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
