TRIP TO GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN:
One of the largest climatic resorts in the Bavarian Alps, the historical and cultural center of Bavaria, the only German ski resort where the Winter Olympics took place, the venue for the annual Four Ski Jumps Tournament – all these titles belong to the German Garmisch-Partenkirchen. And tourists call it in a familiar way – GaPa, they love it for the long ski season, for the warm welcome, for the delicious cuisine and for the fact that here you can forget about the bustle of everyday life. In fact, it is the hospitality and serenity that make this resort an attractive place for family vacations. So, two settlements – Garmisch and Partenkirchen, two seasons – winter and summer, two airports nearby – Innsbruck and Munich, and many opportunities – skiing, hiking, walking, games, museums, amusement parks. All useful information about holidays with children in Garmisch-Partenkirchen is collected in Writualize review.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen on the map of Germany:
The municipality of Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a ski resort in the south of Germany, on the border with Austria. It is part of the federal state of Bavaria (the administrative center is Munich). The distance from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Munich is 90 km, to Innsbruck (Austria) – 65 km, to Salzburg (Austria) – 185 km. The part of the Bavarian Alps where Garmisch-Partenkirchen is located is famous for its high altitudes. The highest mountain in Germany, Zugspitze (2962 meters), is located near the resort. Perhaps that is why this place was chosen to host the 1936 Winter Olympics. To build a ski resort, two ancient settlements – Garmisch and Partenkirchen – were united. And despite the fact that the united community has existed for a long time, each settlement has preserved its own flavor and traditions. Time, it seems, has no power over them: both have preserved unique architecture and delight tourists with almost fairy-tale medieval houses painted with biblical and folklore scenes.
Holidays with children:
The ski resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen cannot be called a typical children’s resort, like, say, the Austrian Serfaus or the Italian Alta Badia. Nevertheless, it has everything you need for a family vacation and enjoyable skiing. Here is some evidence that you can fully relax with a child here.
Extreme skiers and cautious beginners will find their own tracks on the slopes. Ski schools conduct separate classes for children, and even kids 3-5 years old successfully master the main skills.
Secondly, the hotels and apartments in Garmisch are good quality in the German way. They do not offer their guests an entertainment program, but they make sure that children have a place to play, and families with a baby do not experience difficulties in caring for a child. Thirdly, a well-developed tourist infrastructure contributes to a carefree holiday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Supermarkets, shops, restaurants, cafes, a bank, a pharmacy, ski equipment rental points – everything will be nearby, wherever you stay. Fourthly, there are roads and railways leading to the resort. This makes it easier to get to the place of rest and opens up opportunities for travel, even if you are not going to go by car. Fifthly, you can come to Garmisch-Partenkirchen with children not only in winter. The mountains are no less interesting in the summer, and only in the warm season is there a chance to visit amusement parks in neighboring cities. And next to GaPa is, by the way, one of the largest amusement parks in Germany – Skyline. In Garmisch-Partenkirchen itself, there are not many entertainments and events for children. The main thing here is fresh air and the absence of summer heat, and this contributes to easy acclimatization and general health improvement. Moreover, the resort climate is beneficial for people with asthma and rheumatic diseases. For many years, a large children’s rheumatology clinic has been operating in Garmisch. All guests of the resort pay a tax of 3 euros per day per adult and 1 euro per child aged 6-15. In return, they receive a guest card, with which they can travel free of charge on public transport and ski buses, red suburban buses, attend concerts and events. The card also gives the right to discounts when visiting museums and entertainment centers.
When is the best time to go:
The length of the ski season in Garmisch-Partenkirchen is the envy of all other winter resorts in Germany. Good snow cover lasts here from the beginning of December until the end of March, and on the Zugspitze plateau you can ski until the end of April. And since the season is really long, we recommend not choosing the period of Christmas and New Year holidays for a holiday with a child: at this time, significant queues form at the ski lifts.
On weekends, residents of Bavaria come to the resort, and queues at the ski lifts are also possible.
In May, the season opens again in Garmisch-Partenkirchen – this time the summer one. This is a great time for active recreation, but there are also all the conditions for a quiet pastime. The best time to come to Garmisch-Partenkirchen with a baby is in August-September, when it does not rain very often. When is the best time to go to Garmisch-Partenkirchen? There is no single correct answer, it all depends on your preferences. But it is certainly useful to learn more about the weather at the resort.
Weather and climate:
The climate of Garmisch-Partenkirchen is typical for the Alps: winter with a slight frost and heavy snowfalls, warm rainy summers, a mild short off-season. It is only necessary to clarify that winter here lasts a good five months, and summer does not even last three. The first real cold with snowfall comes to the resort in November. The temperature at night increasingly drops below zero, although during the day it still rises to +5-7°C. In December, the night frost hardens to -5°C, and the daytime temperature remains at +2°C. Snow falls often, to the great joy of skiers who are planning a vacation in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for December. The weather in January-February is similar to December. Snowfalls constantly renew the piste surface, and skiing on fresh snow is a real pleasure.
In the second half of January, after the end of the holidays, the resort empties a little, the time for the best holiday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with children comes.
From March, the air temperature begins to rise. Light frosts are still possible at night, but during the day the thermometers reach +8°C. In the highlands, this does not interfere with skiing, but in the Garmisch-Classic area, the snow gradually begins to melt. In April, sufficient snow cover remains only on the Zugspitze plateau. The air temperature rises to +13°C, snowfalls give way to rain. From May to September, rain clouds hang over Garmisch-Partenkirchen every now and then. They can bring short stormy showers or prolonged drizzle. The air temperature is between +17-23°C, at night it gets colder to +5-10°C. The least rainy and sunniest month at the resort is October. True, the air cools down to +13°C by mid-autumn, but with good equipment you can have a great time in the mountains.
Meals:
Breakfast at the hotel, lunch in a restaurant next to the ski lift and dinner in a colorful tavern – this is how guests of Garmisch organize their meals.
Here you can try Bavarian cuisine with all its satiety and fat content: after the snowy slopes, thick hot soup Eintopf, white sausages Weißwurst, baked pork leg Schweinshaxe with a side dish of cabbage or potatoes warm you up well. Of course, such food is not suitable for children. But the restaurant menus include broths and light vegetable soups, stewed meat and fish without hot spices, many potato dishes, savory pies. In all areas of the resort there are supermarkets and grocery stores where you can buy everything, even baby food. In summer and autumn, farmers’ markets open once a week: on Tuesdays on Ludwigstraße, on Fridays on Mohrenplatz.
Transport:
Public transport in Garmisch-Partenkirchen is necessary and in demand – this resort is much larger in area than other mountain villages in Bavaria. At the same time, five bus routes are enough to go around the entire city. A single ticket costs 2.60 euros, tickets for children aged 6-15 cost 1.20 euros.
With a ski pass or guest card, travel on public transport is free.
A special form of transport in Garmisch-Partenkirchen is the Zugspitzbahn cogwheel railway. Once an hour, a train leaves Garmisch to take travelers to an altitude of 2,600 meters.
The length of the route is only about 20 km, but the ascent takes 40 minutes. The exact train schedule is available on the resort’s website. Note that the Zugspitzbahn has a separate station and ticket office, which are located next to the resort’s main station. In summer, you can rent a bike to get around Garmisch-Partenkirchen. A day of riding will cost 12-16 euros for an adult and 10 euros for a child. Rental points offer bicycle seats and bicycle trailers for small children, the rental price is from 4 to 14 euros per day. The cost of renting mountain bikes starts at 25 euros. Considering that Garmisch is easy to get to by train or bus, not everyone wants to rent a car at the airport for a trip to the mountains. But if you want to travel freely during your vacation, you can rent an electric car at the resort. Electric charging stations are located in the city center, near the station, at the lower stations of the ski lifts.
What to do:
What else can you do during your family holiday in Garmisch, besides skiing? After active skiing with children, it is nice to relax in one of the many traditional Bavarian restaurants, play bowling, swim in the pool of the water center “Alspitz-Wellenbad”. In short, if you have the desire and strength, the resort will take care of the rest. Actually, the ideas of what to do in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with a child, when there is snow all around, are inexhaustible. Children never get tired of playing snowballs, making snowmen, building snow fortresses. When it comes to sledding, warn your child that the descent from the hill will take several minutes – the length of the sled and toboggan track is 1600 meters.
One of the winter activities at the resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen is Bavarian curling, or Eisstockschießen. The curling area, Bavarian and classic, is being prepared at the Ice Stadium. There is also a skating rink there in winter and a rollerdrome in summer.
And the most pleasant thing is to just walk with your child along the old streets of Garmisch and Partenkirchen. Both settlements look very elegant thanks to the painting on the plaster on the facades of the houses – Lüftlmalerei (the same drawings decorate the houses in the village of Oberammergau).
We will add that Garmisch-Partenkirchen serves as a convenient transport hub for educational excursions: there is so much around that will be interesting for a child. You are invited to visit the fairy-tale village of Oberammergau, the castles of Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, Linderhof, the cities of Munich, Innsbruck, Salzburg (more about this in the section “What to see”). Even if you come on holiday without a car, you can easily organize an excursion program by buying train or bus tickets.
Alpine skiing:
Garmisch has two ski areas – Garmisch Classic and the Zugspitze plateau, the highest mountain and the only glacier ski area in the country. If you plan to spend time with children at the resort, the main ski area will most likely be the Classic slopes (Hausberg, Kreuzeck, Alpspitze) and the Wank mountain.
For beginner skiers and families with a child in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, we recommend first visiting the Wank (the easiest and sun-drenched slopes are located here), as well as the Hausberg (gentle green and wide blue slopes; children’s park Kinderland; the region is also suitable for snowboarders).
Later, you can move to the Alpspitze area, which will delight you with a variety of trails and one of the most interesting slopes in the world – Kandahar (3.7 km). In the Kreuzeck ski area, many trails go through the forest, but in the upper part they are quite bumpy. The Garmisch-Classic ski area is more convenient in terms of location: you can get to it from the city in 10-15 minutes by bus (free, with a ski pass) or by train Zugspitzbahn. But the road to Zugspitze takes about 1.5 hours (by bus, then from Eibsee by cable car or by train Zugspitze). Skiers go up to the top of the glacier by cable car Gletscherbahn, which takes them to the top of the glacier. If children are coming with you to learn alpine skiing in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, entrust their training to one of the ski schools.
The lessons are organized very intelligently:
- the schools have instructors who speak Russian;
- each instructor works with 2-5 children;
- the lesson lasts 3-4 hours and consists of educational games and practicing basic skills;
- lessons take place on a gentle slope with ski lifts;
- there is a special course for children aged 3-5.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen ski schools also offer special courses for teenagers, for those who want to learn snowboarding, telemark or cross-country skiing.
Ski pass and ski lift prices:
The price of ski passes in Garmisch-Partenkirchen does not depend on the season, but depends on the ski area and the age of the skiers. One day of skiing in the Garmisch Classic area will cost 55 euros for an adult, 44 euros for children aged 16-18 and 27.50 euros for children aged 6-15. You can also buy a family ski pass. Its price for one adult with one child is 74 euros, for two adults with one child – 123 euros. There are ski passes for one or two adults with two or three children. If you want to ski in both areas, you can buy a two-day Twin-Ticket ski pass. Its price is 105, 84 and 52.5 euros, respectively. The most avid skiers will need a Top Snow Card ski pass, valid at ten resorts in Bavaria and Tyrol and giving access to 80 lifts and 200 slopes. The Top Snow Card ski pass covers the ski areas Zugspitze, Garmisch-Classic, Eckbauerbahn lifts, Ehrwalder Almbahn, Tyrolean Zugspitze, Ehrwalder Wettersteinbahnen mountain railways, Langes Lermoos and Biberwier mountain railways, Berwang/Bichlbach mountain railways, Karlift Heiterwang, Mittenwald. Such a 2-day pass for an adult costs 108 euros, for a child aged 16-18 – 86.5 euros, for a child aged 6-15 – 54 euros. A one-day family ski pass “1 adult + 1 child” costs 146 euros, “2 adults + 1 child” – 243.50 euros.
Children under 6 years old ski for free in all areas.
Summer holidays:
In the summer, the resort becomes even more attractive for family holidays, attracting tourists with a host of interesting events and entertainment. Fans of water activities will be able to swim to their heart’s content in the lakes Pflegersee, Riessersee, Geroldsee or Eibsee. The program of family active recreation includes hiking, donkey and horse rides, a visit to the Kletterwald rope park, Segway and mountain bike rides. With children, you can limit yourself to a walk in the Michael Ende Park: you can and should run along its paths barefoot. The village of Grainau is also not boring in the summer. There is also a program of family entertainment there: with a hike along an adventure forest trail, a mini-golf tournament, boat rides and relaxation in the Zugspitzbad complex.
During a summer holiday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, we also recommend visiting the Partnachklamm gorge. Waterfalls run down the walls of a narrow gorge, and a seething stream of water rushes along the bottom: this river is fed by the waters of the Zugspitze glacier.
Literally 20 km from Garmisch, but already on the territory of Austria, there is an adventure trail Leutasch Spirit Gorge. The road leads along the gorge directly to the Mountain Spirit. And summer is a good time to go to one of the amusement parks. The road to Skyline Park in Bad Wörishofen will take an hour and a half, but 60 attractions, theatrical performances and a petting zoo are worth it. It is only an hour’s drive to the fairytale forest Märchenwald, and under its canopy live favorite characters from children’s fairy tales. Both parks open in mid-April and work until mid-October.
What to see:
A holiday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with children usually lasts longer than a couple of days, and therefore tourists have time to ride to their heart’s content, relax and want some excursions. The more time you are going to spend at the resort, the wider the geography of trips can be, and you can start with local museums. We recommend visiting the Werdenfels Museum of Local History in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with your child in the first days of your vacation. After the excursion, it will be easier for you to notice the peculiarities of this region. And to unfold the picture of local traditions, you can go to the village of Oberammergau, which is 20 km from the resort. Each house in the village is decorated with paintings on plaster, and the drawings are not repeated anywhere.
Oberammergau is also famous for its woodcarvers – it is not for nothing that intricately decorated wooden dishes and children’s toys are brought from here. Another museum in the resort, Aschenbrenner, is dedicated to porcelain and dolls. Despite the fragility of the exhibits, the atmosphere in the museum is relaxed: children are happy to sit down next to a doll traveling in a train compartment, and sit at an old school desk.
Here are some more ideas on what to see in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the surrounding area.
1. Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles. These amazingly beautiful, fairytale-like buildings hovering over the mountain peaks are breathtaking. The swan figure on the roof of Hohenschwangau looks especially unusual. The Museum of the Bavarian Kings, dedicated to the Wittelsbach dynasty, is located next to the castles.
2. Linderhof Castle. The castle itself certainly deserves attention, but children are much more attracted by the artificial cave with a lake. The lighting system in the cave is so unique that it is demonstrated in the Technical Museum of Munich.
3. Glentleiten Open-Air Museum in Großweil. The traditional exhibition – old houses, household items, agricultural tools, crafts and trades – has one interesting detail: the museum tells how tourists discovered the resorts of the Bavarian Alps at the end of the 19th century.
4. Tratzberg Castle (Austria). Mouse Adele and ghost Tratzi, the castle’s symbols, will show this Gothic fortress to the child. Children equally like the knights’ hall and the knights’ playground.
5. Swarovski Museum (Innsbruck, Austria). An underground museum-labyrinth with a moonlit path made of crystal, with a crystal room and a crystal kaleidoscope – no young tourist will refuse this.
6. Silver Mine in Schwaz (Austria). One of the most interesting places for children, and all because the excursion takes place underground, you have to move in mine carts, and a film about the history of silver mining is shown right on the wall of the mine.
And what to see with children if you manage to spend a day or two in Munich? Offer little tourists a visit to the Toy Museum, the Museum of Man and Nature and the Sea Life aquarium. With older children, visit the Bavarian National Museum, Nymphenburg Palace, the Museum of Natural Sciences and Technology, and try to find time to visit the BMW Museum.
How to get to Garmisch-Partenkirchen:
By plane:
The closest airports to Garmisch-Partenkirchen are located in Innsbruck, Austria (60 km) and Munich (120 km). Both airports receive regular flights from various countries all year round.
By bus:
Regio Bus, which is part of the Deutsche Bahn system, runs from Munich and other cities to Garmisch.
By train:
Garmisch has a train station. The train journey from Munich or Innsbruck takes about 1.5 hours. Direct trains run once an hour from early morning until late evening. You can find out the schedule and buy tickets on the Deutsche Bahn website: https://www.bahn.de.