Essential Travel Ski Guides

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Travel to Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Situated 97kms southwest of Munich at the base of the Zugspitze, the country’s highest mountain (2,963m), is the Olympic city of Garmisch – Partenkirchen, the best and most famous ski resort in Germany. The resort offers excellent beginner schools, new and advanced expert runs, as well as perfect terrain for intermediates. Host of the 1936 Winter Olympics, Garmisch – Partenkirchen is an all-rounder with a sparkling heritage.

Garmisch and especially Partenkirchen maintain an ancient village charm, while merging as twin villages to form Germany’s top Alpine resort. Fine jewellery and handicraft shops, along with sports stores and fashionable boutiques, make up the variety of shopping opportunities in the centre.

There are 60kms of marked ski runs over 44 slopes at Garmisch – Partenkirchen, with a longest run of seven kilometres. Beginners get almost half of all slopes, while intermediate and advanced skiers get perfect terrain. Around 33,000 skiers per hour are transported by one cogwheel train, four cable cars, two gondolas, six chairlifts, and 23 surface lifts, making up the 36 lifts at the resort. Although Garmisch - Partenkirchen lacks a ski kindergarten, it provides a children’s school for ages four upwards.

You won’t spend too much time searching for accommodation, with the middle of each town offering wonderful, often luxurious hotels to farmhouses at the resort, which has over 9,600 available beds. Fantastic old Bavarian restaurants permeate Garmisch, while both towns have big hotels providing elegant après-ski, plus facilities including a casino, bars, discos, concerts, theatres and a cinema.

A common lift ticket links the two largest nearby Austrian Alpine villages of Lermoos and Seefeld, with Garmisch – Partenkirchen. The top of the Zugspitze is accessible by railway and cable car, completing a classic journey, and affording a panorama which extends far over the Alps and Bavarian lowlands. The summit can also be reached from the Austrian side of the border.

November to May means a long ski season, with the start and end of the season, as well as mid-January, offering the best deals. To arrive at Garmisch - Partenkirchen with the least fuss, fly to Munich or Innsbruck and hire a vehicle for an awe-inspiring journey through the mountains.

Skiing in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

At the foot of the Zugspitze – Germany’s highest mountain, sits popular Garmisch – Partenkirchen, a resort loved by skiers of all abilities. Host to the Winter Olympic Games in 1936, this resort is a favourite with its 60kms of well maintained pisted runs, plus a range of excellent facilities.

The resort has 60kms of perfectly groomed ski fields over 44 runs, consisting of 48 per cent beginner slopes; 18 per cent intermediate; 30 per cent intermediate/advanced; and four per cent for expert skiers. A ski circus over five glaciers, plus an additional 45kms of cross-country, also feature at Garmisch – Partenkirchen.

Apres-ski in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

An assortment of après-ski and nightlife entertainment includes: 17 cafés, 12 bars, nine discos, concerts, theatres, cinema and folklore evenings. The resort also offers other winter activities, including: hiking and mountaineering; snowboarding; mono-skiing; ice-skating (natural and artificial); curling; paragliding; horse-drawn sleigh rides; indoor swimming and tennis; sauna; a sports centre; and a fitness centre.

Comfortable hotels with a wide range of prices and amenities provide almost 10,000 beds suited to all visitors to the resort. Contemporary architecture intermingles with typical Alpine chalets which line the streets at Garmisch, the more organised of the two towns.

Transportation to Garmisch-Partenkirchen

To the south of Munich and the north of Innsbruck lies the ski resort of Garmisch – Partenkirchen. Flying and then catching the train, or hiring a vehicle at the airport are both practical and convenient options; while travelling by train from Europe or self-driving from the UK along tolled autoroutes offers a longer yet scenic alternative.

By car, the resort is 1,040kms over a journey of two days from Calais via the A-26, A-4 in France and the A-8 in Germany. Drive west from FJ Strauss Airport along the A92, and then take the A-9 through Munich and the A-95 to Garmisch - Partenkirchen ski resort; the journey takes 1 hour, 20 minutes (125kms). To travel from Innsbruck Airport, journey west on the A-12, and arrive direct to the resort via the E-533.

A frequent rail service in all directions runs along the Munich-Weilheim-Garmisch-Mittenwald-Innsbruck line. The station of Garmisch - Partenkirchen lies here, and is serviced by Munich 20 times a day, with the train taking just over an hour. An overnight train from Paris services Munich after a Eurostar train from London.

From Waterloo station in London, catch the daily 17:09 Eurostar to Paris, gare du Nord, arriving at 20:59. Change to gare de l’Est and catch the overnight train, which arrives in Munich the following morning. The Regionalverkehr Oberbayern (RVO) in Garmisch – Partenkirchen provides long-distance and regional buses through the Bavarian Alps.

By air, fly to the gateway airport, FJ Strauss in Munich. A regular, direct train will get you to the city from where there is an excellent hourly service to Garmisch - Partenkirchen ski resort, taking 1 hour, 20 minutes. A rail connection joins the closer city of Innsbruck, which also has an airport, to the resort. A hire vehicle is often preferable for the drive to Garmisch – Partenkirchen.

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