morning.

Westpark parkrun: start and briefings

I had not been at Westpark before and it surprised me very positively. The most famous green are in Munich is probably the English Gardens, and they are majestic. But Westpark manages to recreate part of that magic, even if in a smaller scale. The side effect of it is that it seems to be extremely popular with runners, walkers and cyclists. This is probably why the local team is obsessively reminding to keep to the right of the path and even lays out cones to force it for the first 400m of the course. Let’s make sure we behave and don’t put this great event at risk.

If you come from the South of the park like I did, just walk into it and turn right after the restaurant. The little round square with a fountain in the shape of a round rock will be there, less than 100m away. I was there around 8:20 and core team members were already there setting things up. Most people arrived 10 minutes or so before 9am, just in time for the party to get going.

While everyone meets around the big ball, when it is time to start the briefings, the team shouted out that we should start walking down the hill. Mmm, hill… we are walking down to make sure we don’t have to climb it, right?

Once down, the nice chap who was shepherding us, turned onto a grass clearing and the First Timers Briefing started. A lot of tourists were here as it always seems to be the case and the briefing was held in English, after checking if there was anyone who only spoke German (apparently not). The briefing was very welcoming and it gave a good overview of the course and locations of toilets and cafe. And again, pressing reminders not to use the whole path.

Shortly afterwards, everybody lines up alone (half) of the path for the Main Briefing. This was bilingual, with sentences in both German and English. However, one thing caught my attention: everybody was positioning facing the uphill. Evil, evil course design! 🙂

Then the countdown came, loud and clear. 3,2,1.

Go!

Westpark parkrun, Munich course review – star ratings

Westpark parkrun, Munich course review – route highlights

There were 225 parkrunners on the day I visited. This is definitely close to a record for Westpark parkrun, over the last few months I can only see a couple of events that reached 227. However, this venue is not new to large fields, with all events since March showing more than 100 runners and walkers and most events showing a field in a 150-200 range. Winter seems to see fewer people, understandably. That said, at no point I found the course to be congested, even with the strictly enforced ‘half path only’ policy, at least for the first 4/500m. It’s a course that is a pleasure to run on and it would remain so even if it were to host 100 more parkrunners.

There are quite a few turns, but they are nearly all wide and comfortable. There are no bottlenecks or gates, the only time when you have to pay some attention to where you are going is the start and the few metres of climb immediately after that. And even there, it is not congested, just moderately busy. If anything, the only thing to bear in mind is that there will be cyclists riding at very high speed. And some of them can be quite liberal in the way they choose their optimal lines among parkrunners.

Surface-wise, it is either great, smooth tarmac or hard pressed gravel. Great surface to run on throughout and if you don’t suffer climbs too much this could actually be a PB opportunity.

Elevation-wise, at 63m elevation gain over 2 laps, Westpark parkrun falls firmly in that wide category called undulating. You never know what that means when approaching one of this, don’t you? In this specific case, you will have two steepish but short climbs and a few long, mild and enjoyable downhills. This makes elevation more support than nuisance, if you can brave those two scary bits. In terms of course design, some sadism must have been involved. The run starts with a climb, which is kind of ok since you are still fresh. But then, they put the finish funnel on top of that hill. A nice way to make sure you will have to climb that hill at the very end too, just before reaching the finish funnel. 3 times, not 2. Evil.

In terms of course design, it is pretty simple. Two laps around the lake, with the finish about 100m after the start. Just to make sure you enjoy the hill 3 times, as just noted

A quick Relive route plot is on my YouTube Channel, with longer video highlights embedded below.

Once it is time to start, the human wave starts running and walking heading back in the big stone ball direction. It is busy, but pretty fluid. There is a very short flat segment before it starts going uphill. It is not long, but it is reasonably steep. 2/3 of the way up you pass by a right turn that will be only used when heading for the finish funnel. Once at the top, you turn right and run 1/4 of the little round square before entering the next wide path. This will be a beautiful wide path surrounded by mature trees on both sides.

Eventually you pass by some basketball courts and keep going a bit further before taking a sharp left turn. Here you pass by the public toilets block. Keep going straight for a short while before turning right again and starting a longer, slightly downhill section again under mature trees. It’s a fun section and gravity always helps. At the end of this section you reach another children playground and, immediately after it, you turn right again to head for a sharp right turn with a marshal in attendance. This is the point where you leave the ‘forest’ section and start heading back towards the lake.

At the beginning, you will be running on an even wider tarmac path with view on open fields on your right and trees on your left. It’s a large, windy but fast road with beautiful views surrounding you and a relatively flat profile. Eventually you will start seeing the far end of the lake through grass on your right. A few friendly ducks started appearing here, completely unfazed by the humans running under the sun. I don’t speak fluent duck, but I think they said we were crazy, with a slight German accent.

Soon afterwards, you will reach a built up area, with several wooden buildings and a large seating area on your left: the post run cafe. As you reach it, turn left and keep going on the side of the lake. Pass the bridge and fight the temptation to skip 500m: do not turn and keep going. Now you are running right by the lake, with no trees or high grass spoiling the view. As you reach the end of the lake, there is another large clearing where you turn right and then immediately left, to head for the feet of the hill on this side of the lake. Turn sharp right and start climbing to reach the top, with a nice view on the lake from high ground. Again, relatively steep but not long.

Once on top, it’s time for another very wide turn heading right and down again for a fun downhill segment. At the bottom you are again running by the lake and will need to keep going straight and past the other end of the bridge again. After a short segment under high, mature trees, you will now have to turn sharp left and you will find yourself where the original start line was.

Do it all again once more and reach the start line location. Now, tackle the climb for the third and last time and turn sharp right at that tempting intersection you had to ignore twice. You will now find a very short flat straight that heads directly for the finish funnel.

Congratulations on completing Westpark parkrun!

Facilities at Westpark parkrun, Munich

Westpark is a beautiful park with a lot to offer and plenty to see and keep you entertained if you want to spend a few hours here after your weekly parkrun fix. It seems to be heavily used for fitness by locals, so there will already be a lot of runners before the event and, as the morning goes on, the number of speeding cyclists will also keep growing.

There are several playing fields, children playgrounds and a few basketball pitches not far from the meeting point.

Public toilets are available to the West of the meeting point, by the children playgrounds. This is about 400m away from the meeting point, so if you want to go there before 9am, get there in time.

The recommended cafe is a beautiful multifunction drinking and eating area on the opposite side of the lake. You can get there relatively quickly crossing a bridge that is not part of Westpark parkrun’s course and the large lakeside outside seating area is really beautiful and relaxing. The cafe only opens at 10am, so if you go there immediately after the event you might have to wait a bit, relaxing in the sun.

As a competitor to the McDonald’s index, I am continuing to collect data for the parkbreakfast index: how much is breakfast at each location?

At Westpark parkrun, I ordered a single espresso, a lemonade and chocolate cake. This cost E10.6, not cheap, but Munich is not cheap and it was great location.

Westpark parkrun, Munich: Video Highlights

As usual, I’ve taken a few video snippets during the run to give an idea of the course. If you like it, please subscribe, it’s a fun past time for me 🙂

The other parkrun videos on my YouTube channel are all linked on the course review and video highlights summary page.

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Achievements and performance

Conclusions

Westpark parkrun is a really beautiful and highly enjoyable event. The course is gorgeous and a lot of fun to run on, the team is extremely welcoming to tourists and the cafe afterwards is gorgeous on a sunny day. Munich is blessed to have the two great events it has and both are definitely worth visiting for tourists.

There are a lot of other locations I want to visit when in Germany, but I would not discount the possibility I will come here again.

Finally, obviously, danke, Westpark parkrun team for your hospitality!