Holiday in Walchensee

What makes Walchensee special as a destination?

Walchensee is often referred to as the "Caribbean of Bavaria" — and indeed, the water of this mountain lake shines in an unreal turquoise blue that one would expect more in the South Seas than in the Bavarian Alps. With a depth of up to 190 meters, it is one of the deepest and largest alpine lakes in Germany and is nestled at an altitude of 800 meters between the peaks of the Karwendel and Ester mountains. The color of Walchensee is created by the extremely clear, calcium-rich glacial water and the depth of the lake — a phenomenon that attracts photographers and nature lovers from all over Europe. The Herzogstand (1,731 m) and the Jochberg (1,565 m) offer spectacular panoramic hikes with views of the turquoise lake and the entire Alpine range. The cable car to Herzogstand transports hikers to 1,600 meters in just a few minutes and opens up one of the most beautiful ridge tours in the Bavarian Alps: the panoramic path to Heimgarten (1,790 m), with views down to both Walchensee and Kochelsee at the same time. Walchensee is one of the best surf and kite spots in the German Alps — the thermal south wind reliably blows on summer afternoons. The historic Walchensee power plant by Oskar von Miller (1924) was the largest storage power plant in the world at its opening and is now an industrial monument.