Paragliding in Germany or Austria?

There is a company affiliated with the US military Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, that does tandem paragliding as well. One need not have the military affiliation as they offer flights to German customers too. I took the jump last year. It cost about $120 including lift tickets to get up the mountain. They do the flights in the morning and the pilots speak English. You can view some of the flights from the passenger perspective by searching "tadem paragliding Garmisch" on youtube. Garmisch is a great little town.

Your topic doesn't come up that frequently, so I'm just mentioning this in case other para gliders look at this question. For whatever its worth, I recall seeing a group of gliders as we pulled out of Zweisimmen train station (while on the Golden Pass route) on our way to Montreux, Switzerland.

I don't know if this will help you make a decision because I've only done one of the sites, but here's my experience. A few years ago we did this near Neuschwanstein. If I recall correctly there was a luge park right near a ski lift, and they had a company doing rides based in the luge park. One of the most fun things I have done! I did another flight in France and on this one we stayed up much longer. We flew practically over Neuschwanstein. The only thing I'd do differently is bring a small camera with a good wrist strap to snap some photos in the air. I don't know if you have done this before, but the way we launched was to be on an outcropping that led to a cliff. But we didn't plunge over the cliff; we ran (you are in front, pilot strapped behind you) and took a few running steps towards the cliff. Well before we reached the cliff the wind gently lifted us up and we were actually 20 feet or so above the cliff by the time we went over it. It was not frightening at all.

Why paraglide when you can go up in a real glider, commonly known as a sailplane. I've been on the top of the mountains at Innsbruck, and sailplanes were up at 10,000-11,000 feet catching the updrafts. Come to find out, European sailplanes often go for hundreds of miles between Austria and Switzerland without coming down. You'll often see the sailplanes come down on the grass beside the Innsbruck runway at dark. It's quite a sight to see. They're just more airworthy and safer than other forms of non-motorized flight. See www.mountainfly.at or www.zugspitze.at to see if they are what you're looking for. There is also an Innsbruck Gliding Association. Tirol is maybe the premier gliding place in the world.