Zugspitze
Germany'S Highest Mountain At 2,962 M, Reached By The Eibsee Cable Car, The Cog Railway And The Glacier Cable Car; The Zugspitzplatt Glacier Ski Area Sits Just Below The Summit · Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria
The Zugspitze is Germany's highest point, a rocky summit of 2,962 m on the Austrian border above Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and it is a mountain almost everybody rides rather than climbs. Three mechanical ways reach the top area: the Eibsee cable car, a single record-breaking span from the lake to the summit in about ten minutes; the Bavarian Zugspitze cog railway, which grinds up from Garmisch through a long tunnel to the Zugspitzplatt at about 2,588 m in a little over an hour; and the Glacier cable car that lifts you from the Platt to the summit. A fourth comes up from Ehrwald on the Austrian side. At the top are two terraces either side of the border, a gilt summit cross on the rocks, a weather station, restaurants and, on a clear day, a horizon of several hundred peaks across four countries. Germany's last glacier remnant and a small ski area lie on the Platt below. The blunt truth about the place is that in cloud you pay a great deal to stand in fog, so check a summit webcam before you buy.
Zugspitze summit on the German-Austrian border above Garmisch-Partenkirchen; cable car from the Eibsee and the Bavarian Zugspitze cog railway from Garmisch, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany
The cable cars and the cog railway run all year, daily, from about mid-morning to late afternoon with the last descent earlier than people expect - confirm the exact first and last departures for your date, because missing the last car down is a serious problem. Each lift closes for maintenance for a stretch of some weeks, usually in spring or late autumn, and the Glacier cable car and the Platt lifts have their own dates; check which of the three routes is actually running before you travel. High wind, ice or lightning stops the cable cars at no notice, sometimes with the railway still working. The glacier ski area runs roughly from late autumn to early May - confirm. Summit restaurants keep lift hours. The Eibsee shore path is free and open at all times.