Höllentalklamm — Local services in Grainau

First of all, if you're willing and able, go and see this gorge, it's incredible. Next, the reality.... it has no easy access (it's not a 'park your car up and stroll over to it' kind of place) the fastest way to the entrance is a 1 hour uphill hike, BUT, don't let that put you off. Like childbirth, you forget all the pain when you see what you got for your effort (except this is better as you dont have the lifelong commitment of a baby at the end of it). There's a few ways to get to the klamm and some will take you longer than others. Some will take you forever. We started our hike at 4pm in August so decided on the quickest 1 hour route. Park just outside of Hammersbach village in the big carpark, there's no public parking in the village. Its €8 for 12 hours and you can't park for less I'm afraid but people seem to pass their tickets on so you might get lucky. Walk about a quarter of a mile into Hammersbach and to start the trailhead you have to cross the bridge (head towards the tiny church then turn right over the bridge) there's an 85 minute trailhead on the carpark side of the bridge. Dont confuse them. The trail starts on a gentleish incline then gets steep fast, mellow out again then gets steep again. You get the picture. We managed it in 45 minutes, after 2 weeks of this kind of hike we were clearly hardcore now. There's a cafe at the entrance to the gorge if you need to recharge. €5 for adults €2 under 18s for the klamm. If you have waterproof shoes, wear them. Take anoraks, you WILL get wet. It was 30c in the carpark but we needed hoodies under our coats, it's cold in the gorge. We spent 1 hour 20 walking through it, taking photos, stepping carefully as 90% of the path is not even and is very wet most of the way. It took us 30 minutes to do the reverse journey through the klamm without a camera, without stopping. I wont tell you more about the actual gorge, just go and enjoy nature doing...

Took the bus to Hollenstraße at 6:27am where we commenced our day of hiking. Meant to be Hammersbach (15m walk) but the earliest bus there was an hour later and we wanted to avoid the crowds and beat the sun.

Made it to Höllental-Angerhütte 2 hours later, a meeting of trails and a cafe sat in the glacial valley with sight of Zugspitze straight ahead and Alspitze off to the left. The gorge walk through Höllentalklamm was at its best early on, walking over wooden panelled bridges over the icy blue, glacial stream fast-flowing below.

Reached our ‘peak’ of Rinderscharte, just behind Osterfelderkopf. That was a really tough ascent up some steep steps and scrambly paths for the best part of an hour. Total time up: 4.75 hours. Stunning valley views and up to Zugspitze for the last part.

Restaurant, facilities and platform walkways at the top here.

Route down via Kreuzeck took around 2.5hrs with a couple of wrong turns.

Total time up and down: 8 hours 12 minutes including a 45 min lunch stop, 15 minutes on the AlspiX platforms, 20 minutes with coffee/hot choc and other regular stops. We ran for 15 of the last 30 mins hoping to make the hourly buses but missed it by some way.

The walking today was really spectacular. Very varied with some riverside strolls early on, gorge walking and dipping into caves, open valley hiking, forested sections, rocky scrambling near the top, then a much more touristy section where the cable car comes into but the platforms make that bit worthwhile.

Take a raincoat for the gorge and waterproof shoes, plus bear in mind it gets chilly in there. Whilst Alspitze and Zugspitze were tempting to us, we were reassured they are not possible without full equipment.

Went to Eibsee lake straight after...

First off, let me say this "LEAVE YOUR PETS AT HOME." Never understand why people feel the need to put their pets through this. Second, "wear the right shoes" saw a family in flip flops, and their elderly parents trying to make this hike is so ridiculous. Third, "wear a rain coat" because you will absolutely get wet. Fourth ,leave your young children. " People dragging their babies and toddlers through this hike is hard enough for adults, but your kids??

I absolutely loved the hike, but it isn't an easy one. Our fitness app said we climbed 48 stories/floors up, now how accurate this is, i dont know, but i can tell you its a pretty steep climb up and if you are afraid of heights you'll have issues at some places. It took us about an hour to get to the entrance. We made it about an hour before my son (9 years old) asked to go back. So i can't tell you about the complete hike, but up to that point was amazing. Well worth it, but please have some common sense and quit being dumb. Leave your elderly parents at home, leave your pets, because they could care less about the views, and you'll just make it harder on yourself and everyone else walking through it. At times, the ceiling is low, and im sure the baby/toddler on your back will absolutely love this. Take water and snacks, and something to keep you dry, and you'll have an amazing time. Just think about everyone else on this hike and not...