The Zugspitzbahn: a mountain railway that goes through the mountain.
The Bayerische Zugspitzbahn is the older of the two ascents — a cogwheel (rack-and-pinion) railway that starts right at Garmisch-Partenkirchen's own station, climbs through Grainau and past the Eibsee, then disappears into a 4.5 km tunnel bored straight through the Wetterstein massif, emerging at the Zugspitzplatt glacier plateau at 2,588 m. It's the only ascent that starts in town without needing a car, and the only one where part of the "view" is a century-old feat of engineering rather than scenery.
- Starting point
- Garmisch-Partenkirchen railway station
- Ride time
- Approx. 75 minutes, Garmisch to plateau
- Summit tunnel
- 4.5 km, bored through the mountain
- Arrival altitude
- 2,588 m, Zugspitzplatt (Gletscherbahn station)
- Reaching the true summit
- A further short cable-car hop (Gletscherbahn) up to 2,962 m
The route, stage by stage
The train leaves directly from Garmisch-Partenkirchen's own railway station, so there's no transfer needed if you've just arrived from Munich. The first stretch runs through the valley and the village of Grainau, with the Zugspitze massif visible ahead for most of it. It then stops at Eibsee — the lake itself is a worthwhile detour on its own, see the Eibsee page — before the real character of the ride changes: the train enters the 4.5 km summit tunnel and climbs inside the mountain in total darkness except for carriage lighting, emerging directly at the Zugspitzplatt glacier plateau station.
What the glacier plateau actually offers
The Zugspitzplatt station, at 2,588 m, is not the summit — it's a genuine high-alpine plateau with its own restaurant, sun terrace, and (snow permitting) Germany's highest ski area. From here, reaching the actual 2,962 m summit means a further ride on the shorter Gletscherbahn cable car, included in the same combination ticket. Unlike the Eibsee cable car's ten-minute direct shot, this two-stage approach means you get real time at altitude on the plateau itself before the final push — worth building into your schedule if you want to actually look around rather than just tick the summit.
Why weather matters less here — but not to zero
Half the ride doesn't care about the sky
Because 4.5 km of this route is inside a tunnel, a cloudy day costs you less of the overall experience than it does on the Eibsee cable car — you still get the valley run, the lake, and time on the plateau itself. What you can lose is the summit view from the final Gletscherbahn hop and the long-distance panorama from the top, so if a clear-day view is the actual goal, check conditions the same way you would for the cable car: look at the mountain itself from the valley, and check the live forecast at zugspitze.de before buying.
Booking and practical notes
Around 22–23 direct trains run daily between Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, taking roughly 70–85 minutes, so this ascent pairs naturally with a Munich base — you don't need to stay overnight locally to do this as a long day trip, though it's a full day once you add the mountain railway itself. Combination tickets typically bundle the valley train, the mountain railway, and the Gletscherbahn summit hop, often letting you go up via train and back down via the Eibsee cable car (or the reverse) without buying two separate ascents — check the current combination options at zugspitze.de, since routings and prices are revised season to season.
Who this suits
Anyone arriving without a car, anyone who wants the historic railway itself as part of the experience, and anyone who'd rather have a real stop at the glacier plateau than a ten-minute direct shot to the top. If speed is what you actually want, take the Eibsee cable car instead — and if the climb itself is the goal, see the Reintal hike.