Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is Germany's best-known mountain resort for winter sports and walking. It hosted the 1936 Winter Olympics and lies beneath the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak at 2,962 metres. The painted houses of Ludwigstraße give it the look of a Bavarian village.

From Lake Eibsee at the foot of the mountain, the Zugspitze cable car, opened in 2017, climbs 1,945 metres in a single section, a world record, in about 10 minutes. In the town itself is the Partnach Gorge, a narrow channel between rock walls walked on a path cut into the cliff.

It is about an hour and a quarter from Munich by car. Summer, June to September, is for walking and lakes; winter, December to March, is for skiing. Twenty minutes away, Schloss Elmau sits in its quiet valley.