Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and many a red-faced village brass band awaits you. But there's another facet to
Gemüt-
lichkeit
: it's also a marble-smooth autobahn of luxury cars speeding to gourmet restaur-
ants and chic Alpine spas, Munich's high-brow cultural scene robed in black, and cap-
puccinos at dawn on intercity expresses. The two southern Germanys coexist, an incon-
gruous mix packed with the unexpected.
Alpine Air & Munich Flair
Bavaria is definitely a place for those who prefer their air fresh rather than freshened.
Though the Alps only tickle Germany's underbelly, locals know how to get the most out
of their peaks, stringing cable cars up the vertical reality of the Alps; marking out entire
atlases of cycling, hiking and cross-country skiing trails; even running a train up the inside
of the Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain. Yet all this is just a short ride from the
urban
joie de vivre
of Munich, a sexy, sophisticated and self-confident city with a non-
chalant, almost Mediterranean feel.
Of Cuckoo Clocks & Lederhosen
If you're coming here in search of strapping Alpine types in lederhosen, big-bosomed
wenches juggling platters of roast pork, tipsy oompah bands and Hänsel-and-Gretel cot-
tages, you'll be pleased to hear that Germany's south keeps all its clichéd promises.
Nowhere is this truer than on the Romantic Road, a 350km-long route from Würzburg to
the Alps stringing centuries' worth of quaint walled towns on a ribbon of history and
tweeness. And if you think all the folksy fuss is just for the tourists you'd be wrong -
many Bavarians turn out en masse for traditional festivals and celebrations in their leder-
hosen or dirndl.
King of the Castle
Southern Germany is also famed for its castles, from medieval fortresses to the 19th-cen-
tury follies commissioned by Bavaria's most celebrated king, Ludwig II. Mad about Ver-
sailles (and some claim just plain mad) he 'single-handedly' launched Bavaria's tourist in-
dustry and even stirred Walt Disney with his story-book Neuschwanstein Castle. You
could spend a month zig-zagging between sugary palaces, stuccoed baroque residences,
wind-cracked Gothic ruins and vista-rich chateaux. Palace fatigue? Then there's nothing
simpler in these parts than retreating to a cosy tavern and raising a tankard to this marvel-
lous corner of Europe.
