Herzogstand&Heimgarten (1790m) round-tour (18km)

It’s a quick ride from Munich, 1h on the train and you arrive at Kochelsee, 20 more minutes on the bus and you’re at shore of turquoise waters of Walchensee. From the parking of Herzogstandbahn the route goes steep up and it continues like this through the forest for a good hour – there’s occasional glimpses of the lake. Then the path becomes more open and the views are magical, it’s a super pretty hike! After 2.5h we reach the Herzogstandhaus and after short stop continue the zigzag trail to the Herzogstand pavilion at 1731m. There’s a number of lakes visible from there, including Ammersee and Starnbergersee.

From there, we continue on a ridge path to reach Heimgarten, another 2h: half down/flat and half climbing steep up. It’s a tough one but the view over Walchensee is stunning! And it’s finally time for lunch. And Weizen at Heimgartenhütte 🙂

It’s lovely up there but we do have to get back so off we go… Berg ab is definitely not my favorite direction and it takes forever (2h to be precise). Very happy to reach the bus stop 5min before the bus departure, with no planning whatsoever!

Facit: it’s a very picturesque tour, stunning views of Walchensee that looks kinda Caribbean. But, it’s very busy, it’s a popular route. And next time, i would actually do it other way around: start at Heimgarten and take a cable car down from Herzogstand, much better.