Zugspitze Ski Resort Germany
Looming high above the quintessential German ski town of Garmisch Partenkirchen (or Ga-Pa for short) is Germany's highest peak, Zugspitze (2,962m). The ski resort of the same name is the nation's highest & most snow sure, topping out at 2,720m.
Who would have thought that it was possible to ski quality waist deep powder in Germany? It is possible & we did it at Zugspitze. The arrival location at Zugspitze is at the top the resort so it is a step off the train, clip into skis & drop straight into powder. Awesome! Oh, & if the weather is truly heinous, you can ski down low at the nearby Garmisch-Classic ski resort. Even better!
Pros & Cons for Zugspitze Ski Resort
Pros
- High altitude, snow-sure ski area with a long season.
- Some fabulous beginner & lower intermediate piste trails!
- Uncrowded.
- Modern lifts.
- Incredible mountain restaurants & bars, particularly on the Zugspitze summit.
- Amazing après ski in the Iglu Dorf Ice Hotel & Sonn Alpin.
- Several awesome non-ski activities including sledding plus gob-smacking lookouts & winter-walking.
- Good value lift pass price linked with Garmisch Classic.
- Accommodation in nearby Partenkirchen is sublime, as is the ambiance of its ‘old town’.
- Excellent public transport access by train to two separate base areas.
Cons
- No advanced on-piste trails.
- Small ski area with most terrain on a shortish skiable vertical.
- The off-piste is mostly short-pitch, low angle, rolling terrain, which holds only limited interest.
Pro or Con (depending on your perspective!)
- Can be incredibly cold - a blessing & a curse depending on your blood circulation!
- The train journey from Garmisch is in two parts & takes way too long; but is also an amazing trip for a first timer plus provides a comfortable, safe alternative to driving.
- Accommodation is some distance away by rail or road at Grainau or Garmisch Partenkirchen. Ga-Pa is split between the fun & newish Garmisch & the beautiful traditional Partenkirchen.
- Few ski-in ski-out accommodation options, but there are a couple at the resort base & the amazing Iglu Dorf Ice hotel in the ski resort. And anyway, the real action happens in Ga-Pa!
Skiing & Snowboarding, Lifts & Terrain
The skiing at Zugspitze is in a northerly aspect glacier bowl providing open alpine terrain with a seemingly satisfying 720m skiable vertical. The piste trails are best suited to beginner & lower intermediate skiers & snowboarders. Advanced & expert riders will need good visibility & some imagination to make the most of the rolling off-piste terrain as there is nothing on-piste that will hold one's interest for much over an hour. We visited on a deep powder day in poor visibility & had loads of fun, but the lack of pitch tempered the yip, yip yahoos!
Check out the ski trail map for Zugspitze below.
On face value, Zugspitze appears to have a wide range of ski lifts in the resort, the reality is that only 2 modern chairs & 3 surface lifts serve the ski terrain. The chairs serve only 300m of skiable vertical. The surface tows are on the glacier for beginners, one of questionable value between the chairs & the important Brunntal tow, serving a further 300m vertical down the bowl. All the cable cars & railways simply provide access (albeit with some fine views & incredible engineering.
The ski resort is connected to the summit by a cable car, but no piste trails link the two - such a shame. Ski access is best via the cog railway, but we recommend taking the Gletscher Seilbahn (Glacier cable car) up to the summit of the Zugspitze at the end of the day on the way back to Ga-Pa. From Zugspitzplatt, the Gletscher cable car ascends to the incredible snow & ice clad lair on the summit. When covered in its winter coat, the buildings & viewing platforms look like something from a science fiction movie. The viewing platforms are excellent & the restaurant area is superbly designed to maximise the panoramas from the precipitous perch. You can also step into Austria (the border runs through the summit) & even take a cable car down to the Austrian Tyrol.
Lift Pass
All lift passes greater than 1½-days duration are valid in the nearby Garmisch Classic ski resort. Garmisch-Classic is the perfect alternative to Zugspitze when the weather is foul up on the glacier. Lift passes of 3-days or more are called a Top Snow Card and are valid at a number of regional ski resorts in Bavaria & the Austrian Tyrol (including Garmisch of course).
All lift passes at Zugspitze include one ascent & one descent up to the ski area via the cable car or cog railway.
See here for the Garmisch Classic ski trail map.
Where is Zugspitze Germany?
Zugspitze is in Bavaria, southern Germany, on the border with Austria. The ski resort is 12km southwest of the main resort village of Garmisch Partenkirchen & less than 5km as the crow flies from Ehrwald in Austria. By road, the access cable car base at Eibsee is 11km from Ga-Pa. The town is only 90km south of Munich & 65km north of Innsbruck, Austria. Both cities are the gateway airports to Zugspitze & are connected to the area via an excellent railway network.
Travel to Ga-Pa is an easy 2½hr train ride from Munich airport or less from Innsbruck's main station. Search & book here for train tickets to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Zugspitze is connected to Garmisch Partenkirchen and its nearby ski resort of Garmisch Classic, by trains & cable cars. A cog railway train chugs its way up through the mountain directly to the ski resort area. Alternatively, two cable cars make the journey up to the Zugspitze summit, one on the German side & another from the Austrian side near Ehrwald. All travel modes on the German side are included in the ski lift pass. See here for the local transport map.
Zugspitze Accommodation
The town of Garmisch Partenkirchen is the ultimate German holiday destination & the perfect base to ski Zugspitze. It has oodles of quality Bavarian hotels & guesthouses. Previously two separate villages, Ga-Pa has two distinctly different faces. Garmisch is the more modern, lively & commercial side of the ledger. The Partenkirchen side of town is the opposite, having retained much of its traditional architecture & charm, providing the most pleasant accommodation location.
Search & book here for all Garmisch-Partenkirchen ski accommodation.
Closer to the Zugspitze ski area is the quiet village of Grainau, 4km east of the cable car base at Eibsee. The village is split into Untergrainau & Obergrainau. A train station on the Zugspitze rail line is in Obergrainau. The Eibsee Hotel is near the main Zugspitze cable car base. For a real treat, spending a night in the brilliant Iglu Dorf Ice hotel will provide lasting memories with its combination of ice sculptures, hot tubs, bar & fur clad sleeping areas.
Alternate access to Zugspitze is on the Austrian side via cable car from a small village called Obermoos, near the larger town of Ehrwald. Both could serve as bases to ski the resort. Ehrwald is central to the Austrian Tiroler Zugspitze Arena ski resorts.
Ski Rentals, Lessons & Guiding
Ski rentals are available via our local partner in the centre of the Ga-Pa village & at the mountain station on Zugspitze. Receive a discount when you search & book via our Zugspitze Ski & Snowboard Rental page.
if you need ski lessons & guiding, you can search, compare & book with our local partner via our Zugspitze Ski Lessons & Guiding page.
Review
The Powderhounds skied Zugspitze in waist deep powder in January 2019, finding it to be an amazing start to our European ski safari, having arrived via Munich. Click on the review link in the left column (or top of the page if on a mobile) to read all the reviews.
See how Zugspitze compares to the rest of the European ski resorts on the Europe ski resort ratings page.
Follow Powderhounds Europe on Instagram to see where we are currently skiing. Follow our main Powderhounds page on Facebook to stay in touch with up-to-date info, tours, and discussions.