A Gem in the German Alps: Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Springtime

2022 European Adventure: Part 5 of 6

Garmisch-Partenkirchen (along with being a mouthful of a name) is a beautiful town nestled in a valley in the German Alps. When deciding where to go after the lovely town of Heidelberg, all it took was one picture before I was hooked on Garmisch-Partenkirchen (just scroll down and you’ll probably feel the same).

With low hanging clouds, jagged peaks, traditional Bavarian architecture, and a long history, this is the perfect European mountain town.

Getting to Garmisch-Partenkirchen was another adventure, as train travel often seems to be (no splitting trains this time, which is a shame because we were ready!), but several long delays and one instance of running through the station just to miss our connection and have to wait another hour. But we entertained ourselves playing cribbage in the train station.

When we finally arrived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, we walked about ten minutes from the train station to the Partenkirchen downtown area and our AirBnB. The view out the window of the AirBnB instantly made all of the travel stress worth it!

It started to rain just as we were getting settled, but it was too beautiful to stay inside, so several of us headed out to walk the River Path in the rain. The downtown areas of both Garmisch and Partenkirchen are charming, with dark trim on white paint and beautifully painted pictures on the walls. In the neighborhoods, we gushed over the luscious yards and blooming flowers and beautiful homes. I could have walked every street in Garmisch-Partenkirchen three times over and not gotten tired of it.

cards and phone on a cribbage board app lying on a stack of backpacks

Once home to the winter Olympics nearly a hundred years ago, this mountain town captured aspects both familiar and foreign. The shops downtown boasted ski gear and camelback packs and north face coats. Even the architecture, in a few instances, felt like looking at Breckenridge.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen German alps town wreathed in mist

Yet, unlike Colorado, it was so green, humidity thickening the air. Sheep grazed in fields and the flowering valleys were studded with small wooden sheds. The clouds, especially, were transporting, as they settled around us like mist and drifted below the peaks, muffling everything so it was peaceful and quiet.

In this way, Garmisch-Partenkirchen felt nothing like Breckenridge or Vail. There are always things happening in those popular Colorado mountain towns. Cars and people everywhere–and the sky feels so high in the Colorado mountains. The German Alps in this quaint town encapsulated a far more intimate feeling.

Since we’d had a late lunch, we grabbed some wine, cheese, and strawberries from a local market and had a quiet happy hour in our AirBnB. The view outside the windows was as good as any movie, and the calm, quiet vibe of the town whispered in my ear. This is a place I think I could return to again and again, and by that point I’d barely even done anything!

Linderhof Palace

The next morning, while it dripped rain, we took a series of buses through several other towns in the area. My face was pressed to the bus window to take it all in, and I swear I sighed over every village we passed because each was just as charming as Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Our final destination was Linderhof Palace. This is the only completed castle of King Lugdwig II of Bavaria (1845-1886). Another one (incomplete) is Neuschwanstein (aka, the fairy tale castle. If you haven’t heard of Neuschwanstein, Google ‘the fairy tale castle.’ It will be the first result).

Linderhof Palace is remote by design (hence the long, consulted bus rides). Ludwig came to this castle purely to be alone. Built into the Rococo style and heavily influenced by the French (King Louis the 14^th and 15^th, and Versailles palace), it is extraordinarily opulent.

The upper floor, where Ludwig lived when in residence, held a music room, receiving room, bedroom, dining room, and study. The royal bed chamber was built like the king’s rooms in Versailles with a platform bed and a receiving chamber (it was customary for the French king to receive callers from his bed at morning and night). The dining room has a table that can be cranked up and down from the kitchen below so Ludwig did not have to interact with servants. Each room is separated by a waiting room for the servants.

The castle itself is lovely walk through through, if overwhelming. However, the true gem for me was the gardens and the surrounding valley. The flowers and hedges are extensive, with a beautiful man-made waterfall at the back of the castle. But it was the mountains surrounding the valley that really stole the show, even obscured by the mist.

As I wrote before, this area of Germany felt so sheltered and intimate, and I can completely understand why Ludwig II had a quite retreat built here. While all the gold and the gilding feels very formal and alienating, everything else about this castle and it’s grounds screams peace, quiet, and reflection.

Linderhof palace exterior looking over the pool in the gardens

Maddie in the Linderhof palace gardens with blue umbrella

With all the buses and wandering the spacious gardens, Linderhof turned into a full day excursion.

By the time we returned to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and drank a lot of tea to warm our mist-soaked bones, it was evening. We strolled the Garmisch downtown area, wandering into shops full of kitschy tourist souvenirs and past expensive restaurants. To end the night, we had a delicious dinner at a restaurant recommended by a family friend of Julia’s.

The next morning was also drizzly, but we didn’t let that deter us. We wanted to see the beautiful Partnach Gorge.

Partnach Gorge

It was easy to reach the gorge. We picked up the River Path a block from our AirBnB and followed it to the edge of town (past the ski jump). Then walked up the winding residential road about 20 minutes to reach the entrance.

The residental road is gorgeous, and you won’t be alone walking up it. It seems several serious hikes must start from the road because we saw a lot of people loaded down with backpacks and trekking poles.

At the end of the road is the entrance to the Partnach Gorge. You have to pay to enter (only 6 Euro). And then you step into the tunnel and begin walking through the rock. It’s probably a good idea to have a flashlight, or at least pull out your phone and use it to light the way. The tunnel was fairly short, so we could see the light at the other end, but there were a lot of puddles that the light helped us avoid.

When you emerge from the first tunnel, you find yourself on a rock ledge that opens to the gorge. The water is rushing and spitting and spinning just a few feet below and the rock above towers up twenty to thirty feet. You are truly in the gorge!

The hike through the gorge is narrow and wet (even when it’s not raining). We were glad for the rain because the magic of the gorge would have been greatly diminished if we were waiting in lines for the tunnels and squishing to the side to allow other tourists to squeeze past.

It’s loud–so loud you have to yell to your friends to be heard–as waterfalls thunder down from above and the water below wrestles and shoves it’s way through the narrow rock. Yet it still holds the magic of Garmisch-Partenkirchen–the misty sky, the perpetual damp, the greenery everywhere, the feeling of being alone but connected, in the wild but also protected.

hole in the rock wall of the gorge that the path leads through

While the gorge’s crystalline blue water is brown when it’s raining, the gorge is just as beautiful, and maybe even more so because you have it to yourself. I loved the waterfalls crashing over my head and the water seeping from the rocks and dripping on my nose, and getting to stand and just watch the swirling current with no sense of needing to move on, or step aside, or give someone else a turn.

Like the rest of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, it felt kind of like it was, in that moment, just there for me.

Werdenfels Castle Ruins

We discovered that there used to be a castle outside of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, so of course I wanted to go see the ruins. We walked through Garmisch to the town of Farchant, and then went off into the woods to find the Werdenfels Castle Ruins. Because of some construction, we may or may not have cut across some private property to reach the castle trail. 😉

The hike was short through shockingly green trees and over soft earth. It wasn’t raining anymore, but the world still smelled of it. When I brushed against branches, they deposited little crystals of water on the sleeve of my rain coat.

Strangely, you pass a small restaurant right before you reach the castle ruins (so you can also drive there if you have a car). Then you climb a short hill right up to the outer wall of the ruins.

The history of the castle…

It is not known when the castle was built but it was first mentioned in documents in 1294. It served as the administrative center of the County of Werdenfels until 1632. It is a spur castle, which means it is built on a spur of hillside or mountain, and thus protected on three sides by steep hillsides. However, with its thin walls and lack of towers, it was hardly defensible. Instead, the castle served as a symbol of power, visible on the hillside from a great distance and located on an important trade and military route.

Not all governors took up residence in the castle, but some did. During the 16^th century, the castle also served as a prison, and about 130 people were incarcerated for crimes such as witchcraft and poaching. The castle was abandoned in 1632 when it began to fall into disrepair. After 1676, it was used a quarry and stones from the castle were used to build churches in Garmisch and Farchant. Since 1822 the castle has been privately owned, and in 1905-6, the walls were secured and partially rebuilt. Sporadic restoration is still taking place.

Thanks for allowing me the quick history lesson, because it means something to me. However, it’s not the history that’s the most important.

It’s that I can imagine what someone passing by on the road below would have thought, looking up at the fortress on the hill. It’s that I can imagine the stonemason’s groaning about hauling all the stones to the top of the hill when they built the castle, and I can put myself in the shoes of the peasants of the valley when they trekked up the steep road to pay their taxes. I’m sure they rolled their eyes and complained about how the lord’s castle had to be in the hardest to reach spot! He gets to ride his horse up this damn hill, but we have to walk it, or something like that.

It’s that I can stand on the wall and look out over the valley. It’s that I can imagine all the people before me who would have done the same.

Lake Eibsee

We waited until the last morning to visit Lake Eibsee because the lake is all about the views and the crystal clear water. We knew we wouldn’t get the same jaw-dropping view while it was overcast and raining.

Thankfully, the bus stopped directly outside our front door, so we caught the 6:20 bus and rode it an hour to the lake. There is a path all the way around that we stayed on for a while, stepping over large roots and admiring the lacy moss clinging to the trees. But we cut off after a while and walked along the rocky shores of the lake. The water was so clear and we spotted multiple fish. A mother duck and her line of ducklings came past and we watched their little feet churn beneath the calm surface of the water.

Behind the idyllic lake, the jagged peaks of the Alps towered into the clouds. Sometimes the peaks are visible behind a swirl of mist and other times they disappear into a smear of grey and white. It was a beautiful spot and we had a small picnic with our breakfast pastries, enjoying the sun on our skin for the first time since Heidelberg.

Lake Eibsee with the Zugspitze in the background

Lake Eibsee with purple flowers in the foreground

Also located at Lake Eibsee is the cable car to top of the Zugspitze (the tallest mountain in Germany). This meant that the lake was not as abandoned as I would have liked. A massive hotel sat at one end with multiple docks and rows of canoes and, after an hour or two, the path around the lake grew crowded.

Most people, however, were there to ride to the top. The cable car is ridiculously expensive (over 80 Euros), and there were still some clouds scattered in the sky, so I did not opt to go up. Maybe if it had been perfectly clear I would have been tempted to crowd into a cable car with far too many people for an 80-Euro nerve-wracking ride to the top to see a panorama of over 400 peaks. Sounds lovely, but in all honesty, I don’t regret not doing it.

The view was pretty nice from the bottom, after all.