These include the famous Wieskirche church and the monasteries in Ettal, Steingaden, Rottenbuch, Polling and Wessobrunn. But the Pfaffenwinkel is also known as "Land vor dem Gebirg'" (land before the mountains), and beyond the beautiful river valleys of the Lech, Ammer, Loisach and Isar, this is rarely permanently flat.
Character:
The foothills of the Alps in the Pfaffenwinkel have a Bavarian picture-book character. However, the beautiful hilly landscape also needs to be cycled, which means that a certain level of fitness is helpful on the mostly well-signposted cycle paths through fields and forests. Families and leisure cyclists tend to stick to the mostly flat river valleys of the Ammer and Lech and the regions around the lakes.
Tour tip:
Romantic tour, 46 km, medium difficulty.
A real cultural route on sections of the world-famous Romantic Road. A scenically beautiful but hilly route, i.e. lots of uphill and downhill, sometimes on somewhat rough field and forest paths. Route: Schongau - Peiting (km 3.2) - Rottenbuch (km 12.2) - Schönegg (km 15.1) - Wildsteig (km 18.2) - Wieskirche (km 22) - Steingaden (km 26.4) - Riesen (km 32.1) - Kreut (km 36.5) - Peiting (km 42) - Schongau (km 45.5).
Best time to travel:
End of May to end of September.
Journey:
Via Augsburg and Munich, the Deutsche Bahn runs almost every hour to Schongau and Saulgrub, among other places. Cyclist hotline of the railway on 01805/99 66 33 (14 ct/min. from landlines, max. 42 ct/min. for mobile phones).
Bike service:
Bike hire and workshops can be found in Schongau, Bad Bayersoien, Prem, Peiting, Peißenberg and Steingaden. Addresses: http://www.pfaffen-winkel.de.
Cycling hotels: e.g. Gasthof Zum Weißen Roß in Bad Bayersoien http://www.gasthof-zum-weissenross.de
Biancas Landhotel in Bad Kohlgrub http://www.biancas-landhotel.de Alpengasthof Geiselstein in Halblech-Buching http://www.alpengasthof-geiselstein.de
Maps/literature:
Rother cycle guide "Pfaffenwinkel", 44 cycle tours for connoisseurs, 128 pages, 9.90 euros.
Galli Verlag cycling map "Pfaffenwinkel - Ammergauer Alpen" 1:50,000 at 5.90 euros.
Galli Verlag "Radtourenbeschreibung Pfaffenwinkel", 10 selected tours for 3 euros.
Information (general):
Pfaffenwinkel Tourist Office, Bauerngasse 5, 86956 Schongau, Tel. 08861/7773, http://www.pfaffen-winkel.de
The full-length article from issue 4/2011 is available as a free PDF download.
