Less than 90 minutes from Munich by train, Garmisch-Partenkirchken is a marriage of two proudly distinct towns forced to the altar by the Nazis to create a venue for the Olympic Games of 1936. It also hosted, less controversially, the 2011 World Championships. Given its proximity to Munich it is unsurprising it gets busy at weekends, but during the week it can be relatively quiet on the slopes under the Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain, and the Osterfelderkopf - the two distinct ski areas served by the Zugspitzbahn. This is not a resort made famous by the quality of its slopes, although they are not bad, but the extent is limited, it is pretty awful for beginners and there are probably too many surface lifts you need to take to keep snowboarders happy.
Adjacent to the station with regular trains from Innsbruck and Munich, the Zugspitzbahn takes you up the mountain in 75 minutes where you emerge at 2600m on the Zugspitze glacier.
