2020. Corona. Travelling is a different game. Yet our Fernweh acted up too often. So we arranged a train trip to Germany and Austria. Specifically to Leipzig in Saxony, several spots in Bavaria and returning home with ÖBB‘s Nightjet from Innsbruck in Tyrol to Brussels in Belgium.

After some trainspotting in Lindau, we travelled to Garmisch-Partenkirchen as a base to the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain. 

Garmisch-Partenkirchen was founded by uniting the two towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen by decree to bring the 1936 Winter Olympics to Germany. The International Olympic Committee was going to pass over Germany as the host, because there were not enough hotel rooms in the host town, so the government forced the unification of Garmisch and Partenkirchen to create a larger town, which would be more appealing to the IOC. 

Garmish-Partenkirchen is one of Germany’s premier tourist ski towns and offers tremendous hiking, skiing and biking opportunities. It lies a few kilometers from the Austrian border. 

Off-season

October is off-season and it wasn’t helped by the pandemic. So the town didn’t appear too lively. A ski resort without snow is not that attractive. But the surroundings are picturesque, there are nice restaurant and obviously the Große Olympiaschanze on the Gudiberg.

The ski jumping hill is world famous for the Four Hills Tournament. Its infrastructure sill oozes 1930s architecture and atmosphere. 

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Previously on this adventure

1. The delicious German state secret: dining onboard Deutsche Bahn.
2. VIDEO | Leipzig Hauptbahnhof.
3. Leipzig Bayerischer Bahnhof.
4. EAST GERMANY | Zeitgeschichtliches Forum, Leipzig’s GDR museum.
5. Hyperion Leipzig.
6. Leipzig.
7. By ICE from Leipzig to Nuremberg.
8. Nuremberg Transport Museum / DB Museum.
9. Novotel Nuremberg City Centre.
10. Documentation Center NS Party Rallying Grounds in Nuremberg.
11. Nuremberg’s Zeppelin Field with the Norisring.
12. Memorium Nuremberg Trials.
13. Nuremberg’s real-life Playmobil Imperial Castle.
14. You need at least two full days in Nuremberg.
15. DB Regio from Nuremberg to Regensburg.
16. Thurn und Taxis princely palace museum in Regensburg.
17. Eurostars Park Hotel Maximilian Regensburg.
18. Regensburg.
19. With Alex from Regensburg to Munich.
20. BMW Museum & BMW Welt in Munich.
21. Munich’s Olympiapark.
22. Sofitel Munich Bayerpost.
23. Deutsches Museum’s Verkehrszentrum or Transport Centre in Munich.
24. Deutsches Museum’s main site on Munich’s Museuminsel.
25. By train to Neuschwanstein.
26. Only 15 Minutes and No Photos in Schloss Neuschwanstein Castle.
27. Museum of the Bavarian Kings in Schwangau near Neuschwanstein.
28. Füssen in Bavaria, the gateway to Neuschwanstein.
29. Münchner Stadtmuseum – Munich City Museum.
30. MUNICH | Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum / Pinakothek der Moderne.
31. Five days and four nights in Munich, including Neuschwanstein.
32. By train to Lindau and Lake Constance.
33. Lindau at or in Lake Constance.
34. Hotel Bayerischer Hof Lindau.
35. Trainspotting at Lindau.
36. By train from Lindau to Garmisch-Partenkirchen via the Ausserfern railway.
37. Nightjet Vienna/Innsbruck to Brussels, or how we got thrown off the train in Aachen.