A perfect day at lake Eibsee

Who knows me knows that I love adventures! The Eibsee is just perfect for outdoor friends and adventure lovers! Read here in this blogpost how the perfect day at lake Eibsee looks like for us. Find out which outdoor and photo equipment was indispensable for me. ☺️

In this blogpost I wanna give you my advice how to make most out of ONE day at lake Eibsee, how you can design it for your own wishes and how my watershoes were indispensable for all the activities. Here are all my tips for a perfect day at lake Eibsee!

#LEAVELIKEME: I show you the most instagrammable spots, where you can take stunning photos. In addition you can find the ultimative adrenaline secret tip at lake Eibsee!

The Eibsee

The lake is located in Grainau, a small province in Bavaria, southern Germany. Well, to be honest, it’s nearly the southernmost point, because it’s exactly next to the German-Austrian border. With its deep blue and azure waters, the Eibsee lies secretly at the foot of the Zugspitze, which is the highest mountain of Germany.
By the way, because of its colours the lake is often called “the Caribbean of Germany”. What do you think?

From my hometown Weiden we need around 3 hours by car to drive there. So if you live in the south of Germany or near, the Eibsee is very fast and easy accessible and you should definitely take a visit!

The Klamm + Zugspitze

Through some breathtaking “Klamm” sceneries (=gorges) like Partnachklamm or Höllentalklamm, you can hike up the Zugspitze. So if you have some more days here, you should definitely check these places out because it’s a breathtaking scenery around you from the top and also you have a picturesque view of the Eibsee!

If you only have one or two days and want to visit the Zugspitze anyway, you can use the modern hightec cable railway up to the top (located next to the Eibsee), but it’s unfortunately very expensive, as it costs 58€ per Person for roundtrip (up and down).
#LEAVELIKEME: Later in this post I give you a cheaper option to get you up to the top of the Zugspitze.

Buuut for now, I wanna show you how I used my time at lake Eibsee best.

Getting there + parking

In Google Maps you can directly type in „Eibsee“, then it will lead you through Grainau, the small town located near the Eibsee. For parking you have two options:

Option 1: The official parking space of Lake Eibsee belongs to the Hotel “Seehotel”. It costs you 5€, but be sure to take cash with you, because without cash, you need to walk into the Hotel Reception to pay with credit card, and it will cost you 6,50€ instead.

Option 2 #LEAVELIKESAMY: There’s a free parking space on the left side called “Wanderparkplatz” shortly before you reach the Eibsee. It’s very small so make sure you come early if you wanna use it! You must walk around one kilometre by feet from here to reach the lake, but it costs you no money – depends on how you like.

How to spend a perfect day at lake Eibsee

For me, “perfect” is always relative. It depends on what YOU like most and also how YOU like to spend your day, but I wanna give you my tips and show you how I designed the day.

The round hiking trail

When you arrive at the lake, I recommend to first walk the 2-3 hours round hiking trail. You can start your hike in front of lake Eibsee, from the left side where the boat station is located or from the right side where the parking space leads into the forest. We started from the right.

Perfect day at lake Eibsee

This round trail is perfect to get an overview over all the places of the Eibsee. While you walk along the trail, you discover different locations like a small bridge, the amazing Untersee, some beautiful bays with crystal clear waters, the islands of lake Eibsee that were created by a rock fall from the mountains, as well as beaches and other small lakes.

By the way, you can rent E-Bikes and also normal bikes I think. For those who don’t want to walk all the way, but explore nice locations too.
After all, the round hiking trail definitely belongs to a perfect day at lake Eibsee.

Eibsee: Where the fairies live
I almost never write captions. But let’s face it: doesn’t this look like a home of the fairies?

The swinging rope

OMG! For all the adventurers among us, THIS is an absolutely highlight at lake Eibsee. I have to say, if you do it, you do it on your own risk!
If you do it, please be very careful.

So how do you get to the swinging rope? The way is very easy! You start at the parking space in front of the Eibsee, start walking the round trail on the right side. Follow the way until you come to the bridge. Now don’t turn left to the bridge here, but go ahead on that small trail between the trees. You are now walking along the Untersee.
Follow this trail until it’s a relatively high and until you see a trail going down to the water on the left side. At the bottom of the water, you should be able to see a tree with wooden struts attached to it as a ladder.
CAUTION, it’s very small, slippery and sloping!! Only go down if you can safely use the way.

Once at the bottom, the swinging rope is already waiting for you! It may be that you have to climb the sprouts up the tree to loosen them – sometimes it hangs in the branches. Then take the end of the rope down with you and choose a position to swing.
There are several floors – I jumped from the bottom, then I fell from about 3 meters into the water – from the top I guess you swing already 5 meters above the water.
So depends on what you dare! Have fun swinging!

Swinging rope at lake Eibsee

Perfect day at lake Eibsee ON the water

A great way to explore the Eibsee is also ON the water. As you may know, I am a water bug and love boats and ships. Unfortunately, the movement ON the Eibsee is a rather expensive pleasure.

Paddle boat at lake Eibsee

But you have several options: you can drive together with other tourists with the “Reserl”, a small motorboat with a captain. With the “Reserl” you can see the main spots of the Eibsee within half an hour, which costs you 7.50€ per person. But you can also hire a pedal boat – for 12€ per hour, so if you are two persons, it’s 6€ per hour per person and I think this is the cheapest and best option. SUPs are currently in vogue, and a cool way to move across the water – you can also rent one for 15€ per hour.

Paddle Boat Eibsee

We finally decided to go for the pedal boat, because we share the price here and are flexible and as long as we wanted to explore the lake. So for 3 hours we paid 36€ together, so 18€ each and had a great relaxing afternoon on the water.

Please note: you are not allowed to dock with the boats! But I swam ashore two or three times or had myself dropped off on a rock to take pictures. If you are only two then one of you has to stay in the boat to control it. In this case, a camera tripod like ours from Manfrotto is your best friend, because you can take it onto the land with you! ?

Perfect day at lake Eibsee: paddle boat

Photospots: Instagram-rock etc.

The perfect day at the Eibsee – how could you describe it better than with photos?

Okay to be honest, you will find countless beautiful places to photograph on the Eibsee. However, one of the most famous is the sharp rock that you see again and again on Instagram. I must confess, I could only spy it from the pedalboat, didn’t see it while walking the round trail! ?
It is located in a small, beautiful green-blue bay behind the Braxeninsel.

Lake Eibsee: the instagram rock

By the way you can see quite different beautiful places and photo spots from the water than from the countryside in general!
This little rock and the green bathing place were in the same bay as the “Instagram Rock”:

Dancing at lake Eibsee

Häselgehr waterfall

When you finish your day at the Eibsee (or better light: on the next morning) there is another TOPP TIP from me. I would almost call it an insider tip, since it is very less crowded.
If you stay in the place I’ll recommend you below, it’s only a 5 minute drive to this breathtaking waterfall!

Häselgehr waterfall

It pours over several levels and basins, from very high up on the mountain down to the accessible area, and even further down.
You can easily park in a parking bay down the street. From there it’s a 5 minute walk a little bit uphill (not the steep path on the left, but the way to the right!).

Arrived at the waterfall, we had it all to ourselves. Only after half an hour two cyclists did pass by, and a little later another three hikers. But that was all – just as I like it: lonely, untouched and a lot of time for us to take pictures and videos.

From below or from above?

Of course you can see the waterfall from below, where it forms a beautiful crystal clear basin. It’s not deep enough to swim, but I just wandered through it a bit with my water shoes. This was so nice and refreshing.

On the right side of the waterfall you can go up some slippery steps – a sign says that you can only do it with climbing gear. As always, if you do it, you do it on your own responsibility. Be careful! At the top you can stand behind the waterfall and watch as it rushes into the depths.

Where to stay

Even the perfect day at the Eibsee will eventually come to an end. Well, finally, let’s talk about the accommodation: I highly recommend you a super familiar, outstanding beautiful campsite, which is run with a lot of heart and soul. Camping Dr. Lauth lies idyllically above the village Ehrwald right at the foot of the Zugspitze – the view of the mountains is B R E A T H T A K I N G. But see for yourself:

Camping Dr. Lauth

As I mentioned above the Austrian cable car, which takes you to the Zugspitze, is only 2km away from the campsite. Here you save a little over 10€ if you feel like “climbing” the highest mountain in Germany – but not by your own feet, hehe. ?

I will definitely come here again for a few more days! The campsite Dr. Lauth (named after its founder in the 50s) lies on the Austrian side of the Zugspitze. From the Eibsee you drive about 20 minutes. Actually, we discovered the place by accident – on the way to the Eibsee, I called the places in Grainau and asked if they still have tent sites for the night. Unfortunately, they were already quite booked and could not promise us.

So I searched the map for “campsite” in Google Maps, and I found camping Dr. Lauth. The reviews of the place on the internet are (legitimately) great, and the location convinced us as well. So I made a short call, told them that we would come in the evening (possible until 22 o’clock), and everything was managed!
I preferred it anyway, as I don’t like the big modern campsites. Who knows me knows that I like it small and quiet rather than big and loud.

Camping Dr. Lauth
Stands within a minute: Our great quartet of Quechua – just throw it down and peg with herring. Crumpled slightly the first time.

Is it easy to get to Austria?

YES, the answer is definitely YES! Of course, there is no border crossing, just a sign telling you that you are in Austria, and you do not need a vignette because you are not driving on the Autobahn. Totally easy, just drive on the Eibsee from Landstraße to Ehrwald, and you are already in our neighboring country Austria.
In Ehrwald you drive up and up, towards the Zugspitze – until you suddenly find the campsite between green hills and cow pastures! The perfect day at the Eibsee for us ended in Austria.

#LEAVELIKEME Tip: The food in the restaurant is suuuuper! Be sure to try the cheese spaetzle, as well as the pizzas!

Recommendation: watershoes

So the Eibsee offers a lot of highlights to its visitors. Some by land, some by water. As you may have recognized in my pictures, I’m wearing beautiful watershoes with mesh optic on “a perfect day at lake Eibsee”. So here’s my absolute recommendation for you:

I can tell you, water shoes revolutionized my adventure life – they are the must-have gear on my adventures. They have an anti-slip sole that gives you enough grip even on the wettest surfaces. Also they look very stylish in every color and can be worn like sneakers for everyday outfits or even for hiking over stick and stone.

Perfect day at lake Eibsee

The most practical: you can easily wear them without socks, because the feet can breathe easily through the mesh material! How practical is that? I never like to pack so many socks during (summer) holidays, I would even like to leave them all at home!

By the way, the shoes dry very fast when you get out of the water. The material is just great. Whether on the beach, in the hotel complex, under the waterfall, at home in the garden, swimming in ponds / lakes, snorkelling on coral reefs, or even quad biking in the desert: your feet are always protected best with the watershoes.

Eibsee - paradise in Bavaria
They even look stylish to white dresses! 😛
Eibsee, caribbean of Germany

Further accommodations

On booking.com I found the following beautiful accommodations for the non-campers among us.
The prices are per night for 2 persons, in this example in October.

  • 70€: Hotel Quellenhof mit super Preis-Leistung, Wellness-Bereich und modernen, gemütlichen Zimmern zum Entspannen
  • 125€: es gibt ein 4-Sterne Sentido Hotel witch direct entrance to Höllentalklamm, a little bit older rooms, but stunning Wellness
  • 154€: and the most luxury at Romantik Alpenhotel Waxenstein, maybe if you have a special occasion

A perfect day at lake Eibsee

This was my perfect day at lake Eibsee. If there are any questions left, please feel free to leave a comment below the blogpost! ?

You don’t have enough time to travel? Read my blogpost about 3 Tipps: Vollzeit Job und Reisen. (only available in German at the moment, but English coming soon)

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