Yorkshire to Garmisch-Partenkirchen: where to break journey

[eastwestdivide]

Could I ask for suggestions on somewhere interesting to break my journey (overnight) between Yorkshire and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, probably July/August time?
I've already travelled the Rhine S of Koblenz, so I'm keen to try a new route across Germany. Not especially bothered by chasing interesting traction, but interesting scenery (beautiful or industrial) is a bonus.
Can cross the channel either by Eurostar or maybe the Harwich Dutch Flyer - the latter would give me an option of the Amsterdam-Berlin service as far as the Hanover area before heading south. I get the impression that N Germany isn't particularly scenic though.
Or maybe take a long way round via Switzerland and Innsbruck? I could get an early train to London, for the 1130-odd Eurostar and connect in Paris for the Basel/Zurich TGV. Bit of a long and mostly boring first day, but not a bad second day by the look of it.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[Diplodicus]

The northern plains make The Fens look hilly!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The central area of Germany between Kassel and Fulda is very scenic if you find yourself on the north-south high speed line.
Some great scenery around Garmisch too.
The trip up to the Zugspitze is fantastic (rail up, cable car down).
Great walking country too, you can do circular trips combined with a rail leg (eg Mittenwald-Garmisch).

 

[eastwestdivide]

Thanks people.
The Zugspitze is on the list, as is some walking (with or without views of trains).

 

[30907]

Depends on how far off route a London Special will let you go!

I'd second the Paderborn Kassel route, which takes you via the Ruhr and part of the N - S HSL.
Worth going early and aiming for Würzburg or Nürnberg.
It might even let you go via Erfurt-Jena-Saalfeld through the Thüringer Wald,and if so I would break in Erfurt, which is lovely and merits a 2 - night stopover.
These routes look to produce pretty good fares too!

Via Hoek I don't think these would be possible in a day, but with an overnight would give you a relaxed journey. For some reason ES Netherlands doesn't offer as much routing flexibility as a LS. Also check out the price of ES Austria Kaldenkirchen - Seefeld.

Another possibility is the LGV Est Paris-Strasbourg, and then via the Black Forest main line and upper Danube to Ulm on RE/IRE. Splitting at Strasbourg might be cheaper than in Paris, but Germany would be cheaper for the overnight stop! (I'm testing this out as far as Stuttgart in June...)

 

[brianthegiant]

If you go to Garmisch you obviously have to get a selfie by the wankbahn..!
But for the Bavarian alps, I'd recommend Oberstdorf over Garmisch, equally good hiking/sightseeing but the town is more compact & picturesque and a bit more rural & authentic.
Both have plenty of amazing mountain walking trails & good network of buses & cable cars to get to them. The network of huts in the Allgau provide food & lodgings so you don't have to rush back down
https://translate.google.com/transl...UTF-8&u=http://www.alpenverein.de/&edit-text=
If you like swimming/spa/saunas, there are amazing swimming pool complexes all over Bavaria and Baden Wuttemberg.

 

[sarahj]

If you go to Garmisch you obviously have to get a selfie by the wankbahn..!
But for the Bavarian alps, I'd recommend Oberstdorf over Garmisch, equally good hiking/sightseeing but the town is more compact & picturesque and a bit more rural & authentic.
Both have plenty of amazing mountain walking trails & good network of buses & cable cars to get to them. The network of huts in the Allgau provide food & lodgings so you don't have to rush back down
https://translate.google.com/transl...UTF-8&u=http://www.alpenverein.de/&edit-text=
If you like swimming/spa/saunas, there are amazing swimming pool complexes all over Bavaria and Baden Wuttemberg.

Once, when over there we passed the signs for the Wankbahn so many times, we had to stop. And guess what, it was a good day out. But yes, we got photos of the Wankhaus, Wankcafe, and did love the brochure advertising a day out for a 'sunny mountain ****'.

*ive been censored.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Thanks again for the suggestions people. I'd forgotten that the DB London-Spezial allows you to specify overnight breaks.
brianthegiant and sarahj, I'm glad you got some pleasure from your selfies in the mountains. Together with that village in Austria and the transport operator in S Switzerland, Ferrovie Autolinee Regionali Ticinesi, I'm sure someone could come up with a Finbarr Saunders tour of Europe.

 

[30907]

Thanks again for the suggestions people. I'd forgotten that the DB London-Spezial allows you to specify overnight breaks.

Two in fact. Plus the incredibly flexible routing possibilities you can find by playing with the journey planner - though IIRC they were even better at first.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

brianthegiant and sarahj, I'm glad you got some pleasure from your selfies in the mountains.

No comment, before we get off topic.

 

[sarahj]

Very off topic.

sometimes you don't have to go overseas.

 

[Essexman]

Ulm in Germany made a good stop on my trip to Munich last week. Nice old city on the Danube, bwetween Stuttgart & Munich. Ibis hotel 5 minutes from station was reasonably priced. You could include travel down the Rhine valley if you take a Cologne - Stuttgart train that goes that way, rather than direct ICE that goes via Frankfurt (airport). Scenery around Ulm from the train looked quite good but it was almost dark on way out & night time on my return by sleeper.

Garmisch is a great place to stay, for scenery, walks & trains. If you have time it's worth taking the train on to Mittenwald or all the way to Innsbruck.
Wish I was going again!

 

[fandroid]

I would second the suggestion of Ulm. I go there fairly often on business, always travelling in and out by train via Stuttgart. The line between the two is really scenic, and if you have been persuaded to go to Oberstdorf, then the IC trains heading for there turn off the Munich line at Ulm. Ulm is indeed a lovely place and there are plenty of hotels (I have stayed in three different ones). When travelling from Stuttgart, the best views are from the upper decks of the IRE trains.

I have only been to Garmisch-Partenkirchen once, and was not very impressed. However I've holidayed in the Oberstdorf area three times and would happily go back. Another Bavarian beauty is Berchtesgaden. Been there twice on holiday and would recommend it to anyone.

 

[Zamracene749]

I've ridden the Amsterdam to Hanover route visiting relatives a few times and I can assure the OP that apart from the loco swap at Bad Bentheim, it's as dull as ditchwater- there are a couple of insignificant distant low hills somewhere near Osnabruck to break the tedium and that's it!
Agree with an earlier poster that the Stuttgart-Ulm line is quite nice. It's hardly alpine but still very pretty in places, Ulm is a canny city as is historic Augsburg a little further down the line towards Munich. If you do visit Oberstdorf, speaking as a railfan I believe you can still get veteran DB 218 diesel double headers there from Stuttgart
HTH

 

[Groningen]

Highlight from Stuttgart - Ulm is the crossing of Geislingen. Speed goes down to 70 kilometers per hour. Furthermore in 5,6 kilometers the railway rises 112 meters. The highest rising is 22,5 ‰. In Geislingen there are locomotives to push freighttrains across the hill if necessary.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Thanks again everyone.
I've actually done Ulm-Stuttgart a couple of times on the way to Friedrichshafen Hafen (so good they named it one-and-a-half times), but with the Hanover route sounding a bit dull, that's definitely an option to do it again. Ooh look, there's a Stuttgart-Paris TGV around the middle of the day, that would be a new route for me.
You're cordially invited back here later in they year for a trip report after the event...

 

[gordonthemoron]

at the end, you could try kempten-reutte in tirol-garmisch

 

[Groningen]

I am not so sure that is allowed with the railticket that you have to go to G-P. I may assume that the ticket requires you to go to your final destination. If you find northern Germany boring, than it is also northern France.

I would go for Brussel(s), Luxemb(o)urg, Strassbourg, Offenburg, Radolfzell, Lindau, Kempten and than to G-P. Than you have the Ardennes, Vogeses, Black Forest and of course the Alps.

 

[30907]

The Reutte route is fantastic but as Groningen says there'd be a through ticketing issue.

And Northern France is at least crossed at TGV speed.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Thanks again for the suggestions people. I've fixed my route now, taking in Nuremberg for the DB museum on the way out and Reutte-Kempten-Ulm on the way back (separate ticket GP-Ulm). For the rest, you'll have to wait for my report after the event. Auf Wiederposten.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Report now on line at http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?p=2234534