Impressions
The morning in pictures
Photographs from our Stammtisch at the Kocherlball at the Chinese Tower.
More pictures and impressions on Instagram: @chinesischerturm
Munich · English Garden · since the 19th century
While the city still sleeps, the band strikes up at the Chinese Tower. A festival that once belonged to the servants and today gathers all of Munich in Tracht to dance. Early in the morning, under the open sky, for everyone.
Sunday, 19 July 2026, 6:00 am · Chinese Tower
Chapter I · The Tradition
The Kocherlball is no invented spectacle. It is a revived piece of Munich social history, telling of the people who otherwise had no festivals of their own.
In the late 19th century, on summer Sundays, the city's domestic servants gathered: cooks, nursemaids, maids and farmhands. The word "Kocherl" meant the kitchen and household staff. They came in the early morning hours, roughly between five and eight, into the English Garden to the Chinese Tower, long before their employers woke and duty began. It was the only free time they had.
What began as a casual gathering grew into a popular amusement, drawing up to eight thousand servants on summer Sundays. They danced to brass music, talked, courted, laughed. The Kocherlball was soon the most sociable festival of the year.
In 1904 the authorities banned it for a lack of decency. For almost nine decades the tower fell silent on Sunday mornings. Only in 1989, for the 200th anniversary of the English Garden, was the Kocherlball revived. Since then it has taken place every year on the third Sunday in July and traditionally begins at six in the morning.
Servants meet early on Sundays at the Chinese Tower, in their only free hour.
The authorities forbid the ball for a lack of decency. Almost nine decades of silence.
For the English Garden's 200th anniversary the ball returns.
Annually on the third July Sunday, around 10,000 guests in Tracht in good years.
Impressions
Photographs from our Stammtisch at the Kocherlball at the Chinese Tower.
More pictures and impressions on Instagram: @chinesischerturm
Chapter II · The Programme
The Kocherlball follows a simple rhythm: first the band, then free dancing, and in between the guided group dances led by the dance master. No printed programme, just the music.
The hardy secure the best seats long before sunrise. First come, first served.
The band strikes up. With the first waltz the ball is open, in the first morning light.
Waltz, polka, Zwiefacher, Landler and the Munich Francaise. Dance if you like, watch if you prefer.
The dance master leads line and figure dances. Joining in is possible without prior knowledge.
The sociable highlight: a figure-rich group dance many take part in.
The ball winds down and the regular beer-garden service at the Chinese Tower begins.
Chapter III · The Dances
No one has to dance perfectly. Most dances are explained in a few minutes, and the dance master leads the figures on site in the morning.
The mainstay of every ball. Turned gently, often the first dance of the day.
The typical Bavarian couple dance in duple time, lively and down to earth.
The switch between turn and waltz within one piece. The Old Bavarian speciality.
Fast, sociable, easy to learn. The dance where no one stays seated.
A leisurely Alpine turning dance, one of the oldest at the ball.
The figure-rich highlight in rows and squares, led by the dance master.
Chapter IV · Tracht and Custom
Chapter V · Getting there
There is no parking at the Chinese Tower, and the English Garden is car-free. If you come early, come by public transport or bike. On early Sundays these run less often, so check the first suitable connection the evening before.
Also bus 154, right at the destination.
A few minutes' walk to the tower from there.
About ten minutes on foot, or onward by bus.
The English Garden is well connected. Racks along the paths.
Chinese Tower · English Garden · 80538 Munich Open in maps
Chapter VI · Our table
We are a Munich Stammtisch, a regulars' table long bound to the Chinese Tower. The Kocherlball is one of the dates we never miss.
The festival is not put on by us. It is a grown Munich folk festival, older than any of us, with roots in the 19th century. The Kocherlball is traditionally run by the tenants of the beer garden at the Chinese Tower together with the cultural department of the City of Munich. For us it is not a date we organise but one we love. Every third Sunday in July we are at the tower early, in Tracht, at the long tables.
This page is our small homage to a festival that has shaped Munich for generations. Come by, join the dance, and if a cheerful Stammtisch is sitting under the tower, that might be us.
Chapter VII · Questions
No ticket, no stage, no entry fee. Just the early hour, the music and all of Munich in Tracht. Mark the date and come by.
See how to get there