Michael and Pam's Travels Our European Motorhome Adventures and other Travels

The Zugspitze, Germany 2016 ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช

Travelled : 209 kilometres from Berchtesgaden to Garmisch-Parkenkirchen, Bavaria.

Visited : The Zugspitze.  โ‚ฌ106 a double, yes โ‚ฌ106

Stayed : Alpencamp Wank, municipal stellplatz โ‚ฌ15 per night, the usual services but electricity โ‚ฌ1 per 1.5kw. N47.50568 E11.10748


Its a long mostly slow drive.  There are roadworks, slow vehicles and just a lot a lot of afternoon traffic to contend with.  Bit like Sydney in a way, but for the Bavarian scenery.  We have been getting spoilt in Germany, with mostly short drives of an hour or so.



Anyway we finally drive into Garmisch-Parkenkirchen, the stellplatz is almost the first thing you see on the northern edge of to twin towns.  Garmisch-Parkenkirchen originally founded as two seperate villages merged at some point to become impossible to spell or pronounce.  The stellplatz is a well organised arrangement in the usual German style, lots of rules and signs.  Situated adjoining a chairlift carpark its proves to be a 10 minute walk into town, but you get a free local bus pass for your โ‚ฌ15 fee.

We find ourselves parked next to Karl and Teresa from England and their lovely dog.


Parked up in Garmisch-Parkenkirchen after a long drive. Its beer O’Clock almost straight away and we chat with our neighbours till dark.
The major attraction in Garmisch-Parkenkirchen is The Zugspitze.  However firstly we need to find out how to get there, so we wander up to the information booth at the chairlift for the good oil.  First we need to get into Garmisch-Parkenkirchen and buy tickets.  The lady suggests the bus#4, so we lock up the Hymer and go.  Tickets to The Zugspitze in hand we board the train to Grainau.  At Grainau we stop, walk across the platform to board a cog-railway carriage.
The cog-train grinds its way up the foot of the mountain to Eibsee.  The train will continues on up the mountain from here, but we say goodbye.  Off the cog-train at Eibsee, we walk across the road show our tickets again at the Eibsee-Seilbahn cable car and wait for the next gondola.
The Eibsee-Seilbahn cable car arrives. Each gondola hold 30 people.  The gondola cars looked very old and suddenly Richard Burton fighting off the Nazis in ‘Where Eagle’s Dare’ jumped into my head.
By now you all know Pam is something of an adrenalin junky and the gondola provides that.  It is the perfect day, no wind and we silently glide up the face of the mountain, until we go through the first of the two towers.  Well the old gondola bucks and develops an interesting sway for the next 30 seconds.  The gondola climbs on and Pam is now excitedly waiting for the next tower.  Its an amazing climb of almost 2000 metres.


Once outside its an amazing vista. Like being on top of the world, but really its just on top of Germany. The Zugspitze is the highest accessible mountain in Germany at 2962 metres.  We are told visibility today is 150 kilometres.
Another view from the top of the Zugspitze.
A panorama of the Schneeferner Glacier. Click and it should open up.
Just an interesting photo. They are building a new hotel on top of the mountain (why they would allow that is beyond me). They have built a special cable system to bring up whatever.  The ability of man to conquer his environment is amazing.
We seem to be the only ones up here for the first half an hour, then the viewing areas suddenly start to fill up. So we adjourn to a table and enjoy some local food, a huge sausage on bread roll smothered in mustard and ketchup, apple strudel with custard and the usual beverages.  Then the jackets come off and the afternoon glow overtakes us.

We travel back down to the glacier by a short gondola that descent around 300 metres and throw a few snow balls at each other.  Then we travel back down by cog-railway to the base of the mountain.  Its a long slow trip down in the tunnel and not particularly interesting.  Then train and bus back to the safety of the Hymer.

We start chatting to Karl and Teresa again and the beers come out, the rest is history but it was a great day.


Cannot let this blog slide by without mention of what a lovely Bavarian town Garmisch-Parkenkirchen proved to be.  Walking into town the next morning we find many homes with traditional murals like the one pictured.

Michael and Pam


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