It was my birthday last week. I had just returned from a two-week action-packed jaunt across England and Wales, so I wasn’t up for anything strenuous. The weather thwarted my plans to head south to the Alps for a hike, so I turned my attentions twenty miles north, to Freising.
Despite it being under an hour away from Munich, I’d never been to Freising before. It’s a quaint little town that reminded me of my favourite German city, Tübingen, with cobbled streets, small independent stores and beautiful Altstadt.
It also looks like a far lovelier place to shop on a Saturday than Munich city center – the busiest places were the ice-cream cafes. After wandering through the town, I headed west, to Weihenstephan. It’s a fifteen minute stroll along the Moosach river (the signs aren’t great, if you’re planning on going, do your research on Google Maps first!), before climbing the hill to the brewery.
Weihenstephan is the world’s oldest brewery, founded in 1040. It’s also famed for various other things – they claim it’s the birthplace of everyone’s beer garden favourite obazda, and their single bock Vitus won a European silver at the World Beer Awards in 2013 (they won world’s best beer in 2011). Sadly, I only had time for a quick Weissbier, but it gives me a good reason to return.
It’s a lovely, traditional beer garden – with freshly roasted Hendl, sausages and obazda to soak up all that beer you’re trying. Pets (of all sizes) are very welcome:
If you fancy escaping the city for the day and fancy a change from the Alps, you can do far worse than head to Weihenstephan. Parking on a Saturday and Sunday is largely free in Freising after 1pm, and if you are planning on having a few drinks, the S1 takes 40 minutes from Hauptbahnhof to Freising.
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