Zugspitze Area

The Zugspitze, at 2,962 m above sea level, is the highest mountain in Germany. It is about 100km southwest from Munich. We went there with a guided tour on Sunday, July 19th, 2026, our second day in Germany.

Unfortunately it rained heavily in the morning when we got to the base of the mountain. Zugspitze was in the dense cloud. The tour guide was flexible, he suggested that we went to a charming small town nearby to wait out the rain - Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

It is a charming small town at the foot of Zugspitze.

The light rain there actually made this detour to the town very pleasant. There were few people in the streets. Walking slowly around town center, we appreciated the narrow streets,  biblical murals on many buildings, and  potted flowers on window sills or balconies. There are also quite a few churches.

The cloud started to breakup after lunch, and we drove to Zugspitze in a hurry.

 

Zugspitze

When we got there, the foothill was sunny but the summit was still clouded. Since the next cogwheel to the summit was, 45 minutes later, we watched the clouds at summit come and go. From time to time, I could see the summit clearly via my camera.

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When we got off the cogwheel, before transfer to the gondola for the summit, we stepped out of the station. Looking south , the clouds broke up for a moment, the valleys, mountains, and remnants of glaciers  appeared.  No view of the north side of the mountain, especially the beautiful Eibsee, at the north foothill of Zugspitze. 

When finally reached the summit area, we were engulfed by clouds, could not see anything - from the south side or north side. We could not see Eibsee from above, we did not reach the real summit either even though we were only about 30 feet below it. The real summit is separated from the viewing platform by a "chasm". The steep drop-off and bad weather dissuaded us from climbing to the summit, a short distance away.

 

Summiting Zugspitze via Cogwheel on this day was disappointing. The only consolation was that we did see the stunning Eibsee on the way from Cogwheel  - the dark blue water, the light blue and white sandbars. One can not see these color combinations from lake level.

This was the best image of the summit we could see when we were near the summit -  less than 30feet below it

Eibsee 

Eibsee

We did not lingue at the Zugspitze summit area for long, we went downhill via Gondola and hiked on a small portion of the northeast side of Eibsee, with the Mountain in the background. It was sunny, and pleasant.

We hiked a short distance along the south shore of Eibsee before taking cogwheel to the summit. A different vista than that from north shore

Hindsight we might have enjoyed the trip more if we did not go up the mountain, but stayed downhill, and hiked around the lake on a 7.5 km trail. But it was what it was, we took what nature gave us, and enjoyed it as much as we could.

Note

Zugspitze needs a one full day trip. If we go there again, we will rent a car for two days at Munich, drive to the mountain in the early morning, climb the mountain, and rest/hike around the lake, and stop by Garmisch-Partenkirchen for dinner before returning