Bavaria - recreation, relaxation and oak wood

Ulf Lippitz, The Falstaff Travel Editors, 30.01.2026

The snow is getting scarce, but the ideas are getting better. Winter tourism is changing in the Bavarian Alps: hotels are focusing less on the slopes and more on architecture, tranquillity and new rituals of relaxation - from Lake Chiemsee to the winter forest near Garmisch.

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The German winter sports landscape begins south of Munich. At the northern foothills of the Alps, a veritable ski tourism industry has established itself around Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Reit im Winkl - but it needs to reinvent itself. Due to global warming, snowfall is becoming increasingly erratic; the reliability of finding the material that is so essential for skiing in the 46 ski resorts of the Bavarian Alps is decreasing.

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