Bavarian Alps

The Zugspitze, on the Austrian border above Garmisch-Partenkirchen, is Germany’s highest mountain at 2,962 metres. A cogwheel railway, the Bayerische Zugspitzbahn, has climbed from the valley since 1930 and still runs close to its original route, reaching a station just short of the summit. The mountain sits in the Wetterstein range, one of several separate limestone massifs that make up what is loosely called the Bavarian Alps: a strip of high ground along the Austrian frontier rather than a single continuous chain.

Berchtesgaden and the Watzmann

East of Garmisch, close to the Austrian city of Salzburg, the Berchtesgaden Alps form a second cluster. Berchtesgaden National Park, established in 1978, is Germany’s only national park inside the Alps, and its centrepiece is the Watzmann massif. The Watzmann’s central summit reaches 2,713 metres, one of Germany’s highest points, and its long traverse across all three summits has a reputation as one of the more serious ridge routes in the Northern Alps. Below the mountain lies the Königssee, a narrow, fjord-like lake where only electric boats have been permitted since 1909, a restriction first imposed to stop engine noise disturbing the royal hunting ground.

Castles, an abbey and a play

The Bavarian Alps are also where Ludwig II of Bavaria built the only one of his palaces he lived to see finished. Linderhof, completed in 1878 in a side valley near Ettal, is smaller and more private than his unfinished Neuschwanstein, which stands further west, in the Allgäu. Nearby, Ettal Abbey was founded in 1330 by the Holy Roman Emperor Louis the Bavarian, and its Baroque church still functions as a working Benedictine monastery. The village of Oberammergau, a few kilometres on, has staged the Passion Play every ten years since 1634, a vow made during a plague epidemic; the next performance is due in 2030.

Walking the region

Trails range from valley paths around Garmisch and Berchtesgaden, most within reach of a day’s return by cable car or train, to high routes maintained through the German Alpine Club’s hut network. The contrast is sharp: Alpine meadows and church-topped villages in the valleys, and exposed limestone ridges a short lift ride above them.