Garmisch-Partenkirchen // Zugspitze

When my dad came back from deployment in 2009, our family went on a three week trip in Europe. We jumped on a cargo plane and headed off on an amazing Fisher Family adventure. In three weeks we traveled to The Czech Republic, Germany, and Austria. One of our favorite stops as a family was Garmish-Partencurchin. Before coming abroad, I looked through our album from our international trip, and vowed I would go back there. And guess what? It may have ended up being my favorite trip all over again! This small town was once the scene of the Winter Olympics in 1972, and is surrounded by mountains. It is home to the highest mountain in Germany, the Zugspitze.

A few throwbacks to get this post started

Been mountain kids since day one!

You would never guess that the kid crying from heights in the corner is now an Aerospace Engineering Major!

My friends and I had been traveling to so many cities, that we craved an outdoor trip full of fresh air, good views, and adventure. Garmish had all three.

We took a night bus from Budapest into the city, and after a short layover in Munich, arrived into the town at 11 am! We checked into our hostel, and payed $15 each for one night. Hostel 2987 is the only hostel in Garmish, and is in the style of a chalet. Definitely one of the cutest hostels we have stayed in to date, and only a 3 minute walk from everything. After our London trip, this was a blessing. Everything in the whole town was within walking distance, so we were happy to find out we didn’t have to take any metros. (Especially after our Budapest experience)

We bought our tickets up to the summit of Zugspitze, and headed to the town center while we waited for our time slot.

The town was amazing. Surrounded by white peaks and mountain views, even the Burger King looked dreamy. There were German murals painted on the store fronts, and flowers lined the streets.

A shot of the mountains I got from between two shops. Really puts into perspective how incredible this area is.

In order to get to the summit of Zugspitze we took a train up the side of the mountain, followed by a cable car. The views on the way up were breathtaking.

In my happy place!

Backpacker crew

Not your typical train ride, we felt like we were going up a roller coaster!

Passing Lake Eibsee from above

We took lots of pictures at the summit, and had panoramic views of the mountains. From the top, you can see Switzerland and Austria! We felt on top of the world. (9,718 ft to be exact!)

Couldn't have gone on this trip with a better group of people!

Still smiling after two night busses! Crazy to think this time yesterday we were in baths in Budapest!

The mountains look way better than me in this picture.

There were tons of people skiing at the top! My friend Kyla sent her mom pictures of Zugspitze, and we learned it was actually the place her mom learned to ski when stationed in Germany! Small world!

Remade this picture we took as a family on our last trip! Hopefully we can all come here again some day!

We were thrilled to find a restaurant at the top to gain refuge from the cold. Hot Cocoa at the top of Zugspitze? Count me in!

Impossible to have a view that's not mountains around here

We took a cable car to the top, and ended up being inside a cloud! I remember being terrified on this cable car as a kid, and I still was at 20 years old. Here is a picture from the ride up!

We had better mountain views from below, due to being INSIDE A CLOUD, but it still was surreal.

We took the train back down from the summit and decided to walk towards the old Winter Olympics stadium! The stadium was a short walk from our hostel and we followed a trail through a German village to get there. The path took us through the countryside of Garmish, and we walked along a creek of glacier mountain water!

In case you weren't already sold on moving here, there are llama and alpaca farms.

Here people can drink fresh mountain water! Evian and Fiji Water have nothing on this quality! Of course we tried it!

We arrived at the stadium and the first thing we noticed was a sign with a skiier named Fischer! Probably a distant relative, we are destined for greatness I guess!

Garmisch-Partenkirchen was the site for the 1936 Olympics. The summer Olympics were in Berlin, Germany the same year. This means that these games were actually hosted and opened by Hitler, which is crazy to think about. 28 Nations participated, and 646 atheletes competed. Alpine skiing made its debut in these games, which added downhill skiing and slalom to the events! Makes sense considering the Olympics were at the bottom of Zugspitze mountain!

Some pictures from the 1936 event

On the way back we saw this tree house in a backyard, it has better views than any of our actual homes!

Shnitzel for dinner

Eating traditional German food after our adventure day! Waking up early to make our way over to Neushwanstein Castle in the morning!