Mittenwald is a “living fairy-tale picture book”. Prior to our visit on Thursday, we read that Mittenwald was voted one of the 10 most beautiful villages in Europe – and indeed it is that and much more. This idyllic Bavarian village is situated in a beautiful valley created by the Isar River and surrounded by majestic mountains. It is a 2 1/2 hour train ride from Munich. The scenery is so lovely that our time on the train “sped” by. We just can’t get enough of these charming Bavarian towns! What makes Mittenwald so unique and incredibly picturesque are the enchanting and masterful frescoes on all the building and homes throughout this historic town. The houses look exactly like Hummel houses – wooden roofs, impressive exterior decorative paintings with ornately carved gables and flower boxes under every window. Other places exudes grandeur and historical charm; however, we hate to say it but this place is so darn “cute”. This town . . . if it had cheeks, you would want to pinch them. Mitterrand is also famous for its violin manufacturing; and, of course, wonderful hiking trails.
While the spectacular surrounding mountains and lakes in Mittenwald were begging to be explored, the weather set some limitations on us. We had originally planned today to visit Garmisch-Partenkirchen (about 20 minutes from Mittenwald) to go up by cogwheel train and cable car to the Zugspitze. It is Germany’s highest peak. The cloudy and rainy weather nixed this mission. We were so disappointed. Like Garmisch-Patenkirchen, Mittenwald has the Karwendal Cable Car to whisk you up to the mountain top, as well.
We had a delightful light lunch at a quaint Bavarian restaurant in the center of Mittenwald. One side note – they clearly don’t have many English speaking tourists – none of the restaurants had English menus. Although it was quite cloudy, we decided to risk it and take a 45-minute hike to one of the lakes since we had our rain gear in tow. As we were about to reach Lake Lautersee, there was a picture-perfect meadow with an incredibly adorable church and a flock of sheep with loud bells clanging around their necks. One can only image that it could be a scene out of the movie Sound of Music! Lake Lautersee was crystal clear and it’s depth accented with gradient shades of blue. There was also a few quaint restaurants and a couple of small lodges surrounding the lake. The entire, glorious scene was even more entrancing with the enormous sawtooth Karwendal and Wetterstein Mountain ranges that hovered over the lake. And then . . .
It started pouring. We began walking back into town and decided to make the next train and visit Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Our phone said it would take us 30 minutes to get back to town and the train was leaving in 25 minutes; so we ran like crazy fools and just made it within 2 minutes of departure. We discovered that Garmisch-Partenkirchen for many centuries were separate towns but were forced to merge by Hitler ahead of the 1936 Winter Olympics. GP is much larger than Mittenwald. Despite the merger of the two towns they still appear to have their own identity with Garmisch being modern while Partenkirchen still has those fabulous fresco painted houses, churches & building like Mittenwald along with cobbled streets. As we entered the town by train, there was an enormous ski jump; however, our Park City ski jump is longer and higher. There are lots more restaurants and shops here; but we, loved the quintessential Bavarian town of Mittenwald best. Both towns are hiker’s heaven.
