Garmisch means good and Zugspitze bad

ATEverything you need to know about the most famous ski resort in Germany Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Garmisch-Partenkirchen) from the point of view of a skier fits into a simple formula: Garmisch is good, Zugspitze is bad !!!

Briefly about Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a small picturesque town in the very south of Bavaria. Carved shutters, painted walls, beer, sausages, snow-capped mountain peaks. In general, the standard Bavarian-Tyrolean set. The main ski areas are Garmisch-Classic (Skigebiet Garmisch-Classic) and the Zugspitze Glacier (Skigebiet Zugspitze).

Classic good, solid resort. 40 kilometers of trails of varying difficulty. One black one even has a special name Kandahar. Cool. The lifts are brand new, several chairs, a choice of rentals. Easily accessible from Munich.

From December to April, a special express train runs in the mornings. Platform 200 meters from the ski lift. The road takes 1.20. That is, if you hurry a lot, then in an hour and a half you can already be on the mountain. Such a ticket costs 42.00 € and includes the fare and the cost of the ski-pass. A solid 4 on my scale.

Sad song about the Zugspitze

Zugspitze is a separate sad song. And despite the small pluses, this is true. Now you will understand why I have such a persistent negative opinion.

"Infernal Hell" - and it's all about the Zugspitze

This is the only glacier ski area in Germany. There is no direct lift from the classic to the glacier. You have to go on a special very slow train through a tunnel in the mountain. You waste a lot of time, it's an hour and a half drive.

There is only one rental at the top and it’s very bad. Small, a lot of people, queues, not really sit down, "hellish hell." There is no comparison with the rentals below.

I'm not talking about the service somewhere in Sölden, where every visitor strives to pour a glass of schnapps. The trails are only 22 kilometers long. More or less decent of them, only one! But in order to use it, you need to ride on three lifts, two of which are ski lifts. There is only one armchair on the Zugspitze, the rest are long, disgusting, hateful to me ski lifts.

All this dubious pleasure costs much more. Ski-pass on the Zugspitze needs a separate one, they do not enter into cooperation with other resorts. For a classic, for example, you can buy a Ski-pass for the entire region. On it you can go to the neighboring Mittenwald, to Austria, but not on the Zugspitze. This is how the owners seem to take care of their customers...

What are the advantages of the Zugspitze?

Of the pluses - a guarantee of snow, it lies there until mid-May and a pretty snowy village, in which there are even bedrooms with beds made of snow.

Well, stunning views, because of which tourists come here all year round. And this is probably the most important real plus of this overpriced place.

Zugspitze is an excellent illustration of the thesis that many popular tourist places have too many customers and stop caring about the quality of service. The restaurant upstairs is obscenely expensive, and they bring you canned goulash soup that gives you heartburn. All in all, if you want to ski the Zugspitze once is enough…

The border between Germany and Austria runs right along the mountain, so you can go into Austria. A normal high-speed lift goes down, five minutes and you are down, on the shore of the stunningly beautiful Eibsee lake.

However, if you are just a tourist, then it is better to come here in the summer. When it's warm, beauty is easier to enjoy. I hope my story will help you make a wise choice.

Alexander Zaiko for Travelgide.ru