The five things worth knowing
- about ten euros for an adult, about five euros for a child of 6–17, paid at the hut at the entrance — see what it costs at the gate.
- 2 of the 8 tours that come here include that about ten euros; 4 exclude it in writing, one says “if available” and one says nothing either way — the entry fee, tour by tour.
- Bus 1 or 2 to Skistadion, then a 25-minute walk of 2.2 km from the car park — there is no road to the entrance. How to get there.
- 08:00–20:00 June to September, 08:00–18:00 October to May, last entry 30 minutes before closing, and short-notice safety closures happen, so check the operator’s site the morning you travel — opening hours.
- No GetYourGuide product is named after this gorge any more. The one that was is delisted; what is sold now is Alpine day trips that stop here — all 16 compared.
What a day trip from Munich actually covers
The one tour built around the gorge rather than the mountain, read off its own inclusion and exclusion lists.
In the price
- Return train, Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, about 1.5 hours each way
- Return bus to the Partnachklamm — transport to the entrance, which is not the same thing as entry
- A bilingual guide for the day
- Lunch at a restaurant
Not in the price
- The gate fee. The listing prints the tariff itself: “Adults: 10 €, Children (6–17): 5 €”
- Anything you buy on the mountain afterwards
- The entry fee is a small part of the day and it is still yours to pay — which tours do include it
The walk in, in order
From the ski stadium car park to the far end of the gorge, and what happens at each stage.
There is no road to the entrance. Everybody — day-trippers, tour groups, people who live here — walks the same 2.2 km, about 25 minutes, from the Olympic ski stadium up the valley.
- Olympic ski stadium — The car park, the bus stop and the last public toilets. Bus 1 or 2 from the station takes about 10 minutes.
- The track up the valley — A wide, gently rising gravel track beside the Partnach. Pushchairs and stiff knees manage it; it is the longest part of the day on foot.
- The ticket hut — Where you pay the entry fee, in person, on the day. The full tariff covers children, dogs and groups of 15 or more.
- The tunnels and galleries — The gorge proper: walkways bolted into wet limestone, tunnels driven through the rock spurs, and the river directly below the grating.
- The 108-metre gallery — Blasted through from 1992 to bypass the debris of a rockfall on 1 June 1991. Most people photograph it without knowing what it is.
- The far end, and the choice — Turn round and walk back the way you came, or climb on up towards the Wettersteingebirge huts and come down the other side of the valley.
Set off with the clock in mind: last entry is 30 minutes before closing, which is 20:00 from June to September and 18:00 from October to May. The operator warns that short-notice closures for safety are sometimes unavoidable, so check partnachklamm.de on the morning you travel. How long the walk really takes.
How the day works if you go on your own
Get to Garmisch-Partenkirchen
About 1.5 hours by train from Munich, and the train goes whether or not the gorge is open.
Take bus 1 or 2
Direction Skistadion, roughly 10 minutes from the station. Driving instead? Park at the ski stadium, not in town.
Walk the 2.2 km
About 25 minutes up the valley. No road, no shuttle, no way round it.
Pay at the hut
about ten euros an adult, about five euros for 6–17s, at the entrance. Nobody can sell you that ticket in advance.
The day trip that is actually about the gorge
If you would rather somebody else handled the trains, this is the tour whose route is built around the Partnachklamm instead of the mountain above it. The entry fee at the hut is still yours to pay.
Three ways to spend the day, compared
One tour built around the gorge, one that settles the entry fee in advance, and the one most people actually book — which does not come here at all.
| Closest to the gorgeMunich: Alps Canyon Waterfall Adventure Day Trip with Guide | Pick-Up in Munich: 2-Day Hike to Zugspitze via the Knorrhütte | From Munich: Zugspitze Mountain Van Tour with Garmisch Town | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | €139 per person | €379 per person | €125 per person |
| How long | About 7 hours | 2 days, with a hut overnight | About 9 hours |
| Comes to the gorge | Yes | Yes | No — Zugspitze and Garmisch town |
| The €10 gate fee | Not included — you pay at the hut | Included, in writing | Does not arise |
| Rating | 5.0 ★ from 5 reviews | No ratings yet | 4.7 ★ from 759 reviews |
| Suits | Seeing the gorge without driving | Walkers who want the entry settled | One long day on the highest mountain |
| Book this → | View → | View → |
Photo Gallery
The walk, in pictures
The cut path, the water in the narrows, the bridges overhead and the valley you come in through — six views of what the walk through the gorge is like.
The tours that come to the gorge, and the one that does not
8 of the 16 tours in this catalogue reach the Partnachklamm. The last card is the most reviewed thing on the site by a wide margin, and it goes to the Zugspitze instead.
Gorge day tripMunich: Alps Canyon Waterfall Adventure Day Trip with Guide
Three stopsMunich: Private Eibsee, Partnach Gorge & Mittenwald Day Trip
Entry includedPick-Up in Munich: 2-Day Hike to Zugspitze via the Knorrhütte
In FrenchAlpine Escape: Partnach Gorge, Lake Eibsee and Zugspitze in French
Private carMunich: Private Alpine Day Tour by Tesla — Zugspitze & Eibsee
Most reviewedFrom Munich: Zugspitze Mountain Van Tour with Garmisch Town
Two photographs of the real thing
Everything above is a picture of the walk. These two are photographs of the gorge itself, taken by the people named underneath and linked back to the originals. Click either one to see it full size.
What reviewers said
Only three reviews on this whole site describe the gorge rather than the mountain. All three are on the same tour, and all three are below.
The Partnach Gorge was breathtaking – clear water, stunning scenery…
The most beautiful day of my daughter’s vacation… These gorges with a waterfall
Nina… very accommodating
…I don’t feel the trip needs to be 8+ hours. it could be done in 6 in my opinion.
Crossed the observation deck to Austria, ate the ‘highest’ sausage and walked on the glacier
Wasn’t rushed
Ratings and reviews are the operators’ live GetYourGuide figures. Read our full tour reviews ›
Before you set off
The four things people ask me at the bus stop, answered in the order they ask them.
Can I buy the ticket before I arrive?
No, and neither can any tour operator sell it to you as a separate ticket. The entry fee is taken at the hut at the entrance, in person. What a tour can do is include the fee in its own price, and 2 of the 8 tours that come here do.
Is it open today?
Usually, and not always. The operator warns that short-notice closures for safety are sometimes unavoidable, so check partnachklamm.de on the morning you travel. Hours are 08:00–20:00 from June to September and 08:00–18:00 from October to May, with last entry 30 minutes before closing.
How much walking is there really?
More than most people expect, and none of it hard: 2.2 km up the valley from the ski stadium, the gorge itself, then the same 2.2 km back unless you climb on. The timings are here.
Is a Munich day trip worth it over doing it myself?
It depends on whether you want to think about trains. A tour is about a hundred and thirty to two hundred and sixty euros per person against about ten euros and a 1.5-hour train each way, and it buys the journey and a guide, not access. The case for each.
Can’t make these dates?
Browse more available Partnach Gorge tours and find one that fits your schedule — all with instant confirmation and free cancellation.
The Partnachklamm, explained
I have walked this gorge in July with thirty people queuing at the hut behind me, and in February with ice hanging off the roof of the tunnels. The thing visitors are most often surprised by is the same in both months: the walkway is not a path. Somebody cut it, and somebody keeps cutting it.
What a klamm actually is
A Klamm is a gorge that is deeper than it is wide — narrow enough at the top that the two walls nearly close over your head, and dark at the bottom on a bright day. The Partnach comes off the Schneeferner, the glacier on the Zugspitze massif, and over about 702 metres it has sawn down through muschelkalk limestone laid down some 240 million years ago. At the deepest point the walls stand more than 80 metres above the water. Nothing exotic is doing the work: the river carries grit, the grit grinds, and the cut goes down faster than it goes outward. That is why you look up at a slot of daylight instead of across a valley.
The path is a piece of building work
The gorge has been a natural monument, and open to visitors, since 1912, and almost every metre you walk on was put there by people. Galleries are hacked into the rock face. Tunnels go straight through the spurs the river bends around. Railings are bolted into limestone that is wet more or less permanently. In places you walk with the rock a hand’s width from your shoulder and the water directly below the grating. The gorge supplied a good deal of the gloom in Nosferatu the Vampyre in 1979, and the film crew did not have to build much.
This is also the part that explains the money. The about ten euros you hand over at the hut is not a fee for looking at a river. It is what keeps a built structure inside a live rockfall zone open, inspected and lit — and it is why the operator can close the gorge at an hour’s notice, and sometimes does.
Read the rest of the guide — the 1991 rockfall and the 108-metre gallery, what a guided day actually adds when the gorge costs about ten euros and is self-guided, and the three things I check before I set off.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to walk through the Partnach Gorge?
No official figure is published, so treat anything you read as an estimate: 702 metres at an unhurried pace is roughly ten to fifteen minutes of actual walking, and most people take far longer because they stop. Add the 2.2 km approach from the ski stadium, about 25 minutes each way, and the gorge alone is the short part of the day. The full breakdown is here.
How do I get to the Partnach Gorge?
Train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen — about 1.5 hours from Munich — then local bus line 1 or 2 towards Skistadion, roughly 10 minutes. From the Olympic ski stadium car park it is 2.2 km on foot, about 25 minutes, because there is no road to the entrance. The operator warns that short-notice closures for safety are sometimes unavoidable, so check partnachklamm.de on the morning you travel. Full directions and the other car parks.
How difficult is the walk?
The approach is a wide gravel track with a gentle rise, and the gorge walkway is level, railed and lit through the tunnels. It is wet underfoot in every season and the rock drips on you, so shoes with grip matter more than fitness does. More on the ground conditions, and what changes with children.
Is the Partnach Gorge worth visiting?
For about ten euros and half a day, I think so, and I would say it more firmly than that if the walk in did not catch people out. If you are travelling from Munich and back for the gorge alone, the answer depends on how you feel about four hours of trains for a 702-metre gorge. The case both ways.
When is the best time of year to visit?
Late spring and early summer give the most water and the longest hours, 08:00–20:00 from June to September. Winter is the better light and the ice, on shorter hours and with more closures. Groups are asked to come before 10:30 or after 15:30, which is the clearest evidence there is about when it fills up. Season by season, and what winter is like.
How many days do I need in Garmisch-Partenkirchen?
One full day covers the gorge and the town without hurrying. Two lets you add the Zugspitze or the Eibsee, which is what most of the tours in this catalogue are really built around. What else is here.
Is the Zugspitze worth adding to the trip?
It is a separate mountain, a separate ticket and a separate day. 8 of the 16 tours in this catalogue never come to the gorge at all, and the most reviewed one on the site is among them: it goes to the Zugspitze and Garmisch town. Cable-car fares are the operator’s and they change, so check them rather than trusting a figure on a page like this. The Zugspitze, and why so many “Partnach” tours are really Zugspitze tours.
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