Munich

At 375 hectares, the English Garden is bigger than New York's central Park. Dogs must be leashed on main paths, but four marked Freilaufflächen, notably near Schwabinger Bach and the Hirschau, allow off-leash running from sunrise to sunset.

The city's medieval heart hosts the neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus and its 43-bell Glockenspiel, which performs at 11:00 and 12:00 daily. The pedestrian zone allows leashed dogs, though the crowds at showtime are best avoided with sensitive pets.

The renaturalised Isar winds 14 kilometres through the city with gravel banks, shallow side channels and the Flaucher area south of Wittelsbacher Brücke designated as an official off-leash zone. Swimming is permitted for dogs outside the central Museumsinsel stretch.

The 140-stall daily food market has a central biergarten seating 600 under maypoles and chestnuts. Bavarian tradition explicitly welcomes dogs at biergarten tables; water bowls are standard and a Leberkäs-Semmel ends most canine visits happily.

The summer Wittelsbach residence sits in a 180-hectare baroque park with canals and woodland. Dogs on leash are welcome on every main path, though they are banned from the formal parterre near the palace façade and from the four garden pavilions.

Built for the 1972 Games, the 85-hectare park has hills recycled from war rubble and a central lake. A large fenced Hundewiese west of the Olympiaturm lets dogs sprint off-leash while owners enjoy skyline views toward the Alps on clear Föhn days.