Garmisch-Partenkirchen: the back story

About Garmisch-Partenkirchen: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Garmisch and Partenkirchen were long separate places, each with its own traditions and costumes, beneath the Wetterstein mountains. Germany’s highest peak, the Zugspitze, was first climbed from here in 1820; a century later the mountain railways arrived, and the joint town became one of the great names of Alpine skiing.

Two towns, one name

For a long time Garmisch and Partenkirchen were independent places, and GaPa Tourism says you can still see it today in their different traditional costumes. Partenkirchen keeps a historic old town of painted houses and old inns, and both share a living tradition of craftsmanship, from carved carnival masks to figures of saints.

Germany’s highest mountain

Lieutenant Josef Naus made the first ascent of the Zugspitze, 2,962 metres, in 1820. Opening it to everyone took far longer: the Kreuzeckbahn, Bavaria’s first cable car, opened on 28 May 1926, and in 1930 the cogwheel train reached the Zugspitze plateau, together with the Schneefernerhaus hotel and the summit cable car. In 2018 the Cable car Zugspitze, built in two years from 2015 and the holder of world records, replaced the old Eibseebahn.

The Kandahar’s “Freier Fall” is the steepest section in the whole World Cup: 92 percent.

The Olympic town

From 6 to 16 February 1936, Garmisch-Partenkirchen hosted the IV Olympic Winter Games, at which alpine skiing was held for the first time. The town has hosted the Alpine World Ski Championships twice since, in 1978 and 2011, and since 1954 the Kandahar races, named after Frederick Roberts, Earl of Kandahar, in whose name downhill and slalom racing were promoted. After its renovation in 2008, the Kandahar gained the steepest section in the entire World Cup, the “Freier Fall”, at 92%.

Two ski areas

Skiing here means two areas on one lift company, the Bayerische Zugspitzbahn: Garmisch-Classic, 40 km of pistes on the Alpspitze, Hausberg and Kreuzeck, and the Zugspitze glacier area on the plateau at 2,600 metres, skiable from late November to early May.

Our advice: ski the Zugspitze plateau on a clear, cold day; book the Twin-Ticket for one day in each area; and finish an evening in Partenkirchen’s old town, where the music and the Schuhplattler dancers are still part of everyday life.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen through the years

From the Bayerische Zugspitzbahn history page and Kandahar page, GaPa Tourism and the MICHELIN Guide, read October 2026.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Garmisch-Partenkirchen: the back story before you go.