Hike to Mount Wank - a hike close to Munich

Searching for a hike close to Munich? Mount Wank is a mountain around an hour away from Munich. The way up is especially beautiful due to its constant view over Garmisch-Partnekirchen and the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany.

All about our hike to Mount Wank – a hike close to Munich

We left Munich on a sunny Saturday morning, up for an easy hike on a hot day. Well, what we got was more a quite challenging hike on a rainy day. But as there is not bad weather for us, and the great scenic view during the whole hike made up for it.

This hike offers two more great advantages: There is a cable car going up and down, which means you could hike up and go down by cable car (or the other way round but this is not called „hiking“ from my point of view 😉

Hike to Mount Wank - an easy hike close to Munich

And the second advantage: The peak of the mountain is a big mountain pasture which makes staying up there for one or two hours after the big hike up very beautiful. You can just lie in the grass and enjoy the sun or if you didn’t get enough take the loop road around the peak.

But let’s start at the beginning.

This hike close to Munich starts at the climbing forest of Garmisch-Partenkrichen. Follow the signs no „Wank – 3.5 hours“. Already the first part of the way after the parking is very steep – I mean very very steep. And we were already doubting if this was the right choice at such a hot day. After the first steep part of the trail, the way turned into a slightly inlined gravel road.

Follow again the „Wank – 3.5 hours“ signs and now the street turns into a steep, narrow track with boulders and routes on the way. Make sure to wear proper hiking shoes. This steep track leads you as a winding road all the way to the top. And it was challenging us a lot. It was one of the first hikes of the hiking season this year and a good training for you planned hike to Zugspitze, the highest mountain of Germany.

But at least there are many benches to rest and always an incredible view at Zugspitze.

We felt super unfit and it seemed like all people overtook us, but in the hike up only took us 2.5 instead of the claimed 3.5 hours. Yeah!

On top of Mount Wank you have two options for lunch. Either you can go to „Sonnenalm“ – sun restaurant – which is slightly more modern or all the way to the top to „Wankhaus“ – which offers the better view at Zugspitze, and the valley of Garmisch-Patenkirchen. Both places are great and very tempting to have a long break up there.

But we were not so lucky that day. Just after we finished lunch on the terrace of Wankhaus, we were about to discover the mountain pasture and suddenly a little stone hit me. At least I thought it was a stone. But know it was a hailstone. But just one. So weird, I thought, where does it come from? And Bähm, another hailstone hit me. And few seconds after another one. And after few more moments, there was hail all around us. We had to run back to Sonnenalm to hide from the hail. Luckily after some minutes it stopped and we could proceed to make our way down.

The way down Mount Wank

We choice a loop hike and were following the way down on the other side of the Mount, following the signs to „Esterbergalm“. The way down was similar to the way up and after a long, steep, winding way with many stones, roots and steps in the way, the path turned into a bigger, very steep gravel road. You can take a break another break at „Esterbergalm“ or make your way directly back to the parking, by following the signs to „Partenkirchen“ after the winding path, instead of to „Esterbergalm“. The way down was a bit faster than the way up, but quite challenging as well.

Happily, with a free mind, we arrived at the parking and were surprised how few people were actually hiking to Mount Wank on a Saturday. Luckily this is a hike close to Munich and after around 50 minutes by car we were already at home and could recover from the exhausting day.

Big recommendation for this hike – although you will sweat a lot!

Summary of the hike close to Munich, Mount Wank:

Parking: Go to Wankbahnstraße 2, 82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

Ascent: 3-3.5 hours

Descent: 1.5 – 2 hours; 950 meters

Level of difficulty: Medium

Further information:
Loop hike
Hiking shoes are a must!

Can you recommend a hike close to Munich? Drop me a comment and let me know about your experience!
Also see my favourite hike close to Munich, to Herzogstand, in this article.

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