My family (5 of us) want to visit Oma in Munich over the Christmas holidays. While we are there, we would like to do some skiing in Garmisch. I'm told that during this period, you must stay 7-10 days in order to get reservations. Does anyone know more about this and possible ways to get around it?? We are looking at maybe a 10 day trip total and 2-3 days skiing is more than enough.
Posted by
Germany
116 posts
to clarify: you want 2-3 days of skiing/lodging in the GAP area?
I don't know who/what requires a minimum 7-10 day stay in their place to get reservations... If you want to rent a family apartment I know most of them have a minimum 4 night stay and during the Christmas holidays they likely amp it up to a 6 night minimum for a week-long stay. That's my theory.
I just went through a billion apartment listings from the TIs in that area and found most apts. to have a max limit of 4 people (usu 1 double bed and 2 twins or a tiny fold out couch). I booked just about a month ago for the October holidays (we are 4 adults and decided on 2 small apts adjoining each other) and that was tough, I remember seeing availability calendars getting full for December rentals (skiers). I would try to move fast on this one!
Depending on your budget, I would consider bunking in away from Garmisch since it tends to get pricey there - both the lift tickets, rentals, and the lodging. Unfortunately I'm not a big skiing fan (but noted the lift/rental prices when we were there this summer and remember thinking it was not cheap), so can't suggest another location, but there are lifts all over the place down there and many people on this board could tell some other hot spots.
If you really want to stay in the GAP area, both GAP and the neighboring town of Grainau have good tourist info sites available in English. You can do lodging searches online.
www.garmisch-partenkirchen.de
www.grainau.de
Hope that helps.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
I can offer only vague answers, since I'm most familiar with GaP.... but I know that there are many smaller ski areas over the border in Austria. I can't guarantee that you'll have any more luck here, but try googling for lodgings in Ehrwald, Lermoos, Untergarten, Bichlbach, or even Rick's favorite, Reutte. Innsbruck, another world-class mecca for winter sports, is also just down the road from GaP, but I would imagine you would find similar lodging restrictions here... and also, despite its scenic location, the town itself is nowhere near as pretty as GaP.