Tegernsee - Autumn in High Definition

The last stop on our three country 2017 trip was Tegernsee in southern Bavaria. Like Annecy in France earlier in the trip, the place name denotes both the lake itself and a primary town or village on its shores - I hadn't really thought about it before but Windermere in the Lake District would be a UK example of the same I guess. The change in the weather conditions as we travelled from Lake Garda, south of the Alps to Tegernsee, north of the Alps was remarkable. The hazy conditions of northern Italy gave way to a stunning blue sky clarity that stayed with us for the rest of our trip.

Clear blue skies in southern Bavaria

The contrast was amazing. It was like seeing High Definition TV for the first time; a kind of autumnal 4K. It seemed like a meteorological affirmation of national stereotypes too. South of the Alps the atmosphere created a relaxed mistiness, but here in the north, all was efficiently unclouded. Tegernsee itself is spotlessly clean and tidy and our campsite - https://www.campingplatz-wallberg.de/ - seemed to fall in line with this theme.  We were out of season and so had plenty of choice of pitches.  I imagine it would be tougher to secure a pitch in high season, as whilst a Google Maps view shows a decent sized site, quite a lot of the site is allocated to fixed pitches.  There is an open grass area on the southwest side and we chose a spot at the end of the row and open to the fields, a delightful position to take in the first rays of morning sun as it appeared above the hills. 

Sunrise at Campingplatz Wallberg

I have moaned about the coach-built style of van before on this blog, but it was apparent here again that there was nowhere to sit and enjoy that morning experience inside the van. The van conversions all have slide open side doors or rear barn doors or both, so that your view of the outside world is expansive. A coach-built narrow door or an open side window is the best alternative here, or camping chairs outside and hats and scarves when it's chilly, but that doesn't beat sitting in bed with your first cup of tea watching the scene through wide open doors.

Campingplatz Wallberg is on the southwestern side of Tegernsee, close to the Wallbergbahn, a cable car that as the name suggests, takes you to the top of Wallberg. Wallberg is a 1,722m high mountain that not only offers excellent views of the lake, but fabulous views of the Bavarian Alps. It was closed at the time we visited for annual maintenance before the ski season, but I understand that it is home to the longest toboggan run in Germany. There are marked footpaths to the top if the cable car is out of action, but it is quite a climb. If you want a fantastic view of the lake though and a slightly less arduous ascent, then walking from Tegernsee village up to Berggasthof Neureuth - https://www.neureuth.com/ - is really worth the climb to just 1264m (or only 538m above the lake). The restaurant at the top has a traditional Bavarian Alpine menu with food locally sourced and if the local recommendation we followed is true, the best Kaiserschmarrn for miles around. I am no Kaiserschmarrn expert, but I thought it was fantastic.

Kaiserschmarrn at Berggasthof Neureuth

My other recommendations don't require a climb to any height at all and are also both food and drink related. The first is a cafe/coffee-shop/bar right on the waterfront in the middle of Tegernsee village called Aran - https://www.aran.coop/. It has a seating area with floor to ceiling windows and outside terrace, both right on the lake front which on the day of our visit on this occasion was sparkling with the low autumn sunshine. It is like many places around the lake not cheap, but they serve a wonderful platter of local breads with dips and toppings of your choice. It is a wonderful place to while away a few hours and if you don't fancy a full bread platter, their cakes are excellent too.

My second recommendation is the brewery/beer hall, situated in a former monastery that is a grand focal point in the village. Bräustüberl Tegernsee - https://www.braustuberl.de/ - occupies part of the late 17th century buildings with restaurant at the other end and the monastery church sandwiched in the middle.  The site was home to one of the most important Benedictine abbeys in Bavaria until 1803 and I believe is now owned by Prince Max, Duke of Bavaria.

Whether inside the beer hall or outside on the terrace, the beer couldn't be fresher, having started it's life just a few feet behind in the brewery itself.  The food is traditional Bavarian and delicious, though in common with many similar traditional establishments in this part of the world, don't expect to find much choice if you are not a meat eater.  We have been back to the Bräustüberl on numerous occasions and I love how social and friendly it is.  If you are like me and used to pubs and bars in the UK in which you only ever sit with the people you arrived with then you'll either love or hate the German beer-hall or beer-garden experience.  Grab a free seat on a long bench, order your drinks and you will invariably end up in conversation with whoever you are sat beside.  Language has never seemed a problem, as everyone can find a way around even the most rudimentary grasps of each other's mother tongue.  I love Bräustüberl Tegernsee and shamelessly promote it to whoever I know is visiting the area.  Tegernsee is only a short train ride from Munich, so it is an easy day trip and well worth the visit.

Bräustüberl Tegernsee and The parish church of St. Quirinus

I seem to be closing this post talking about the merits of a beer hall rather than the good or bad points of our motorhome for this autumn trip or whether we picked the right campsites. Maybe that is because I am far fonder of beer halls than almost anything else?  Anyway, I think that it is quite an appropriate end, as the sites were all fine, the van was OK and did it's job for 14 days.  I guess the whole point about renting or owning one of these houses with wheels is the destination rather than the minute details of whether a cooker might be better placed in a different position, or a bed more or less comfortable than the next van.  We had a fantastic holiday, cementing our desire to one day buy our own campervan and having just claimed that the little details of campervan design shouldn't really be a focus, it's a whole different picture when you are considering options for a van that you are going to use frequently and spend a significant sum on!