With the nine-euro ticket, Bavaria can be explored away from overcrowded attractions such as Neuschwanstein or Blomberg. The SZ presents nine tours for hiking fans, culture enthusiasts and nature lovers. Part one: the Ammergau Alps.
In Upper Bavaria, the Ammergau Alps Nature Park attracts visitors with its mountains and rivers. The circular hike “Unternogg-Runde” leads through the impressive nature of the protected Ammer Gorge. About 120,000 years ago, the Ammer found its way north and created the Ammer Gorge between Peißenberg and Altenau. 15 kilometers from the source, there was a rock breakthrough, the Scheibum. It consists of marl and sandstone and impresses with a length of 600 meters and walls that rise up to 60 meters. The hike also leads past a historical monument, the Kammerl power station. It was built in Art Nouveau style between 1897 and 1899 and supplied Germany’s first electric railway line between Murnau and Oberammergau with electricity for more than a hundred years. In 2013, the power plant was shut down and replaced by a new railway system.
Traveling by regional train takes you via Murnau to Altenau train station, about an hour and a half from Munich Central Station. The easy hiking trail, which is also suitable for children, is 11.3 kilometers long and leads 185 meters uphill and downhill through a varied landscape. In Altenau you cross the village in a northerly direction to the Lehenkreutweg, which leads across fields and meadows. After about three kilometers you reach the forest and shortly afterwards you cross the Schwepbach. At the next fork in the path, the hike leads right after one kilometer to the Acheleschwaig tavern with Bavarian-regional cuisine.
The road continues through the forest, just before crossing the Ammer, it turns right to the Scheibum viewpoint – an amazing wilderness in the middle of Upper Bavaria and the highlight of the hike. The Kammerl power plant is on the other side of the Ammer. After about 2.5 kilometers through the forest you reach the Halbammer, a tributary of the Ammer. Cross the river at the Unternogg wasteland to the left via the Königsstraße, which leads back through forest and meadows to the Ammer and Altenau. There the Dorfwirt offers the opportunity to stop off on the way to the train station.
More excursion tips for Bavaria at sz.de/excursion destinations