Westpark, Munich

Westpark is a broad urban park shaped for the International Garden Exhibition held in Munich in 1983. Landscape architect Peter Kluska designed it, and the park now covers about 69 hectares across roughly 2.4 kilometres from east to west. Garmischer Straße cuts through the grounds, while a planted pedestrian and cycling bridge reunites the two sections.

Follow the curving paths through planted gardens, sports and play areas, and places for a relaxed meal. The rose garden is a particularly rich display, with more than 20,000 roses representing 500 species. In the eastern section, Mollsee is an artificial lake that draws people with model boats.

The Asian ensemble preserves four gardens from the exhibition. Its Chinese garden encloses a pond and arranges its paths around the theme of the four seasons and the stages of a human life. Nearby, a Japanese garden evokes the Heian period; a Nepali pagoda was fashioned by 200 master carvers; and a Thai sala contains Germany’s earliest consecrated Gautama Buddha statue. Westpark turns an exhibition site into a living landscape of gardens, water and public art.