Hi friends, welcome back to my Germany and Austria series! After leaving the beautiful Eibsee, we drove about forty-five minutes to Walchensee. I originally planned to see this lake on our hike, but we skipped the hike to go up Zugspitze, and spent the afternoon hanging at the lake instead. I was on a mission to see as many beautiful lakes as possible while in Bavaria, and each one was beautiful in its own way.
We didn’t mind having a relaxing afternoon sitting on the shore and watching the wind surfers.
You can also get great views by taking the Herzogstand cable car up, but nobody was working the counter when we arrived so we strolled around the lake instead.
It just amazes me how stunning these lakes are! Walchensee is one of the deepest lakes in Germany at 631 feet. The water has excellent visibility and is a popular place to scuba dive. In addition to wildlife, there are some WWII planes that sunk and a few cars to explore.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped by the most idyllic spot of all, Geroldsee. I’d seen this view so many times on our tv screen saver and it was so incredible to be able to travel and see it in real life. I was very surprised we had it to ourselves, this seems like an Instagrammer’s paradise.
I felt like we were inside a painting or a postcard! If we didn’t have dinner plans this would’ve been an excellent spot for a picnic.
I had fun practicing my forearm stand. It was nice having space and a comfy crash pad.
Afterwards, we had a delicious final meal at the hotel and then got organized for our departure the next day.
The following morning, we checked out of our room and drove about ten minutes for our hike through the Partnach Gorge. The parking lot is at the Olympic stadium so it was neat to see the ski jumps. The parking lot is also used for the Eckbauerbahn cable car, so go early to get a spot.
The hike is about 4 miles and half of it is a paved road to and from the gorge entrance. The gorge is a little less than half a mile long, and the rest is a hiking trail. There are also real bathrooms right before the entrance, always a nice amenity. It cost 6 euros per person, and you can buy tickets from a kiosk, but I purchased ours online ahead of time. We went around 10 am and it wasn’t too busy, but inside the gorge is really narrow and hard to pass people, so that’s another incentive to arrive early.
The light blue water rushing through was so cool! I’d definitely recommend hiking through here if you’re in the area.
Make sure you keep your ticket because you need it to exit the turnstile at the end of the gorge.
The hike after the exit has a very steep, but short incline that takes you back to the entrance. It wasn’t fun going up, but we persevered. I’d definitely recommend hiking boots if you’re going to the gorge, especially because it gets wet and slippery.
After making it back to our car we headed to our third location of the trip, Berchtesgaden! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about Garmisch-Partenkirchen! It was such a stunning place to spend a few days and I’d love to return one day. I’d recommend spending at least three days here, but you could easily spend a week if you’re into outdoor activities. I’m not a skier, but this is also a very popular destination for winter sports. My favorite activities in this area were walking around Eibsee, going up Zugspitze, and visiting the fairytale castles, so basically everything we did here 🙂 Stay tuned for more stunning scenery from Berchtesgaden coming up next in the series!
(P.S. I will be taking a quick break from this series to post some Halloween/end of month posts and will be back to Germany content early November)
Posts in my Germany & Austria series:
Germany
- Munich – New Town Hall & St. Peters
- Munich – The Residenz & German Food
- Bavaria – Lake Starnberg & Eibsee
- Bavaria – Neuschwanstein Castle
- Bavaria – Hohenschwangau Castle & Alpsee
- Bavaria – Zugspitze & Eibsee
I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but holy cow it’s so beautiful!
Haha there’s really no other way to describe this area! It was just stunning everywhere we went.
More stunning photos Lyssy
Thank you!
I’ve always had a soft spot for this area as it’s where I first tried cross-country skiing in 1985!
It’s such a beautiful area. The perfect place to cross-country, can’t think of better views.
Hard to better
Nothing wrong with taking time in nature on these trips, whether it be by the lake or a beautiful country hike. Such beautiful scenery Lyssy. How would the forearm stand have worked out after the beer? 😊Allan
It was the perfect place for some fresh air and break from the skyscrapers! So nice it’s not overrun with tourists too. Haha I probably would’ve thrown up or be rolling down the hill 🙂
Geroldsee is beautiful! So cool that you got to see that tv screensaver scene in real life 🙂
It was stunning and so surreal to see in real life 🙂
Absolutely stunning Lyssy!! Your blogs are making me want to book a flight right now, ha. 😍
It was so beautiful!! Highly recommend visiting this area, I’d hop on the next flight back if I could!
Instagram worthy, indeed! Your photos do look like postcards. Mike and I would love, love, love to hike Partnach Gorge – so gorgeous! How far out do you book your trips?
It is so stunning!! Highly recommend this area. We decided to go here in February and by March I had our accommodations booked, I think in June we booked the flight, and then maybe 3 weeks out I planned the itinerary. I love planning trips, so I’m always working on the next trip 🙂
I love trip planning too, but I would’ve thought you booked this one at least a year in advance. Thanks for sharing the information. It’s very helpful.
I am amazed at how clear and blue the lakes are in Germany. Also your hike through the Partnach Gorge looks like a lot of fun, and those nature views are spectacular.
It was so beautiful! It was amazing how clear the water is and how blue!
All of your photos are so beautiful and the light blue shade of the water along your hike looked incredible. Good to know you need to retain your hiking ticket for the turnstile exit.
It was just so beautiful! Hard to take a bad pictures. I’m not sure what would happen if you lost your ticket, maybe you’d have to go back to the start and ask for help.
That lake is beautiful! I was just remarking to my husband today (before reading your post) that I had no idea Germany had so many beautiful and incredibly clear lakes. That gorge looks like fun too.
I had no idea Germany was so beautiful either, I always pictured cities and Oktoberfest. It was a fun hike!
What beautiful lakes and such lovely pastoral scenes. I love the idea of scuba diving around WWII planes and cars. No wonder you’d like to go back, it is absolutely stunning the entire area.
It would be cool to scuba there, probably more fun knowing there aren’t any sharks lurking too. Everywhere is just so beautiful, hard to believe it’s so under the radar.
Oh your photos are just perfect, I can’t believe the blue and green colours are so bright. And to have Geroldsee to yourself on a beautiful day, incredible 🙂
It was just so pretty! Hard to believe it exists and isn’t overrun. Having Geroldsee to ourselves was incredible! Everything I dreamed it would be and more 🙂
Wow, it’s gorgeous. Great pictures. Maggie
All the blue🌤🌊just makes you wanna get there
It was stunning!!
The gorge looks like something out of a Disney park ride – too pristine to be real. Also, I’ve never seen a photo of a small glass of German beer ha.
It really does, the water was so pretty! Haha I don’t think we saw an small beers in Germany. Maybe it’s against the law ha!
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Wow! Beautiful water colours for a lake! Nice shots!
Just beautiful. It’s nor hard to see why so many fairy tales come from this part of the world, the landscape inspires.