Mittenwald

The wonderfully quaint and idyllically Bavarian town of Mittenwald lies in the shadows of its more famous sister, Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I find this unfortunate, as like Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Mittenwald also offers a breath taking gondola ride to a spectacular mountain peak, a series of mystical gorge hikes, and even a quirky folk museum all of which are glued together with some small town alpine charm. I honesty I find it incredibly strange that two towns offer such similar trappings, with only one receiving the real glory. Either way, I’ll guide you through this alternative Garmisch-Partenkirchen, providing an itinerary of everything you need to know about this less traveled Bavarian town in the foothills of the Alps.

Transportation

Beginning from the Munich Hauptbahnhof, take the RB train in the direction of Mittenwald, exiting at the Mittenwald Bahnhof after an hour and 50 minute ride. From there, head towards the town center, via Bahnhofstrasse until arriving at the main intersection in the town center. From here, all your Mittenwald town activities are accessible.

The Geigenbau Museum

Mittenwald’s role in German cultural history is actually quite important, having functioned as the center of violin manufacturing and trade. This history is highlighted through the Geigenbaumuseum, the town’s prestigious violin making school, and numerous local luthiers. For an excellent pre-lunch activity, I recommend the Violin Making Museum, or in German, the “Geigenbau Museum”. The museum showcases the town’s role in violin making and trade through interactive and educational exhibits dedicated to explaining the craft of violin making and the development over the course of a three-hundred year period. Turn right at the town center intersection indicated conveniently by the statue of a violin maker. Passing the church on your left, walk into a small courtyard featuring your destination of the Geigenbau Museum also on the left.

Mittenwald was well situated geographically for the distribution of goods due to its location on the the former Roman road (the Rottstrasse) connecting Italy through the Bremer pass into Mittenwald, and further north to centers of German trade with Augsburg and Nuremberg. As a result, around 20% of Mittenwald residents worked as small traders or directly in the systems organizing trade and levying tolls. After the development of a more direct mountain pass over the Kesselberg Mountains in 1492, Mittenwald solidified its position between Venice and Munich, developing into a wealthy town with a burgeoning merchant class. Under these fortuitous conditions, enter Mathias Klotz, the man credited with bringing the tradition of violin making to Mittenwald. Records are unclear, but Klotz’s role began when he moved to Italy during his teen years, apprenticing as a lute maker. After his apprenticeship, scholars theorize that Klotz moved to Mittenwald, utilizing the town’s unique trading position by building lutes to be sold in large batches to shops in Northern Italy. As the lute’s popularity waned throughout the late 17th century, Mathias pivoted to violin making, again, crafting violins in Mittenwald to be sold in Northern Italy. At the dawn of the 18th century, Klotz must have experienced significant personal success, as rather than being sold as blanks to Italian shops, instruments began appearing with his name on the label. For the next couple decades, Klotz trained his sons in violin making, and they later took on apprentices of their own. In 1760, violins were in high demand throughout Europe, and meeting this demand, the Klotzs produced 11 trained violin makers in Mittenwald by 1750. As the 18th century progressed, the Klotz family had left their mark on the town, as an increasing number of residents were registered as violin makers.

This adorable exhibition is just 5.50 Euros per adult, educating guests with numerous hands on exhibits and displays. Try your hand at some violin making techniques in the recreated worship, or get a close up of some disassembled instruments. The museum also offers dozens of historical instruments, even some made my Mathias Klotz himself. Even for those with little knowledge of classical music, this museum provides a refreshingly in depth look into a localized history.

Mittenwald Town Center

For those heading to the relaxed hiking offered at Leutasch Gorge, you might be happy to learn that the path there takes visitors down Mittenwald’s main pedestrian thoroughfare of Obermarkt, past several restaurants. If you’ve built up an appetite, here is your chance to enjoy some traditional Bavarian food in an aspirational European outdoor cafe. As for recommendations, I honestly have yet to find an excellent restaurant on this main strip utilizing the aforementioned quaint and peaceful atmosphere, and I’d summarize that although this aesthetic of sitting at a cafe on this main street is totally charming, the food scene leaves a little to be desired. The fare offered at these restaurants isn’t awful, rather a little generic and overpriced. My travel hack for this situation is to bring a packed lunch to eat at the gorge, but to also fuel up before the walk with the seemingly endless ice cream selection at Cafe Bozner on the main strip. This way, you can experience the small Alpine town vibes from the aspirational outdoor cafe seating while also enjoying a tasty, reasonably priced treat.

“The Mittenwald town center is a great place to wander or relax at a cafe, as the main draw is soaking in the Alpine village vibes”

Leautasch Gorge

Food stop or not, for Leautasch Gorge, continue down Obermarkt even after it turns into the less quaint busy road, Innsbruckerstrasse. Look for a dirt path turning right just before the street crosses the river. Follow that path straight for about a mile with the forest on your right, and the Leautasch river and open fields on your left. Arriving at the gorge entrance, you have two options. Visitors can pay 3 euros per adult between May and October to access the inside of the gorge via wooden walkways. Here, guests can experience the river’s power as it bursts dramatically from the mountains, forcefully cutting its way out through the impressive gorge. We featured this option the year previous in our Almabtrieb video linked above. Check it out. As for the second option, visitors can also choose to experience the gorge, but this time from above, via a series of metal bridges and catwalks hugging the inside of the canyon walls. This option is free, but does include about 30 minutes of steep, uphill walking, before the breathtaking 2 km of catwalk hiking. Both options do not take up too much time, so I recommend trying both! Booth views offer a unique perspective of the Leautasch river.

The Karwendelspitze

So, to ascend the Karwendelspitze, walk to the Karwendelbahn cable car behind the Mittenwaldbahnhof. With no direct path through the main train station, visitors must annoyingly loop around the Mittenwaldbahnhof, turning right following Bahnhofplatzstrasse briefly. At the intersection with Dammkarstrasse, turn right, following the road until taking another right at Mühlenwegstrasse. Finally, turn left at the intersection with Weidenweg, crossing the Isar river, leading straight to the Karwendelbahn, situated at the bottom of the parking lot. In total, we walked a quick 20 minutes from the Mittenwald Bahnhof to the Karwendelbahn.

Arriving at noon on our particular visit, we found the line for the gondola extending out the door, far into the parking lot. This may have been an effect of social distancing protocols, or simply a result of small gondola capacity. Either way, we waited an hour and a half in the hot sun before going up the mountain. I can’t speak to this frustrating wait time as being normal, but you may want to arrive much earlier than noon to avoid such a wait. The Karwendelspitze is priced at 30.50 Euros per adult. It’s not cheap by any means, but also not the most expensive gondola I’ve ridden.

Once at the top, the peak offers several hiking and viewing options. Some are hikes to various peaks, other involve climbing gear, requiring hikers to clip themselves into the rock faces, as they scramble above the sheer drops. Being without climbing gear, we opted for the 1 hour “family friendly” Panoramaweg with its excellent 360 views of Mittenwald and the surrounding Karwendel mountains. I put “family friendly” in quotes as some foreigners such as myself may not have the same conception of kid appropriate hikes. There were several narrow ridges, some covered in snow, that struck me as being a little treacherous to lackadaisical hikers. After snapping some pictures, taking in the Alpine views, and enjoying a snack at the better than expected cafe, head back down via the same gondola.

So, if you’re like me, and Mittenwald sounds like a necessary stop in your Bavarian itinerary, you might be wondering how to organize this town into your travels. Including this famous peak, and the aforementioned activities are of course a little too much for one daytrip, so if you’re looking to check off all these activities from your Mittenwald bucket list, I recommend travelers spend one and a half days in Mittenwald to sufficiently experience all the sites listed above. Perhaps travel to Mittenwald from Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the early afternoon, checking out the Geigenbau Museum, Gorge, and town center. Spend the night in Mittenwald, or the neighboring village of Wallgau which also offers some hotels. Be sure to book somewhat far in advance, as both towns offer quality lodging, but not in abundance. Spend the next day on the Karwendelspitze, leaving for your next location in the late afternoon. Now you have all the information you need when choosing between Mittenwald and Garmisch-Partenkirchen!