Schliersbergalm

The Schliersbergalm sits at 1061 metres above Lake Schliersee, and it is one of the best known addresses in the Miesbach district. From Bayrischzell it is about 20 minutes by car.

What makes it work is that everything is up there together: the cable car, the summer toboggan run, a heated swimming pool, mini golf, a playground, an inn and a hotel. I have been going up there for many years, in some years only once, in others almost every month.

WhereSchliersbergalm, 1061 m, above SchlierseeFrom Bayrischzellapprox. 20 min by carValley stationDekan Mayer Weg 7, 83727 SchlierseeGetting upcable car 5 to 6 minutes, on foot a good half hourCable car12.00 euros up and down, every 15 minutesToboggan run960 m long, same price as the cable car, dry weather onlySwimming pool6.00 euros, children aged 5 to 14 pay 4.50 eurosFor childrenplayground, bouncy castle, mini golf and the old wooden sawyers

Up by cable car or on foot

The cable car is an aerial tramway with two cabins for ten people each, 725 metres long, 230 metres of ascent, and you are up there in five to six minutes. It runs every 15 minutes, in summer from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., in winter until 6 p.m.

The ride itself is worth it. You look down on the market town of Schliersee and on the lake, and in good light you can make out the shallow parts of the water as bright patches.

Looking down into the valley from the cable car

On foot it takes a good half hour. The path is manageable for anyone with average fitness, and I find it genuinely beautiful. Many people do it like this: walk up and take the cable car back down, or the toboggan run. Going down only costs less, too.

The summer toboggan run

The run heads down the slope next to the cable car

It is 960 metres long, runs down the slope beside the cable car, and the sledges ride back up with the cabins. One run costs the same as one ride up.

You set the speed yourself with the lever. Feel free to push it, it gets quick either way. Two things you should know:

First, this is a sports facility, not a fairground ride. Go into a bend too fast and you can come off the track. Second, the run is made of plastic. You get a glove, but watch your legs and feet, anyone scraping along the track picks up mild burns.

And one thing you rarely read anywhere: it does not only run in summer. As soon as it is dry and the weather plays along, you can toboggan in the shoulder season and in winter too. In the rain it stays shut.

Hans Bauer, the man behind all this

The Alm would not be what it is without one man from Fischbachau: Hans Bauer, born on 8 December 1924, died on 17 October 2014, shortly before his 90th birthday.

After the war he took over his parents' café, was mocked in the valley as the crazy Bauer Hansl, and at 21 turned the staid café into the Crazy Alm. Music later led him to his real invention: he experimented with an accordion, a vacuum cleaner and a dried pig's bladder, and out of that came the forerunner of a reverb unit. The manufacturer Arthur Klemt turned the idea into a working device in 1958 in Olching near Munich, and Bauer named it the Echolette.

The Echolette became a great success, at times around 800 units went out every month, and it stood behind half the bands in Germany. Bauer played double bass himself, founded the band The Jokers with Ambros Seelos, ran venues in Munich and sold one of them to the singer Caterina Valente.

With the money he had made from the Echolette he bought the hotel above Lake Schliersee, with 90,000 square metres of land and the cable car that had stood there as a feeder since 1951. In doing so he kept the house from becoming a sanatorium. He opened the Alm to visitors and built it up into a leisure park on the American model. Its main attraction was his second big idea: the first summer toboggan run made of plastic in Germany. It was later sold on to other leisure parks as well.

More about Hans BauerTo the memorial site hansbauer.de ↗

The pool on the mountain

Heated outdoor pool overlooking Lake Schliersee

A heated outdoor pool with a view over Lake Schliersee, there is nothing else like it around here. It has always been there and has since been modernised. Admission costs 6.00 euros a day, children aged 5 to 14 pay 4.50 euros.

One thing to know: capacity is limited. Day tickets are available online in advance, they are ready to download the day before and can be cancelled free of charge until then. You can also pick up reserved tickets at the cable car ticket office. On a hot Sunday in August I would book ahead.

What else is up there

A few things are still there from the early days, for example the two little wooden sawyers cutting a slice off a log. Over the years a mini golf course with nine holes, a playground and a bouncy castle for the children have been added.

The old wooden sawyers, still from the early days

The Alpenroller, a kind of self-steered mountain coaster, is still standing but no longer running.

And a story hardly anyone knows: from 1993 to 2002 the local station Radio Alpenwelle sat up here, which made it the highest situated radio station in Germany. The station then moved to Bad Tölz, because getting up here in winter proved too much of a chore.

Food and a bed

The hotel was recently extended and modernised, and thankfully they did not renovate the character out of the restaurant. Inside, the atmosphere is still the old one.

I even celebrated my wedding up there. The food was good across the board and reasonably priced. By now the whole outdoor area has been built up, with small huts and deck chairs, and prices sit in the upper middle range. That is no surprise: this is one of the main attractions in the district, and in this setting with this view you pay much the same anywhere in Bavaria.

What it costs

The cable car and the toboggan run cost the same:

Adults pay 12.00 euros up and down, 7.00 euros one way and 25.00 euros for the 3-ride toboggan ticket. Young people aged 8 to 14 pay 8.00 euros, 5.00 euros and 17.00 euros. Children aged 3 to 7 pay 4.00 euros, 3.00 euros and 10.00 euros.

Dogs are welcome, at 5.00 euros up and down or 4.00 euros one way. Adventure golf costs 7.00 euros for adults and 5.00 euros for children up to 14, and from 15 people everyone pays 5.00 euros.

Tickets are valid on the day of purchase only. Group rates from 15 people are available on request.

When to come, and where to park

The Alm is busy, and that is not an exaggeration. It is really only quiet in the morning. In good weather and at weekends it gets full to very full, while in bad weather the time of day hardly matters.

The most useful practical tip concerns parking: spaces at the valley station are tight. That comes with the terrain, the valley station already sits above the village and there simply is not much room up there. Unless you arrive early in the morning, I would always park down in the village and walk the few hundred metres up to the valley station. It saves your nerves and usually time as well.

Who it is worth it for

For families it is a good mix: the children have the playground, the bouncy castle and mini golf, the grown-ups can stay seated and enjoy the view. And that view is not tied to one particular spot, it is everywhere up there, whether from the terrace, from the pool or from the toboggan run.