Partnach Gorge & Wagenbrüchsee

After I returned home early from Marrakech after experiencing the 8 September earthquake, I was in need of a restorative, quiet, peaceful weekend in the mountains. So, we took a long drive to the southernmost region of Germany to do a gorge hike and visit one of the most beautiful lakes in the region.

Our first stop was to Partnach Gorge, a natural gorge with steep and humongous rock walls cut through by an icy cold gushing river. A path has been built into the walls of the gorge so that visitors can safely walk their away along this beautiful natural attraction.

PARTNACH GORGE HIKE DETAILS

When: year-round

Where: Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Difficulty: easy, but take care when wet and slippery

Length: the 8.6km one-way hike took us 1.5 hours of moving time, for a total duration 2 hours including photo stops, as the gorge walk begins about 20 minutes from the parking lot

Directions: the hike through Partnach Gorge starts in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the site of an Olympic ski jump. Follow signs to the Partnach Gorge. You can buy tickets at the entrance with cash or card. Yout then proceed through metal gates into the gorge. You can then make it a loop hike by returning along the top of the gorge, past some restaurants and pretty fields. For trail details, check out my exact route on Strava.

Bathrooms: yes, at the ticket area and at the huts and restaurants along the way

Public Transit: yes, you can take the train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and then a bus to Olympia Stadium

After our visit to Partnach Gorge, we got back in our car and drove even further south near to the Austrian border to visit Wagenbrüchsee, one of the most idyllic and most-photographed lakes in Bavaria. It can be hard to find the exact spot - here is the street on which you need to park on Google Maps - from where you have to walk about ten minutes to the lake itself. You cannot reach Wagenbrüchsee without a car.