Consider this the next in an occasional series of reports from locations that aren't well known in North America. Oberstdorf is one of the "big 3" of German Alpine resort towns, the others being Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Bertesgaden. Of the three, it's probably the least well known outside of Germany. I have visited before, but in the winter when 2 feet of snow lay on the ground. I wanted one last weekend of Alpine hiking before the season ends, and because Oberstdorf is the closest Alpine resort from where I live, I chose this town. To describe the towns, it looks similar to other Alpine resorts. The majority of buildings and houses are chalets. The center of town has a car-free pedestrian area, with the expected sorts of businesses- expensive clothing and jewelry boutiques, sport shops, restaurants, etc. Very pleasant, but if you're expecting some kind of pre-industrial Walser village (the sort that some on this website refer to as an "authentic Alpine village")... look elsewhere. There's plenty of cows roaming through the pastures, but this is a place where Germans go primarily to enjoy the mountains and to pamper themselves a bit. Don't expect to sleep in the hay lofts or in Oma Schlauble's spare room, but rather, a 3-4 star Kurhotel or chalet. (cont)
Posted by
OP
Danville, VT
12040 posts
The town itself is very attractive. Not "quaint", but typical Alpine architecture, very well maintained, and somewhat elegant. It contains several nice parks, which I overlooked previously when deep snow blanketed the town. Oberstdorf sits about midway into a broad, dead-end Alpine valley. The mountains sore over the town on the east and south sides of the valley. There was a nice coating of fresh snow on them when I arrived, but over the past two days, most of it melted. OK, enough about the town. The main attractions here are the mountains. The Allgäuer Alps are far from the highest in the Alpine chain, or even in Germany. But compared to the non-Alpine mountain ranges in Germany, there still pretty damn high and impressive. The two main mountains for hiking (and skiing) are Nebelhorn, just to the east of Oberstdorf, and Felhorn, about a 10 minute drive south. Together with my most loyal hiking companion (my Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, because my wife couldn't come), we first attempted to conquer Nebelhorn (cont).
Posted by
OP
Danville, VT
12040 posts
The option exists to take a series of cable cars to near the summit or you can hike. I opted the hike from the valley. Although it was very scenic, it was also extremely steep. I'm far from an Alpine novice and I'm in good shape, but this was a very difficult hike. We made it to the cable car station about the Alpine level (the 2nd of 3), but I was too beat to attempt the last few hundred meters to the summit. I rewarded myself with an ice cream at the restaurant, and took the cable cars back down. On a side note... I realize that very few (if any) of the people who hang out on this website travel with their dogs. And in most matters, Germany is one of the most dog-friendly nations on Earth. But on the cable cars on Nebelhorn, for some reason, they mandate muzzles for our canine friends. Well, I had no choice but to oblige (they sell muzzles at restaurant). The look she gave me when I put the muzzle on her broke my heart... After the beating I gave myself on Nebelhorn, today I decided to take the cable cars all the way up to the top of Fellhorn. Oddly enough, muzzles were not required on these cable cars. I had skied here before, so I knew the general outline of the mountain. Much easier hike. A trail undulates along the ridgeline throughout most of the mountain, which forms the border between Austria and Germany. The views are spectacular, the hike is not particularly difficult.
Posted by
OP
Danville, VT
12040 posts
I stayed at Hotel Filser. Nice enough, and it had a decent sized indoor pool (which I did not use). Breakfast spread was about average. The room was comfortable, with a nice balcony offering an Alpine view. A few points get subtracted because I had some problems with the included "Oberstdorf card", which was supposed to give me free access to the cable cars. For whatever reason, the card didn't work at the cable car turnstyles. I decided that instead of taking the direct Autobahn route home, I would drive through the Swabian countryside to see a few things I had heard about but never visited. First stop was to Sigmaringen. I'd heard the town was worth visiting, and I'm fascinated by Prussian and Hohenzollern history, so this was a natural choice. Well... the Hohenzollern Schloss is quite impressive from the outside, but it was not open. Otherwise, the town was a let-down. Nice enough, but nothing special, and certainly not worth driving more than an hour out of your way to visit. (cont)
Posted by
OP
Danville, VT
12040 posts
"Next, I wanted to get a look at the Kornbühl, near the village of Ringingen, which is a large hill/small mountain with a white chapel perched on the summit. It shows up in many photo collections of Germany, so I wanted to compare the view in person. Assessment: pretty much as expected and nothing more. A small white chapel on top of a hill. The view from the hill wasn't even that impressive. You can't even see nearby Burg Hohenzollern, which is only about a 15 minute drive away and otherwise dominates the surrounding landscape. Two towns that I drove through that looked like they might be worth return visits are Ochsenhausen and Biberach an der Riß. Ochsenhausen has a huge, beautiful Baroque abbey and a heritage Eisenbahn. Biberach just looked really attractive. Otherwise, the Swabian countryside didn't really make too much of an impression on me. Pleasant enough, but I now understand why most guidebooks largely skip over this corner of Germany. It just wasn't very interesting. Oberstdorf, though, is definitely worth a visit, whether you want to ski, hike, or just relax at a health spa. I wouldn't say it's better or worse than GaP or Bertchesgaden, just a different flavor of a similar dish.