CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 154 km round trip from Garmisch-Partenkirchen - roughly 2 h 57 in the saddle. The stops in between: Pilgrimage Church of Wies, The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria:, Neuschwanstein Castle and back through The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria:. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,550 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
For 34 km this is German Alpine Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
The ride follows Romantische Strasse for 1 km.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen lies in a wide Alpine valley in Bavaria, close to the Austrian border, with the Wetterstein range rising behind it and the Zugspitze, at 2,962 metres the highest mountain in Germany, standing at the end of the valley. The town is really two, Garmisch and Partenkirchen, joined together for the 1936 Winter Olympics, and each still has its own character. Partenkirchen, the older part, has a Roman history, as it stood on the road across the Alps, and its main street, with painted houses, is the more charming.
Read the complete Garmisch-Partenkirchen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen is where the day begins. Next is Pilgrimage Church of Wies.
In a meadow at the foot of the Ammergau Alps, surrounded by fields, cows and a few farmhouses, stands one of the most extraordinary churches in Europe. From the outside, the Wieskirche looks fairly plain, a white building with a modest tower. Step inside and you are hit by a wave of light, colour and movement: white and gold stucco, pastel frescoes, columns and galleries that seem to float, and a ceiling painting of Christ's return that opens the roof into heaven. It is the masterpiece of the Bavarian Rococo, built between 1745 and 1754 by Dominikus Zimmermann, with frescoes by his brother Johann Baptist, and it was listed by UNESCO in 1983.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Church of Wies write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pilgrimage Church of Wies comes up 15 km in.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Church of Wies write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
30 km in you reach Pilgrimage Church of Wies. Next is The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria:.
Neuschwanstein is the castle that everybody has seen before they arrive, and it is almost impossible to see it freshly. Ludwig II, the king of Bavaria, had it built from 1869 as a private retreat in the style of a medieval knight's castle, with towers, turrets and rooms painted with scenes from the operas of Wagner, whom he adored. It stands on a rocky spur above the Pöllat gorge, with the Alpsee lake and the plain below. Ludwig lived in it only a few months before he was declared unfit to rule and died in mysterious circumstances in Lake Starnberg in June 1886, at the age of forty. The castle was opened to the public within weeks.
Read the complete The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria:, about halfway. Next is Neuschwanstein Castle.
King Ludwig II of Bavaria began building Neuschwanstein in 1869 as a private dream, a medieval knight's castle with all the comforts of the nineteenth century, including central heating and running water. He never saw it finished, and he lived there for only a handful of months. In 1886 he was declared unfit to rule and removed, and he died a few days later in the Starnberger See, in circumstances that are still debated. Within weeks the castle was opened to the public to pay off his debts, and it has been admired ever since. Walt Disney's designers are said to have taken inspiration from it.
Read the complete Neuschwanstein Castle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Neuschwanstein Castle sits at 59 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria:.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: comes up 74 km in. Next is back through Pilgrimage Church of Wies.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Church of Wies write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
89 km in you reach back through Pilgrimage Church of Wies. Next is back through Pilgrimage Church of Wies.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Church of Wies write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Pilgrimage Church of Wies, late in the day. Next is Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Garmisch-Partenkirchen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 154 km.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen → Pilgrimage Church of Wies is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pilgrimage Church of Wies → The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: → back through Pilgrimage Church of Wies is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pilgrimage Church of Wies → Garmisch-Partenkirchen is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.