The part of the Alps belonging to the Germans must be viewed conservatively; the German strip along the northern edge of the Alps is quite narrow and is mainly the foothills to the Alps, not a single mountain exceeds three thousand metres.

One can live well with this fact, because the Alpine foothills between Lake Constance and the Watzmann sparkle with numerous temptations which are not dimmed by the lack of a few metres in height: The undulating Alp foothills broaden in the north with many lovely lakes, here and there, decorated by chalk-toothed projections, are green woods and the lush meadow foothills behind which stands the magnificent, dramatic backdrop of the high mountains.

the "Königssee" Enlarge image: the "Königssee"

Beside this abundantly diverse landscape there is an exceedingly rich cultural heritage. The Pfaffenwinkel with its magnificent churches, the royal castles, the historical trade and access roads, such as the roman Via Claudia or the Kesselberg, the important convent bases in Ettal, in Benediktbeuern and Lake Tegen, or also the hundreds of years of alpine meadows, all bear witness to a long and stirring history of settlement and culture.

Even without prestigious 3,000 metre high mountains, there is no shortage of impressive foothills; there the steep, grass mountain-slopes of the Allgäu Alps, the wild panorama of the Wettersteinmassiv with Germany’s highest peak, the Zugspitze, the chalk-chains of the Karwendels with its wildly romantic but lonely corner and finally the eastern foundation of the Berchtesgadener Alps with the Berchtesgaden national park and the Watzmann.Start with the Autozug from Hamburg, Hildesheim or Düsseldorf to Munich.