Why this ride
A one-way ride of 866 km, Kochel to Rottach-Egern - roughly 12 h 31 in the saddle. On the way it passes Walchensee road, Jachenau valley, Bad Tölz and Kochelsee. near Navis is the high point. It tops out at about 1,300 m.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kochelsee · Walchensee · Jachenau + Allgäu High Roads
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 866 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 12 h 31
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
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.
Scenic road chapters
Achenpass
37 km on Achenpass.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 37 km
- Pass
- Achenpass
German Alpine Road
For 67 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.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 64 km
- Named road
- German Alpine Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kochelsee lakeside
Kochel am See lies right at the point where the Bavarian flatlands end, as if somebody had stood the Alps up against the lake. The Kochelsee is a small, deep glacial lake of a few kilometres' length with reed beds along the north shore, and behind the village the ground rises sharply to the Herzogstand and Heimgarten, two wooded ridges that give the lake its backdrop. The village has about four thousand people, a handful of cafes, a promenade and, if you ride south from Penzberg, the first real sense of arriving in the mountains.
Read the complete Kochelsee lakeside write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kochelsee lakeside is where the day begins. Next is Walchensee road.
2. Walchensee road
The Walchensee is one of the deepest and clearest Alpine lakes in Germany, and the road along its eastern and southern shore is one of the most photographed in Bavaria. The water is a turquoise that looks almost Caribbean when the sun hits the shallows, and it is fed by cold springs, which keep it chilly all summer. Around it rise forested slopes, the Herzogstand to the north and the peaks of the Karwendel and the Estergebirge to the south, so the lake sits in a bowl, with its surface often creased by wind.
Read the complete Walchensee road write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Walchensee road comes up 76 km in. Next is Jachenau valley.
3. Jachenau valley
Not many people know the Jachenau. It is a long, narrow side valley that runs east from the Walchensee region to the Isar, shut in by forested ridges and farmed by a few families on meadow terraces, and it has the quality of a place that the main roads missed. Lenggries, with its nine thousand inhabitants, is the nearest real town and the place for petrol, bakeries and shops, about eleven kilometres to the east.
Read the complete Jachenau valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
151 km in you reach Jachenau valley. Next is Bad Tölz food.
4. Bad Tölz food
Bad Tölz is the market town of the Isarwinkel, a place of seventeen thousand people on the Isar river with the Alps standing behind it, and it is the sort of town where a motorcyclist can eat very well. The old main street, the Marktstraße, climbs gently from the river and is lined with houses painted in bright colours and decorated with gables and painted fronts, a pattern that Bavarian towns have followed for centuries. It is a spa town in a modest way, known since the nineteenth century for the iodine-rich springs that gave it the name Bad, and people still come here for the cure.
Read the complete Bad Tölz food write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Somewhere to get off the bike, 227 km in. Next is Back to Kochelsee.
5. Back to Kochelsee
Kochel am See lies at the foot of the Alps, where the Bavarian lowlands finally give way to mountains, and the Kochelsee fills the basin in front of it with a sheet of green-blue water about six hundred metres above the sea. The town has about four thousand people and a long lakeside promenade, with the first big peaks rising behind. The painter Franz Marc, one of the founders of the Blue Rider group, lived in the village of Ried, just outside, and the Franz Marc Museum on the hill above the lake holds a lovely collection of his work and that of his circle. Marc died at Verdun in 1916.
Read the complete Kochelsee write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Finish at Back to Kochelsee. That is the ride. Next is Allgäu High Roads.
6. Fuel stop near Rottach-Egern
At the southern end of the Tegernsee, Rottach-Egern sits where the lake meets the mountains, and it has long been one of the most comfortable addresses in Upper Bavaria. Painted houses, carved balconies and well-kept gardens line the shore, and in summer the lake is busy with sailors and swimmers. The Wallberg rises steeply behind the village, and on a clear day its summit looks close enough to touch.
Read the complete Fuel stop near Rottach-Egern write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Allgäu High Roads is the fuel stop for this leg. Next is High point near Navis.
7. High point near Navis
Navis lies in a long, quiet side valley that branches east from the Wipptal, the great Brenner corridor south of Innsbruck. Down on the main valley floor the motorway and the railway carry an endless stream of traffic towards Italy; turn off at Matrei or Steinach and climb into Navis, and within minutes the noise is gone. What remains is a scattered farming village strung along the valley for several kilometres, with steep meadows, wooden barns and a church that seems to keep watch from its slope.
Read the complete High point near Navis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Scenic stretch near Schwabmünchen.
8. Scenic stretch near Schwabmünchen
South of Augsburg the land flattens into the Lechfeld, a broad gravel plain shaped by the Lech river as it runs north from the Alps. Schwabmünchen is the market town of this stretch, a practical place with a long main street, a handful of churches, and all the shops and services a rider needs. It is not a postcard town, and it does not pretend to be, but it makes a reliable pause between Augsburg and the Allgäu.
Read the complete Scenic stretch near Schwabmünchen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Scenic stretch near Schwabmünchen, about halfway. Next is Photo stop near Donauwörth.
9. Photo stop near Donauwörth
Donauwörth stands where the Wörnitz flows into the Danube, a meeting of waters that made the town important for trade and crossings since the Middle Ages. Its main street, the Reichsstraße, is lined with colourful gabled houses, churches and the old town hall, and it was once part of an important trade route between Nuremberg and Augsburg. Today it is a stop on the Romantic Road, the tourist route that runs from Würzburg to Füssen.
Read the complete Photo stop near Donauwörth write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Photo stop near Donauwörth sits at 605 km, about halfway. Next is Munich / Bavarian Alps return.
10. Near Johanniskirchen, on the way back
The Rottal, in Lower Bavaria, is a land of rolling hills, small woods and wide fields, with farmhouses scattered across the slopes and onion-domed church towers rising above the villages. It is far from the famous Alpine scenery of the south, and few tourists come here, but it has a quiet, pastoral beauty that many riders find refreshing. Johanniskirchen is a small village in the hills between the Vils and the Rott, on the way back towards Munich, and the lanes around it are as calm as any in Bavaria.
Read the complete Near Johanniskirchen, on the way back write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Munich / Bavarian Alps return comes up 681 km in. Next is Food stop near Arnstorf.
11. Food stop near Arnstorf
Arnstorf is a small market town in the Rottal, the gently rolling country of Lower Bavaria between the Isar and the Inn. It is farming country through and through: maize, wheat, hop gardens here and there, big Bavarian farmsteads and onion-domed churches on every rise. The Rottal is also famous for horse breeding, and you may see paddocks of the sturdy Rottaler horses along the lanes.
Read the complete Food stop near Arnstorf write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
A break here. Next is Allgäu High Roads checkpoint 8.
12. Near Planegg
The end of a Bavarian lakes day usually means the Würm valley, and this finish lies on its edge, between Planegg, Krailling and Neuried, where Munich's south-western suburbs meet the forests. The Würm flows north out of Lake Starnberg through a gentle valley of meadows and villages, and the Forstenrieder Park, a large forest of beech and spruce, stretches to the east. It is a pleasant, green corner of the city's fringe.
Read the complete Near Planegg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 908 km. Next is Back to Allgäu High Roads.
13. Back to Allgäu High Roads
Bad Wiessee lies on the western shore and Tegernsee town on the eastern side, with the mountains of the Mangfall range dropping steeply into the water behind them. It is a place where Munich's money goes for the weekend, and the villas and boat houses show it, but it is also a real valley with cows, hay meadows and a long history.
Read the complete Allgäu High Roads write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back to Allgäu High Roads closes the day.
Leg by leg
Kochelsee lakeside to Walchensee road
Kochelsee lakeside → Walchensee road is 12 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Walchensee road to Jachenau valley
Walchensee road → Jachenau valley is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jachenau valley to Bad Tölz food
Jachenau valley → Bad Tölz food is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bad Tölz food to Back to Kochelsee
Bad Tölz food → Back to Kochelsee is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Back to Kochelsee to Fuel stop near Rottach-Egern
Back to Kochelsee → Fuel stop near Rottach-Egern is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuel stop near Rottach-Egern to High point near Navis
Fuel stop near Rottach-Egern → High point near Navis is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Navis to Scenic stretch near Schwabmünchen
High point near Navis → Scenic stretch near Schwabmünchen is 110 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Scenic stretch near Schwabmünchen to Photo stop near Donauwörth
Scenic stretch near Schwabmünchen → Photo stop near Donauwörth is 90 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Photo stop near Donauwörth to Near Johanniskirchen, on the way back
Photo stop near Donauwörth → Near Johanniskirchen, on the way back is 237 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Food stop near Arnstorf to Near Planegg
Food stop near Arnstorf → Near Planegg is 163 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.