Hiking the Almbachklamm, the most scenic hiking route of Bavaria

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In this post, I’ll tell you about our crazy adventure in March, when we were hiking the Almbachklamm, probably the most scenic hiking route of Bavaria, Germany.

Germany – the best destination for hiking 

Germany, and especially Bavaria or Bayern, how the Germans call it, is a really amazing hiking destination. All the hotels in tiny Alpine towns like Berchtesgaden or bigger provincial cities like Bad Reichenhall get fully booked (so don’t forget to secure your hotel in advance). We stayed in the hotel AlpinaRos Demming and we loved it. Check our review of the hotel in this post!

Unfortunately, we (with Pepe) have never been in the South of Germany during the high season for hiking, in summer, but my brother lives in one of these towns. He constantly describes, how amazing this part of Germany is and how summer is the best part to visit Bavaria. This time, we visited my brother during our epic road trip around Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

I genuinely like hiking, it makes me feel fit and powerful (who doesn’t like this feeling?). Seems like Pepe likes hiking too, because he never complains about it, which is good. So, when we did this European road trip and covered 6 countries in 10 days, we stayed 2 nights in Bavaria, to meet with my brother and his family. Meeting my brother is never boring – he is the most adventurous person I know. He should probably have his own travel blog. Can you imagine getting lost on the top of the mountain covered by snow late at night? Or running 3 km with my nose bleeding to catch the last cable car going up to the mountains? Celebrating the New Year in a lodge on top of the mountain after hiking there for 4 hours? Yep, it’s like a quarter of all the crazy adventures I experienced when I visited my brother.

Hiking the Almbachklamm

This time, however, we went hiking Almbachklamm in March, when it was officially closed. That day, it was raining all day long, and the rain wasn’t precisely a drizzle, I would say it was raining a lot! But we still went hiking for almost 3 hours and got soaked, but experienced something amazing and really crazy.

Hiking the Almbach Gorge in Germany
Hiking just started. It’s raining and there’s mist around us.

What is Almbachklamm

It’s a beautiful gorge located in the Southern part of Bavaria, Germany. This gorge is open to the general public since 1999, however, the path was made by soldiers back in the 19th century.

How to get to Almbachklamm from Berchtesgaden

In case, you hired a car, it’s very easy to reach Almbachklamm from any town located nearby. If you stayed in Berchtesgaden, you can actually walk all the way to Kugelmühlweg, where the hike starts (shouldn’t take more than an hour walking) or take a local bus and be there in 10 minutes.

Our experience of hiking the Almbach Gorge in March 

I strongly advise you not to hike Almbachklamm in Germany when it’s closed for visitors, but we had a really experienced local guide (my brother), so we decided to go.

When we arrived at Marktschellenberg, we left our car at the parking at the end of the Kugelmühlweg (you really need to hire either a bike or a car to get around in Southern Bavaria, I recommend the Rentalcars.com, they have unmatchable prices and we had good experience with them). We decided to start with the mountain first and then descent to the Almbachklamm. So we went to the right (the other option is to go to the left and start with the Almbachklamm first). We hiked all the way up to the Marktschellenberg Pilgrim church and then went to the left, through the fields near Hinterettenberg.

So we started slowly going down and that’s where the real adventure started. Almbachklamm was really impressive – a fast mountain river surrounded by tall rocks and only a tiny path for crazy hikers like us. Sometimes, this path wasn’t even there anymore – due to the landslide from the rocks, so we literally had to clamber.

Hiking the Almbach Gorge in Germany

On our way we counted an incredible amount of waterfalls, sometimes they were obstructing our way, so we had to go under them. It was like a never-ending ice bucket challenge. The biggest waterfall covered the whole bridge across the river and we actually HAD to cross it.

The closer we were getting to the exit, the worse and stronger the waterfalls were. When we arrived back to the car, Pepe and Dima (my brother) were completely soaked. Luckily I was wearing appropriate gear for hiking, so I didn’t get wet (being under the rain for 3 hours, can you imagine). I was wearing a waterproof parka and pink hiking shoes.

Hiking the Almbachklamm in March
After the hike – all wet, but happy we survived this adventure.

Are you staying in Bad Reichenhall or Berchtesgaden? Check these articles to see, what to do in these places. And don’t forget to book your accommodation in Bavaria in advance.

Our video of hiking the Almbachklamm

It’s way better to see how it was, so I composed a YouTube video from some short video clips we filmed during hiking the Almbach gorge.[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/xrCtgr74Vdk”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

 

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Hiking the Almbachsklamm in Bavaria, Germany. Almbach Gorge. Hiking in Germany.

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