Travel Guide for Bavarian Alps, Germany
After deciding to experience all that is Oktoberfest, we decided to make a weekend trip and get some hiking in. We stayed in the cutest little town called Oberammergau. Unless you’re from Germany, you probably have no clue where that is, but you should because it is stunning.
Oberammergau is a quaint little town about an hour south of Munich. Initially, we were going to go to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a more well-known town in the Bavarian mountains. After looking for last minute Airbnb options, though, the only place I could find in our budget was in Oberammergau.
After researching it some and finding a couple of blogs about it, we decided to go for it and stay in Oberammergau. We’re so happy that we did! The town is small enough that after we got to the main train station, we were only a 10 minute walk from our Airbnb apartment.
Oberammergau feels like it’s straight out of a fairy tale!
We got in late, so we headed straight for the apartment from the train station. The next morning we got up to go hiking. Conveniently, the trail head for the Kofel trail was only a short walk from our apartment! I saw one post about the Kofel trail and after seeing the pictures, was pumped to do the hike. Turns out, this hike was no joke and we were completely unprepared, but it was still completely worth it.
The trail starts near the öttenbühl parking lot, near the Oberammergau Cemetery. We stayed at an apartment about 5 minutes from the town center and we just walked to the trail head. There are signs around town pointing you to the mountain, just follow the “kofel”signs.
The day that we went was rainy and wet and a little chilly. We were a bit nervous about hiking the trail in the rain, but it ended up being ok! The rain cleared up when we got to the top, which was great for us. Had it been raining while we were at the top, it could have complicated getting back down. Before the actual trail starts you walk through an incredible meadow. It was beautiful and a great photo opportunity. The majority of this trail consists of switchbacks up the side of the mountain. Most of the trail is under a canopy of trees, and it was beautiful. During this portion of the trail, it’s a fairly simple climb. A little steep, but not too bad. Once you’re around two-thirds of the way up, roughly 3,000 feet, the trees begin to open a bit and you get an incredible view of surrounding mountains.
I read that it would take an hour and a half to make it to the top, but it ended up taking us right at 2 hours. There is one hut about two-thirds of the way up that we took a short break in. Make sure to bring plenty of water with you, we definitely did not bring enough with us! Overall, the hike was exactly what we hoped for. It was challenging but not exhausting and the view at the top was 100% worth it. If you have climbed the Kofel mountain and have any tips of your own, I would love to hear them!
After we finished the hike, we realized we were starving! We were only about 15 minutes from the heart of Oberammergau so we just walked to town to get lunch. The town was busy, but not packed, and absolutely adorable. Exactly what you think of when you imagine a quaint German village. There were tourists roaming around but it never felt overwhelming.
We found a small café and have goulash soup and hot chocolate and it couldn’t have been more perfect. After we ate we headed to local Lidel (a German grocery store) and got food to make dinner, since we were trying to keep our costs as low as possible. Again, we walked about 5 minutes to the Lidel and then headed for our 10 minute walk home. We stayed the weekend and never even needed a bus pass because the town was so easy to get around on foot. Overall, it was the perfect weekend trip. The town was perfect, the hike was perfect and the Airbnb was even perfect. If you ever find yourself in the area, I would absolutely suggest a visit to Oberammergau!!
Also, we do have some prints from this trip for sale! Check out our Etsy link here to see all of our prints available to purchase!