The Olympic city Garmisch-Partenkirchen, at the base of the Zugspitze, the country’s highest mountain (9,721 feet), is Germany’s best and most famous ski resort.

Here, Germany hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1936. Those games were the impetus to link the two villages into one. The villagers were less than enthusiastic so Hitler gave them an alternative that was much less pleasant, so unification was quickly approved. Even though these two joint towns are officially unified, they unofficially still compete with each other. There are two of everything: two fire stations, two schools and so on. Only the Olympic venues are shared, but to this date the Partenkirchen side handles all the arrangements for the ski jumping competitions and keeps the proceeds. The town of Garmisch takes care of the World Cup downhill races and those riches. Even though these joint towns strive to keep from being termed a city, they have a population of 28,000, and have many benefits of city life such as concerts, shows and great shopping.

Here is the interactive Garmisch-Partenkirchen town map.

Here is the Garmisch-Partenkirchen resort map in pdf format.

Partenkirchen is cute, cozy, with narrow streets and a center filled with painted houses. Unfortunately the town has a couple of square highrises interrupting the Old-World harmony. Garmisch seems more organized with a grid of streets lined with new concrete buildings intermingled with Alpine chalets and more organized, upscale shopping streets. The Munich/Innsbruck highway abruptly divides the two sections of the city—there is no easy transition from one to the other.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen’s location, less than an hour’s drive from Munich and about an hour and a half from the new Munich airport, makes it a natural tourist attraction. Since the city government has just purchased the Zugspitzbahn giving them control over all lifts, new alliances have been created with former competitors just over the border in Austria—Lermoos and Seefeld—to make an international series of ski areas which can be skied with one lift ticket, the Happy Ski Card.

The Garmisch-Partenkirchen lifts and slopes are not located right in the town. For the most part a car will make a vacation a bit easier, especially if you plan to take advantage of any of the Austrian resorts included in the area passes.

Hotels distribute a Visitor’s Card to overnight guests that allows free use of the buses, free accident insurance, free entrance to town, free access to many venues and discounts on others. Visitors will have to ask for the best bus routes to reach the lifts. Once the system is figured out it works smoothly and on time. Some hotels also issue a special visitor card for weeklong guests which includes entrance to the museums, a horse-drawn-sleigh ride, iceskating, an introduction to snowboarding, telemark, or skating courses and more.

Lermoos and Seefeld are the two largest Austrian villages linked with Garmisch by a common lift ticket. Both are about a half-hour drive away, but both offer an Alpine village setting rather than the hustle of a little city. These may be considered for those planning a vacation with young children.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Tourist Office, Richard-Strauss-Platz 2, D-82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
Country code: 0049
Telephone prefix: 08821
Telephone: 1807000
Fax: 180755
Email: tourist-info@garmisch-partenkirchen.de
Internet: www.garmisch-partenkirchen.de

Note: All prices are in Euros unless otherwise noted.

German National Tourist Office

Canada
German National Tourist Office
480 University Avenue, Suite 1410
Toronto, Ontario M5G 1V2
Toll-free: (877) - 3156237
Phone: +1 (416) 968-1685
Fax:+1 (416) 968-0562
E-mail: info@gnto.ca
Internet: www.cometogermany.com

United Kingdom
German National Tourist Office
P.O. Box 2695
London W1A 3TN
Phone: +44 207- 317-0908
Fax: +44 207-317 0917
E-mail: gntolon@d-z-t.com
Internet: www.germany-tourism.co.uk

United States
New York
German National Tourist Office
122 East 42nd Street, 20th Floor, Suite 2000
New York, NY 10168-0072
Phone: +1 (212) 661-7200 or 1-800-651-7010
Fax: +1 (212) 661-7174
E-mail: gntonyc@d-z-t.com
Internet: www.cometogermany.com

Chicago
German National Tourist Office
German National Tourist Office Chicago
P.O. Box 59594
Chicago IL, 60659-9594
Phone: +1 (773) 539-6303
Fax: +1 (773) 539-6378
e-mail: gntoch@aol.com
Internet: www.cometogermany.com

Los Angeles
German National Tourist Office
1334 Parkview Ave, Suite 300
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Phone: +1 (310) 727-9757, -9763
Fax: +1 (310) 727-9773
E-mail: info@gntolax.com
Internet: www.cometogermany.com