Imagine yourself standing on an undulating landscape, gazing at forest full of fall foliage busted into their finest color, spectacular mountains while gentle wind tickling against your body, fine notes of cowbell waving around soothing your ears, that is how Bavarian Alps feel like! That is how Bavarian Alps are! The relaxing, refreshing, tranquil environment of Bavaria would make it a perfect destination to see your stress melting after a fast and furious week.
Bavarian Alps sprawl in the southeast part of Germany and shares international borders with Austria. While the Bavarian Alpine region has so many breathtaking panoramas of mountains, tiny but abundant villages, striking alpine lakes, gorgeous castles, many natural phenomena (you name it Bavaria has that), we chose to visit 4 locations that truly gave us a jaw-drop moment.
German countryside
DAY- 1
1. Neuschwanstein Castle
No wonder why Neuschwanstein castle inspired Walt Disney to build Cinderella castle. While standing on a tiny foothill surrounded by lush mountains and an alpine lake far behind the castle, amidst yet another range of mountains (which you can see only from a certain angle), it gives a perfect sense of standing in a fairytale land! As if they are not enough to give you fairytale vibes, this dreamy castle of Neuschwanstein comes into the picture.
While it is easy to spend days sightseeing in and around Neuschwanstein castle, here are some of the things we have done and other things to do.
Things we did:
• Soak in the beauty of the castle and surroundings
The more we walked up the hill, towards the castle, the more we realized castle would soon be packed to the rafters with tourists. While we are averse to the touristy place, the decision of taking a deviation to quieter, countryside road where we could still see the castle from a different angle with almost no tourists gave us an experience that we were looking for.
• Choose any hiking trail and spend time exploring the surroundings.
Now, I would be lying if I say we took a trail just to hike around. Indeed, it was an amazing and challenging hike we did in awhile, but the main reason for our hike was to get a picture-perfect view of Neuschwanstein castle. Now before noting down this itinerary, please read till the end.
After collecting tons of information on hiking trails around the castle, we made a decision of taking “pöllatschlucht” trial and then take a deviation that leads to a mountain opposite to Neuschwanstein castle. Though the trial was very adventurous – walking beside water streams, many waterfalls, amidst mountains, crossing the ice-cold river and then into a mountain, I wouldn’t recommend this trail to anyone. Here is why –
Firstly, there is no hiking route once you enter the mountain as it is off the beaten path. Hence, you have to make your own path and that is time-consuming.
Secondly, the mountain hiking trail is dangerous as it is very steep and one wrong step, you would end up falling into the gorge.
Thirdly, the last stretch is a sheer steep rock that makes the hike much more difficult than you expect.
And lastly, it didn’t serve the ultimate purpose of our hike ☹ Front of the castle was under construction and we did not get the picture-perfect view of the castle.
Nevertheless, these pictures will explain inspite of all the above points, how beautiful the whole hike was –
Other things to do around Neuschwanstein castle.
Visit Neuschwanstein castle – You can take a tour of inside the castle.
Go to Marienbrücke(Marien bridge) – A photo spot. If you hike up a little more, you will reach to another secrete photo spot that most tourists are not aware of. Also much quieter. Score!
The place has many hiking trails, choose one and lose yourself in the beauty of Bavaria.
Take a cable car ride to Tegelberg for a splendid view.
FACTS:
To go to Neuschwanstein, you have to take either shuttle bus or horse carriage or that will take you to the top from the main road or by walk. Please note that private vehicles are not allowed on top of Neuschwanstein hill.
If you are traveling by car, there is a parking place next to the main road.
The castle gets insanely crowdy, hence plan your visit during early hours to avoid the crowd.
2. Geroldsee
This tiny village in Bavaria, swathed by stupendous Bavarian mountains is no less than any quaint villages of Switzerland (with less cost! of course 😉). The constant chime of cowbells, Majestic mountain reflecting through the ornamental alpine lake on the foot of lush forest, astonishing panoramas, I constantly had to shake off the feeling of being inside of an HD wallpaper. Don’t believe me? Maybe a photo will give you a clearer view of what I am saying 😊
This gigantic hidden gem is swathed by teeny tiny gorgeous village (when I say teeny tiny village, imagine a place that has a smattering of houses probably less than 20) of Gerold. Walking on the roads of Gerold village was as beautiful as spending our leisurely time at the viewpoint of Geroldsee.
Not convinced to add Geroldsee on your bucket list? Let me show you more magic of this gorgeous village-
TIPS:
Cars are not allowed inside this village except for the residents. Park your vehicle near the main street (a dedicated parking area) and walk for 5 minutes to reach.
Not to be fooled, this tiny village even has a restaurant! So you can sure indulge your favorite snack while sipping German’s favorite beer!
Bring your own picnic basket. While the view is astonishing, a picnic spot wouldn’t get better than this 😊
And lastly, leave no trace behind.
Stay
For the night we stayed at a gorgeous camping site amidst colorful fall foliage mountains in Oberammergau. And, our tiny cottage was even prettier than we expected it to be! After our dinner at one of the restaurants at the campsite, we slept like babies in our snug cottage.
DAY 2:
1.The Partnach Gorge (Partnachklamm):
This is one of the most awe-inspiring wonders of the nature I have ever seen (I’m definite it will change as I explore more places in future 😛 ). The Partnach Gorge is approximately a 700-meter-deep gorge that is notched by mountain river Partnach. What more? You can walk through this gorge enjoying the stream and mini waterfalls. Once you have crossed the gorge, either you can relax near the river while munching your snack or you can further hike from here. The place also offers a number of hiking trails before entering the gorge.
Here is a little fact for you all – Partnach Gorge is home to a number of unique Dipper birds.
TIPS:
You have to park your vehicles in a dedicated parking area and walk approximately 20 minutes to reach here. You can even take a horse carriage that will take you to Partnach.
The best time to walk through the gorge is 12 PM till 3 PM while the sunlight set a magic on the water stream and the color of the stream is at its best.
Bring a warm cloth to cover yourself. It gets cooler inside the gorge.
2 Eibsee/Zugspitze:
Yet, another take my breath away moment! Eibsee claims to be one of the beautiful lakes in the Bavarian region.
Having the backdrop of mountain Zugspitze – Europe’s highest point, crystal-clear Emerald green water competing with lush green alpine forest, bound to leave you oblivious while staring at nature’s wonder. Once you have done with your staring-and-capturing-finest-photographs ritual, there are quite a number of other things to do 😊
• Take a cable car ride to on top of the Zugspitze mountain.
• Boating/kayaking on the Eibsee.
• Hiking around the Eibsee.
• If not, spend leisurely time at the Eibsee restaurant, taking in all the beauty of the alpine region.
I would highly recommend taking the hiking route when you are at Eibsee. The hike offers many astonishing views of the lake with mountains that will make your hike into the woods memorable 😊
The gorgeous Eibsee! Don't let the crystal clear shallow water fool you, this lake is as deep as approximately 32 meters!
There you go! A list of things to do during your visit to Bavaria is here right in front of you. Do add these to your itinerary, you will love it 😊
Thanks for reading my post. Hope my this article will help you to plan your trip to Bavaria and also will inspire you to travel the world😊
Your comments/opinions/questions are welcome.
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Chaithra Bhat