For those of you who aren't familiar with this funny-named little place -- it's a mountain resort town located in the Alpine region of Bavaria (southern Germany) and is smack dab on the border of Austria. It boasts having Germany's tallest mountain right in it's backyard and is known for world-class skiing/snowboarding.
My parents live in Garmisch, so I have the luxury of being able to visit during my summer and winter breaks from college! If you're ever visiting Bavaria, make sure you stop by this amazing little alpine town. I'm obviously super biased on this because it's my European home, but trust me on this -- once you do visit, you'll never want to leave. This place is just incredible; words and pictures will never do it justice. So start booking your European summer vacation now, y'all!
You won't be disappointed, I promise!
Here's my list of things to do in Garmisch-Partenkirchen:
1. Walk Around the City-Center & the Füßgängerzone
What the heck is a Füßgängerzone?! It's the German word for pedestrian zone and it's where most shops, cafés, restaurants, and bars are located. There's also a farmer's market every Friday until 1pm. And I love that there's mountain views in almost any direction you look.
2. Try Local Bavarian Beer & Eat a Pretzel at Garmischer Festwoche
Throughout the summer months there's always some kind of festival taking place, celebrating what else -- beer of course! Oktoberfest is the most famous beer celebration, but summertime in Bavaria can be just as eventful.
One of the most exciting events in Garmisch every year is the Garmischer Festwoche, which takes place the last week of July. Partenkirchen has their own festival the following week in August. Everyone dresses up in their finest dirndls and lederhosen, there's pretzels as big as your head and as much Bavarian music, food, and beer as your little heart desires!
I especially love "fest week" in Garmich because they have Schuhplattler "shoe slappers" and Goaßlschnalzer "whip crackers." The festival starts this Saturday so I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and hopefully get some good video to share with you guys. :)
3. Trek to the Top of the Zugspitze
The Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak, offers spectacularly breathtaking views and on good days you can see four countries -- Germany, Austria, Italy & Switzerland! It's part of the Wetterstein Mountain Range in the northern limestone Alps and is flanked by three glaciers, two of which are Germany's largest.
You can take a cable car or a train all the way to the top, or if you're the adventurous type like me, you can spend the day hiking to the summit!
4. Go For a Walk or Bike Ride Around Eibsee
Ahhhh, I LOVE this lake!!! I just can't get enough of it. You can read about it and see more pictures
here.
5. Hike Through the Partnachklamm & the Höllentalklamm
The Partnachklamm and the Höllentalklamm are two gorges that feature narrow rock walls, rapids, waterfalls, and tranquil water basins. The Partnach Gorge is fed by the Schneeferner glacier on the Zugspitzplatt plateau.
I had an amazing time walking through these gorges and will do a recap post soon, but camera lovers beware! I went snap crazy taking pictures of the waterfalls and I'm not sure exactly what happened, but after this little excursion, the zoom function quit working and I ended up having to get a new camera. Which kind of worked out anyway because I got a better one. But if you don't want to have to replace yours, be careful when snapping pics here!
You can even visit the gorges during the winter months when the waterfalls have frozen over and turned into gigantic icicles! It gets dark here at like 4:30 in the afternoon, so they do guided tours by torchlight! It's on my winter bucket list. :)
6. Eat a Jägerschnitzel
Mmmm, my mouth is watering just looking at this picture! You HAVE to try a Jägerschintzel mit Pommes (oder Bratkartoffeln) at one of my favorite restaurants,
Glashaus. I had fries, but Bratkartoffeln (fried potatoes) are the way to go.
7. Listen to Live Bavarian Music
Gasthof Fraundorfer is a really cool little restaurant in Partenkirchen. They always have live music and there's even pint-sized Schuhplattler that perform while you eat. And check out the size of that beer! It's as long as the top half of my body! The atmosphere in this place just can't be replicated -- it's decorated with all kinds of weird, eclectic items. I see something new every time I go there.
8. Shop for Cuckoo Clocks and Biersteins
The Biersteins are pretty affordable, but cuckoo clocks are a whole different story! Be prepared to drop a fat stack on even the tiniest of clocks.
They don't come cheap, but man are they intricate and beautiful. Hand-crafted too.
9. Bike Ride Through the Mountain Valley
This is one of my absolute favorite things to do -- ride through the valley on my bike. It's so peaceful and quiet. There's fields after fields of grass and daises and little bridges over bubbling streams. The best times to go are early in the morning or right at sunset when the mountains are lit up by the sunlight. I always feel amazing after riding through here, especially after a long day.
Have you ever been to Bavaria or any part of Germany before? What did you like best about it?
