The Eisbach - Past, Present & Future of the World's Most Famous City Surf Spot
In the autumn of 2025, after the annual cleaning of Munich’s waterways, the city’s infamous standing wave, the Eisbach, stopped working. Word in the media was that this could be the end of an era for the world’s most famous river wave, but Eisbach surfer and editor of German surf magazine BLUE is calling ‘fake news’ on the neigh sayers.
Read on to discover the past, present and future of what Munich’s tourist office describes as "the most consistent, largest, and best river wave in a major city worldwide."
20.11.25
4 min read
Written by Andi Spies
Photography by Danny Burrows
The Eisbach river flows along the edge of the English Garden, in the heart of Munich. Though inconspicuous at first glance, it has a special feature that has made it famous worldwide: the Eisbach Wave. It was first surfed in the 1970s, when a few hardy surf enthusiasts manipulated the flow of the river to create an urban surf spot with a city backdrop.
The current situation...
This autumn, as part of the annual Bachauskehr (stream cleaning), the water level at the Eisbach was lowered and the riverbed cleaned. But ever since the iconic green-faced Eisbach wave has been replaced by an unsurfable white-water roller, with several hypotheses are circulating, including reduced water flow due to the diversion of the Isar, changes in the subsoil, or altered currents.
The news that the "Eisbach wave was no longer surfable" caused a flood of global media coverage, from ABC News and the New York Times to the Guardian and all the major TV and publishing houses in Germany. However, Quirin Rohleder, a long-time Eisbach surfer, explained in a TV interview on ARD's Tagesthemen that the "collapse" of the wave is "a completely normal phenomenon that has occurred repeatedly in the past." Check out the news article here.
As the Eisbach is now a major tourist attraction for the city, its ‘disappearance’ is of political importance. Mayor Dieter Reiter, a self-proclaimed "friend" of Munich's surfers, invited the Eisbach crew to a roundtable at City Hall to discuss steps to restore the wave, including an inspection of the watercourse, structural measures to stabilize flow conditions, and adding gravel to the riverbed. The city even brought in flow experts from Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg to investigate. But the wheels of city administration turn slowly and as of November 15, the stream is still not surfable.
Some Eisbach locals question the efficiency of the city's approach when the local surfers themselves have the necessary know-how to make the wave work – proven recently on a November nighttime DIY operation, when the surfers sank a "ramp" (a wooden rope construction) into the riverbed to recreate the wave.
The concept of a wooden ramp is not new, with surfers from the wave’s inception anchoring a heavy board in front of a wave to enable surfers to manipulate the wave and create an optimal shape. But legal issues have played an important role at the Eisbach, especially since the fatal accident this year, and the board has subsequently been removed.
The Eisbach is now at a turning point. On the one hand, it is an icon of urban surfing and a tourist attraction that is an integral part of Munich's sporting and cultural identity. On the other hand, the tragic accident, maintenance work, and current lack of waves have demonstrated its fragility. The coming months will reveal whether the city and surfers can safely and reliably revive the wave with the same energy that made it what it is today.
Illegal. Tolerated. Legalized.
For a long time, surfing on the Eisbach was illegal, a cat-and-mouse game between surfers and the police and administration. In the 2000s, it was tolerated but after a citizen initiative and wide media attention the mayor declared surfing on the Eisbach legal. Since then, a framework of rules and permits has been in place; a sort of "surf at your own risk" deal for physically fit individuals with a self-releasing leash and a buddy - the city administration absolving itself from unlimited liability.
These rules are the result of a fatal accident on April 16, 2025, when a 33-year-old woman got caught on the bottom and because of the strong current could not release her leash. Fire department divers rescued her after 30 minutes, but she later died in hospital.
It was the first fatal accident on the Eisbach and received widespread international media coverage. The Munich Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation, lowered the water level, and examined the riverbed. However, they were unable to determine a cause.
