Hello all,
I want to plan a trip to Zugspitze from Munich. We will not have a vehicle. We will be going in November, does this pose any issues? Do the cable cars/ cog train close at any point through the winter? Also, I am a bit confused on the necessary route from Munich to the Zugspitze summit. Could someone please help explain (I am not from the area and do not understand most of the abbreviations or shorthand used for the train stations on other websites). Thank you very much!!
This is very easy, even in November. There are usually 3 options for going up the mountain, a german train (with a connecting small cable car), a large german cable car and a large austrian cable car from the other side of the border. But the large german cable car is currently closed due to rebuilding.
The easiest route from Munich would be the german train. This runs from Garmisch Partenkirchen, from a side station near the main railway station. There are frequent trains from Munich to Garmisch Partenkirchen, they leave from the high number platforms of the Hauptbhanhof and also call at Pasing as they leave the city.
The bad news is that the Zugpsitze train is very expensive, adult round trip is 53€ from Garmisch. Munich to Garmisch is can be very cheap, how many of you are there?
Take the train from Munich main station. Main station in German is Hauptbahnhof, abbreviated Hbf. The actual German name for Munich is München, so you will see that on the Deutsche Bahn website. It will be listed as either Munich(München) or München Hauptbahnhof
First destination is Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Get off there and walk to the Zugspitze Bahnhof and buy a round trip ticket to the top. This train is not shown on the Deutsche Bahn website as it is a private, totally separate entity, primarily for tourists and workers. The schedule is: http://zugspitze.de/en/news/oeffnungszeiten
Yes it is open year round.
The train from Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and back is a "Werdenfels" ticket. Cost is 20 EUR total and a single ticket covers both to and from. Buy it from a ticket machine or pay 2 EUR more to use the ticket window. If more than one person, each additional person is 6 EUR for up to 5 people traveling together.
Thank you so much Sam & Steve!! This is extremely helpful. There will be two of us
Travelling.
One of our other plans is to do Neuschwanstein as a day trip from Munich. I looked into tour groups but decided it would be more enjoyable to go at our own pace. Any suggestions for doing Neuschwanstein without a tour group/guide? This would also be two people and in november. Thank you again!
As a day trip from Munich, use a Bayern Ticket, 31 EUR for 2 will cover transportation for the day if you leave after 9 am on a weekday. You can even leave just before 9 as there is a train at 8:53 am, by buying 2 inner zone MVV transit tickets at 2.40 EUR each. Train will take you to Fuessen (maybe with a connection on the way) where it connects to a bus up to Neuschwanstein.
Could you please explain how the euro passes work, if it would be worth it to buy one, and how i would go about doing so? I will not have a car for the duration of my 13 day trip and will be visiting various cities by train. Thank you!!
Hi, I visited Garmisch-Partenkirchen a month ago. Zugspitze is a few kilometers away. Actually I visited a whole region, (Ettal, Linderhof castle, Oberammergau), rented a car in Munich, there is a highway from Munich to almost to the Garmisch-P, ( I think highway 95) drive of maybe an hour, hour and a half, beautiful scenery. You can see the animation of the trip in the film below (which I made during those two days).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlmiXy04Rfc
