The tripto catalogue lists 17 mountains, peaks and gorges – from the Zugspitze to the highest summits of Germany's low mountain ranges. Almost all are doable with children, many by cable car or mountain railway.
The Zugspitze, at 2,962 metres, is Germany's highest mountain; you reach it by cable car from Eibsee or by cog railway from Garmisch. The Brocken in the Harz, the highest mountain in northern Germany, is free to climb – on foot along the Goethe Trail or by the Brocken steam railway. The Feldberg is the highest mountain in Baden-Württemberg, with a cable car, a viewing tower and Alpine views on clear days. The Fichtelberg (1,215 m) above Oberwiesenthal is Saxony's highest peak and has Germany's oldest aerial cable car. From the Herzogstand (1,731 m) you look down on Lake Walchensee and Lake Kochel, and the Partnach Gorge near Garmisch-Partenkirchen is up to 80 metres deep, with a path cut into the rock.
Most mountains in the catalogue are in Bavaria (eight, mainly in the Alps and the Bavarian Forest), followed by Baden-Württemberg with the Black Forest.
In practice: plan half a day to a full day. Summits such as the Brocken, Feldberg or Lusen are free; mountain railways cost extra – from €18 on the Fichtelberg to €78 for the Zugspitze ticket. The Partnach Gorge costs €10. The best time is June to October; in winter many summits can be reached by lift, but hiking trails are often snowed in. Check the forecast before every hike.
Mountains & peaks
Grainau
The Zugspitze near Grainau is Germany's highest mountain at 2,962 m (9,718 ft) and one of the most rewarding day trips in the Bavarian Alps. The border with Austria runs across its summit, and on clear days you look out over a sea of Alpin…
Mountains & peaks
Wernigerode
The Brocken is the highest mountain in northern Germany at 1,141 meters (3,743 feet) and the best-known peak of the Harz Mountains in Saxony-Anhalt. Most visitors ride a historic steam train to the summit, where wild granite moorland, swee…
Mountains & peaks
Feldberg (Schwarzwald)
The Feldberg is the highest mountain in Germany's Black Forest and in the state of Baden-Württemberg, rising to about 1,494 meters (4,902 feet). Its bald, grassy summit offers views that on clear days stretch from the Vosges in France to t…
Mountains & peaks
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
The Partnach Gorge (Partnachklamm) in Garmisch-Partenkirchen is one of the most dramatic natural sights in the Bavarian Alps. For about 700 meters, the Partnach River squeezes through a limestone chasm up to 80 meters deep, and a walkway c…
Mountains & peaks
Oberwiesenthal
The Fichtelberg above Oberwiesenthal is the highest mountain in Saxony at 3,986 feet (1,214.88 m), and in Cold War times it was the highest peak in East Germany. Its summit, crowned by the Fichtelberghaus with its lookout tower and a centu…
Mountains & peaks
Kochel am See
The Herzogstand is a 1,731-meter mountain in the Bavarian Pre-Alps, rising above the lakes Walchensee and Kochelsee, about 70 kilometers south of Munich. A cable car takes you most of the way up, so you can enjoy sweeping alpine views with…
Mountains & peaks
Grainau
The Zugspitze near Grainau is Germany's highest mountain at 2,962 m (9,718 ft) and one of the most rewarding day trips in the Bavarian Alps. The border with Austria runs across its summit, and on clear days you look out over a sea of Alpin…
Mountains & peaks
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
The Partnach Gorge (Partnachklamm) in Garmisch-Partenkirchen is one of the most dramatic natural sights in the Bavarian Alps. For about 700 meters, the Partnach River squeezes through a limestone chasm up to 80 meters deep, and a walkway c…
Mountains & peaks
Wernigerode
The Brocken is the highest mountain in northern Germany at 1,141 meters (3,743 feet) and the best-known peak of the Harz Mountains in Saxony-Anhalt. Most visitors ride a historic steam train to the summit, where wild granite moorland, swee…
Mountains & peaks
Feldberg (Schwarzwald)
The Feldberg is the highest mountain in Germany's Black Forest and in the state of Baden-Württemberg, rising to about 1,494 meters (4,902 feet). Its bald, grassy summit offers views that on clear days stretch from the Vosges in France to t…
Mountains & peaks
Oberwiesenthal
The Fichtelberg above Oberwiesenthal is the highest mountain in Saxony at 3,986 feet (1,214.88 m), and in Cold War times it was the highest peak in East Germany. Its summit, crowned by the Fichtelberghaus with its lookout tower and a centu…
Mountains & peaks
Bayerisch Eisenstein
The Großer Arber is the highest mountain in the Bavarian Forest, rising to 4,775 feet (1,455.5 m) on the border region between Bavaria and the Czech Republic. Locals call it the "King of the Bavarian Forest." A gondola lifts you almost to…
Mountains & peaks
Kochel am See
The Herzogstand is a 1,731-meter mountain in the Bavarian Pre-Alps, rising above the lakes Walchensee and Kochelsee, about 70 kilometers south of Munich. A cable car takes you most of the way up, so you can enjoy sweeping alpine views with…
Mountains & peaks
Göppingen
Hohenstaufen is the cone-shaped mountain near Göppingen, east of Stuttgart, that gave its name to the Hohenstaufen dynasty, the medieval emperors who included Frederick Barbarossa. At 684 meters (2,244 feet), it is the westernmost of the "…
Mountains & peaks
Winterberg
The Kahler Asten near Winterberg is the best-known mountain in the Sauerland, the hilly, forested region east of Germany's Ruhr cities. At 2,762 feet (841.9 m), it is the second-highest peak in North Rhine-Westphalia, crowned by the stone…
Mountains & peaks
Neuschönau
Lusen is one of the most distinctive peaks in the Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany's oldest national park, on the border with the Czech Republic. Instead of trees, its 1,373-meter (4,505-foot) summit is capped by a vast field of gran…
Mountains & peaks
Oberstdorf
The Nebelhorn is the signature mountain of Oberstdorf, the southernmost market town in Germany in the Allgäu Alps of Bavaria. A modern cable car lifts you from the edge of town to the 7,297-foot (2,224 m) summit, where on clear days you ca…
Mountains & peaks
Freiburg im Breisgau
Schauinsland is Freiburg's own mountain and one of the best viewpoints in the southern Black Forest. Rising to 4,213 feet (1,284 m) about six miles southeast of the old town, it is reached by Germany's longest circulating cable car. At the…
Mountains & peaks
Bad Schandau
The Schrammsteine look as if someone had set a sandstone wall into the landscape and then hacked at it with an axe. This long, deeply fissured ridge east of Bad Schandau has around 80 summits, broken by three massive gaps known as the Schr…
Mountains & peaks
Gersfeld (Rhön)
The Wasserkuppe in the Rhön Mountains is the highest peak in Hesse at 950 meters and is known worldwide as the "cradle of gliding." Its broad, open summit plateau near Gersfeld, about 20 km east of Fulda, draws hikers, glider and paraglide…
Mountains & peaks
Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden
The Watzmann is the signature mountain of Bavaria's Berchtesgaden Alps, a jagged double-peaked massif rising above Lake Königssee and the villages of Ramsau and Schönau. At 8,901 feet (2,713 m), it is the highest mountain lying entirely wi…
Mountains & peaks
Bayrischzell
The Wendelstein is a 6,030-foot (1,838 m) peak in the Bavarian Prealps, about an hour southeast of Munich, and one of the classic viewpoint mountains of Upper Bavaria. Its rocky summit, crowned by an observatory and a transmitter mast, can…
Mountains & peaks
Bispingen
The Wilseder Berg is the highest hill in Lüneburg Heath at 169.2 meters, and the summit of the district of Heidekreis. It rises in a car-free nature reserve near the heath village of Wilsede, with sweeping views over heather, juniper and w…
The Zugspitze ticket (up and down) costs €78 for adults, €62.50 for teenagers and €39 for children aged 6 to 15. On the family rate you pay €12.50 per child, and under-6s ride free.
Among others the Brocken, the Feldberg, the Hohenstaufen and the Lusen. Costs only apply to mountain railways, towers and car parks.
Almost all in the catalogue: the Zugspitze and Feldberg by lift, the Brocken with its steam railway, the Fichtelberg with its cable car and the Partnach Gorge with its rock path.
Updated: · Opening hours and prices can change — check the attraction page before you go.