In the bussle of city life and free time spent freelancing or coding, I sometimes forget I live in one of the most beautiful areas in the world - upper Bavaria. But thankfully a friend suggested we go hiking in Spitzingsee in the Bavarian Alps. What’s always mind boggling is how little the perfect Sunday costs - in time and money.

6:45am - wake up! 

7:40am - take subway into city, go to ATM for cash, grab breakfast and coffee at a bakery.

8:00am - meet friend at train and I love seeing train station full of other Sunday hikers. BOB train day pass for up to 5 people: 23 EUR.

8:10am - train departs Munich Hauptbahnhof.

9:00am - get off train at Schliersee, jump on waiting bus. Doh! Should have bought Bayern ticket, which would have covered bus too. Oh well. Roundtrip tickets 6,30 EUR.

9:30am - arrive at Spitzingsee.

9:45am - Jump on the Stümpflingbahn Gondel. Smile as we realize we’ve ridden this lift before - but with snowboards!

ca. 10:30am - We find the first peak of Roßkopf and walk through a field of piles of cow dung to get to the cross at the summit (see previous instagram posts). Already the first peak makes me immediately forget my worries as I stare at the seemingly eternal stretches of rock and green hills in awe.

At some point we leave Roßkopf and there doesn’t seem to be a clear path anywhere but the topography of the map tells us to stay on higher elevation and just move southeast. So we walk into another field of cow dung. A rock painted red and white tells us we are on the right “path” even if there is only cow dung. The path descends into woods on the other side of the mountain.

After reaching a low point, we begin a quick ascent of a few hundred meters and climb staircases of tree roots.

Again the painted markings tell us where to go.

12:30pm - On Stolzenberg, where there is no summit cross.

Break for lunch. We packed carrots, bell peppers, sandwiches, lots of water and apples. There are red ants everywhere but we find a nice grassy ledge with a gorgeous view over Spitzingsee, where we started the morning.

Bavaria is really picturesque like in the books. I know that, but it still amazes me every time.

14:00 - After a long and fast descent our feet are screaming and knees are shaking. Ok, now on nearly flat ground and a normal road, we walk another 30 minutes or so back into town and enjoy lunch in the city at a restaurant on the lake.

15:00 - A wasp flies into a big mug of sparkling juice and we debate whether to kill it or put it in some water to wash off the sugar so maybe it could fly again. Miraculously, it cleans itself off before we could pour water on it and flies away.

16:00 - We pay and walk back to the bus station to check the schedules and decide to take the bus leaving at about 17:30 and spend the time lying on the banks of the lake people watching.

19:00 - A bus and a train later, we are back in Munich. Exhausted we both at some point fell asleep and woke up back in Munich.

Perfect day!

P.S. In case you’re wondering why we took the gondel up, it was the first hike of the season and we didn’t real like tacking another hour onto tour. Plus the path more or less zigzagged underneath the lift in the blazing sun. Yeah, skip.