Andechs from Munich: The Monastery Beer Garden and the Hike Up to It

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If the idea of a beer garden run by monks sounds like something invented for a tour brochure, it is not; Andechs is an actual Benedictine priory, and the beer is how it has paid its bills for longer than most European countries have existed in their current form. It sits on its own hill above the Ammersee, close enough to Munich for a half-day out and far enough that almost nobody treats it as one. It belongs on the list next to my guide to Bavarian beer, and it is worth planning around, because the walk up is most of the reason to go.

A monastery that has brewed beer since the 1400s

Andechs’s own history divides its life into six eras, starting with “The Beginnings,” from 1455 to 1803, when the community of Benedictine monks that founded it arrived from Tegernsee¹. The brewery today makes Andechser Hell, several dark and wheat beers, a Bergbock Hell, a Doppelbock Dunkel and alcohol-free versions of both the Hell and the wheat beer, all under the monastery’s own EMAS environmental certification. The Wallfahrtskirche, the pilgrimage church at the top of the hill, is a separate draw from the beer entirely and is open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., which means you can see the church and still make it to the Bräustüberl for lunch.

The Bräustüberl: hours and what is on tap

The monastery’s own beer garden and restaurant, the Bräustüberl, keeps two sets of hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. with last orders at that closing time on weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with the same last-orders cutoff². It closes for Christmas Eve and Day, New Year’s Day, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and runs shorter hours on December 31. A separate Klostergasthof, the monastery’s guesthouse restaurant, keeps similar hours if the Bräustüberl is full. Every beer on the list is brewed on the hill above you, which is not something you can say about most beer gardens in Munich itself.

Source: andechs.de².

Getting there: the train, and the hike from Herrsching

Andechs’s own directions page routes visitors through the regional public transit planner for the train and bus connection, rather than naming a specific line on the page itself, so I am not going to invent a line number it does not state³. What is confirmed, from a hiking tour operator that runs the route directly, is the shape of the trip: the train to Herrsching am Ammersee, then roughly three miles on foot up the Way of St. James, the same pilgrim route used for centuries, with the option to walk back down to Herrsching by a different path along the lake⁵. Budget the better part of an hour each way on foot if you are reasonably fit; this is a hill, not a stroll, though nothing about it is a technical climb. If you would rather not walk, buses run between Herrsching station and the monastery for the trip up.

Andechs without the hike: the VR tour

The old-fashioned brewery tour of vats and copper kettles is gone. As of September 2026, Andechs runs a “TIMERIDE GO!” experience instead, a mobile VR headset walk-through of the brewing process with an optional tasting, priced by the partner company TimeRide at €19.90 for an adult without tasting or €24.90 with one; a reduced rate applies for ages 13 to 17, groups of seven or more, seniors 70 and up and disabled visitors, and a family ticket for three people with at least one child runs €62.70 with tasting or €47.70 without⁴. It is a different experience than a walk through a working brewhouse, and worth knowing about before you plan a visit around seeing actual brewing equipment.

Is it a half-day trip or a full one

Treat it as a half-day if you take the bus straight up, have a beer and a walk around the church, and head back to Herrsching by early afternoon. Treat it as most of a day if you hike, because the walk up alone takes the better part of an hour each way for most people, before you have spent any time at the top at all. Either version works from Munich and back in a single day; the difference is whether Andechs itself is the whole afternoon or one stop among several. I would not pair it with much else on the same day. The hill, the church and the beer garden deserve the time on their own, and rushing the walk to fit in something else afterward defeats the point of having walked at all.

Resi says The beer is the same whether you hike up or take the bus, and the hike is the better version of the day. Go on a morning when the weather is not doing anything dramatic, walk up, and let the Doppelbock Dunkel be the reward instead of the whole point.

If you would rather have a guide lead the hike than navigate the trail yourself, the one I checked is the Private Andechs Monastery Brewery Hike from Munich, run by the operator Beerwanderers. It is a private tour lasting five to eight hours, meeting at Munich’s main train station at 8:50 a.m. and taking public transportation to Herrsching, then covering the roughly three-mile Way of St. James on foot to the monastery, with time at the Bräustüberl and a return by a different lakeside route. It included round-trip transportation and the guided hike, with food and drinks at the monastery and any rural brewpubs along the way at your own expense. It was $272.91 a person as of September 26, 2026, rated 5.0 from 45 reviews, and the booking is non-refundable⁵.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you get to Andechs monastery from Munich?

By train to Herrsching am Ammersee, then either a bus up the hill or a hike of roughly three miles along the Way of St. James, the historic pilgrim route.

How long is the walk from Herrsching to Andechs?

About three miles each way by the Way of St. James, with a different route available for the walk back down along the lake.

What beer does Andechs monastery brew?

Andechser Hell, a Spezial Hell, a Bergbock Hell, an Export Dunkel, a Doppelbock Dunkel, wheat beers in both light and dark versions, and alcohol-free versions of the Hell and the wheat beer.

Can you still tour the Andechs brewery?

Not in the traditional sense. As of September 2026, the monastery offers a VR headset walk-through of the brewing process instead, with an optional tasting.

What time does the Andechs beer garden close?

The Bräustüberl takes last orders at 8 p.m. every day, opening at 11 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. on weekends and holidays.

Is Andechs a real working monastery?

Yes. It is a Benedictine priory with a history the monastery traces to 1455, and the brewery is how it has supported itself for centuries.

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