GARMISCH: I Wish I Knew THIS Before Visiting Germany’s Mountain Town 🇩🇪🗻 | Walking Tour & Travel Tip

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Day 44 of our 97-day backpacking trip through Europe brought us into the heart of the Bavarian Alps—to one of the most visually stunning and culturally rich places we’ve seen yet: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany 🇩🇪🏔️

In this travel vlog, we walk through the chalet-lined streets, talk about the town’s deep farming traditions, take in the views of the Zugspitze (Germany’s tallest peak), and explore the historic Pfarrkirche Saint Martin Church. We also dive into local maypole customs, give our take on the vibe of the town, and talk about the pros and cons of Alpine ski tourism—is it worth the hype or just overpriced?

This video blends cinematic 4K visuals, personal reflections, and real travel conversation, making it perfect for anyone planning a trip to southern Germany, searching for the best mountain towns in Europe, or just craving a digital escape into nature and culture.

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🌍 The 3 BEST Products I Used During 3 Months of Backpacking Europe

👟 Brooks Glycerin Max (Women’s)
These saved my feet on 20K-step days. Ridiculously cushioned, breathable, and perfect for walking-heavy cities or trail days.
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🧥 REI Co-op Rainier Jacket (Men’s)
Super lightweight, folds up small, and fully waterproof. From misty mountains to sudden city storms, this jacket was clutch.
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🎒 Osprey Fairview 55L Backpack
Carry-on size, detachable daypack, and built like a tank. Ideal for hostel-hopping and train travel across Europe.
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:21 Farming Chalets
3:18 Zugspitze
3:30 Garmisch Overview
4:03 Town Walkthrough
5:04 Pfarrkirche Saint Martin Church
6:28 Maypole Tradition
7:23 Town Walkthrough
8:58 Controversial Ski Towns
11:06 Review

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[Music] 5:30 wakeup call really paid off we are 
in garish pod and curtain i think that’s how to say it that’s pronounced names.com i’m just going 
to be calling it garage pee the whole day because I’m not dealing with this so excited i mean look 
at this like you know we go to school in Colorado but this is on a different level or maybe it’s 
not similar follow this channel for long enough we will get to this point one day probably having one 
of the Mercedes vans but this guy did not get so lucky got the boot sorry man that is the 
dream though having the really nice new age [Music] camper here is your official greeting welcome 
to Garmish Partin a town that feels like a time capsule of alpine life even though it’s one of 
Germany’s most famous ski destinations it has not lost its oldworld charm just look at these 
scattered wooden cottages a lot of them aren’t even homes at all they’re just traditional 
hay barns and storage huts still used today by locals for firewood equipment and even livestock 
shelter in the winter some of this land has been protected for centuries which is why the landscape 
has not been overrun with modern development we see more of the hotels past that but it’s so 
cool that you know it is protected and not the best view behind me but if you come over here 
and if you can even see behind me but yeah all these like wooden cottages just scattered all like 
there’s so much untouched land here and it’s just great that it’s not overrun by huge hotels there 
is no one here and there’s a huge appeal to come as you can see right here that is the closeup of 
all of those beautiful cottages right behind me and these farmers aren’t actually farming 
in the traditional sense the land here is so valuable that if it weren’t strictly 
protected developers would have turned this into resorts and luxury homes long ago 
instead a lot of these farmers inherit their land through generations and many rely on 
government subsidies and strict zoning laws that prevent them from even selling it if they 
wanted to to those commercial [Music] developers of course the real highlight here is the 
Zug Spitza Germany’s highest mountain at 9,718 ft what’s wild is that you can ski here 
all year round thanks to its permanent glacier one of the last remaining in Germany and Garmish 
isn’t just about winter sports locals ski in the morning and mountain bike in the afternoon which 
is why you’ll see so many people casually riding around with their gear the laid-back atmosphere 
isn’t new this place has always been a retreat even for the Nazis who built the Olympic ski 
stadium for the 1936 Winter Olympics Germany’s first today Garm feels like the perfect place 
to live at it’s quiet peaceful there’s tons of activities to do here and of course the mountains 
behind me are something that would keep me coming back heat [Music] heat heat heat [Music] heat heat [Music] nah yeah [Music] welcome to Faruk St martin the spiritual heart 
of Garmish Partukin constructed between 1730 and 1734 under the guidance of master builder 
Joseph Schmooler this church is a quintessential example of South German Baroque architecture 
its interior is adorned with intricate ceiling paintings by Matis Gunther and fresco by 
France Sarif [ __ ] both of which have been meticulously preserved we thought this large 
pole behind me was actually a Christmas tree that was just stripped because of the Christmas 
season and there’s also a green tinsel near the top but it’s actually a maple not a Christmas 
tree the rooster on the very top symbolizes villigence and protection sometimes tying back 
to St peter and Christmas tradition the figures and symbols represent the local trades and 
guilds the men and women at the bottom stand for the Braavian culture while the hammers 
chimneys bells and other symbols represent different professions like blacksmiths brewers 
and carpenters each village has its own design and in some towns even steel rival map pools 
in playful competitions when they raise the maple on May 1st they’re actually lifting it 
into place from the ground using only wooden poles and manpower no cranes or machines the whole 
process is a massive event done entirely by hand in terms of locals pushing it inch by inch while 
a crowd watches drink beer and celebrate [Music] d okay [Music] who even needs the Roman coliseum when you 
have this basically the same thing with the beautiful mountains over there but you can’t see 
it because there’s trees let’s go up the gondola in Colorado and I guess probably in Switzerland 
too and just all mountain towns in general it’s a very common trend for all of the locals to 
get kicked out there’s only I think maybe one or two or maybe there’s even none in Colorado 
as an original ski town that you know there aren’t veil Resorts i mean this could go down 
a rabbit hole but basically like Veil Resorts isn’t just Veil Colorado it basically owns like 
almost all the skiing resorts even across Europe too they they own a huge percentage of just the 
skiing world in general and they have basically and probably other companies as well but they’ve 
basically kicked out almost every you know local who like grew up in these like original ski towns 
so it obviously really sucks to be a local in one of these places and maybe you grew up here 
your whole life and then you can’t afford it and you’re forced to leave but here you know 
literally just like wooden cottages that I’m surprised they haven’t been like destroyed due 
to like storms i mean they probably get a ton of snow here but it’s so cool that you know they 
stepped in and they’re like “Okay we’re going to subsidize your work we’re going to help you out 
you will be able to live here and your land is protected.” Where in most places I just don’t 
feel like that is the same trend at all and if you did have a house for instance you would almost 
be like forced to give it up uh especially if you can’t afford the area and you’re presented 
which like with like a large sum amount of money you kind of just have to take that deal and 
move away but it’s so cool what’s going on here [Music] goodbye Garmish Partin we are going to give 
you a solid solid solid 9.3 and you can see the huts we did visit the huts for a while this 
morning not the huts like you know storage shack they have village because obviously no one 
actually lives in there but beautiful beautiful land that’s kind of what we were thinking we 
would see in Goa Austria but you know there is the section that you can see of that and then 
there’s completely a new town you know they have all the coffee shops they have all the 
restaurants and beer whatever you want um I was under the impression for a second that the 
town would kind of be all of these like shacks everywhere that’s why I was trying to like dive 
into like the economy and how like everyone even affords to live here like are there even any jobs 
but no there’s a bunch of there’s a bunch of you know hotels and regular town things but it’s 
so unique looking at these right in front of the mountain taking up so much space you know 
it’s so cool that these are still here garmish solid 9.3 let’s hand it to Sophia [Music] 
catch us in our next video for Mittwald yes