Herzogstand and Heimgarten: A Twin Peak Hike with Stunning Views

Herzogstand and Heimgarten is a twin peak hike that is very much a local favourite among Münchners. Having been to both these peaks multiple times, I can confirm that the popularity is well justified. The views from both the summits are simply top-notch. Moreover, the ridge walk between Heimgarten and Herzogstand is a true experience in itself.

Therefore, in this blogpost I want to share everything you need to know to hike up Herzogstand and Heimgarten!

Why Herzogstand/Heimgarten?
Getting there
- Public Transportation
- Car/Motorbike
- Hike to the summits
Best time to visit Herzogstand/Heimgarten
Things to know about Herzogstand/Heimgarten
Costs
- Transportation
- Food
My Hike experience
Ready, Set, Go!

Why Herzogstand and Heimgarten?

Herzogstand and Heimgarten are located in Kochel, in the vicinity of two gorgeous glacier lakes, Walchensee and Kochelsee. As Kochel is hardly an hour from Munich, this hike can easily be done as a day trip. However, the reason why I love this hike so much is that it can be done by hikers of all difficulty levels. There is a cable car that goes almost till the summit of Herzogstand! If you are a complete beginner looking to get a taste of hiking, you could take the cable car and hike for half an hour to the summit! However, if you are an intermediate hiker looking for a challenge, you could hike up Herzogstand, continue on the ridge to Heimgarten and descend to Ohlstadt on the opposite side. Thus, there is something for everyone on this trail which makes it a very attractive day trip option from Munich!

In case you are a hiking beginner, I would also highly recommend glancing through my beginner’s guide to alpine hiking to be fully prepared for this adventure.

Getting to Herzogstand and Heimgarten

This hike is located in Kochel and is best done as a day trip from Munich. Therefore, this section will feature directions from Munich. If you are reading this blog from elsewhere in the world, feel free to add this hike to your Bavarian Itinerary when you visit the south of Germany to experience one of its finest climbs!

Public Transportation to Herzogstand from Munich

There are two main ways to do this hike,

The first option is to start from Ohlstadt, hike up Heimgarten, cross the ridge to Herzogstand and descend to Kochel. This trail takes about 8 hours and is only suitable for intermediate hikers. It can also be done in reverse by starting from Kochel, i.e., Kochel to Herzogstand followed by the ridge walk to Heimgarten and then descending to Ohlstadt!
The second option is simply to start by the banks of Walchensee in Kochel and either hike up Herzogstand or take the cable car and hike half an hour to the summit of Herzogstand from the cable car station. If you are planning to hike, there are multiple hiking trails from Kochel, two of which I will mention in this blog.

The trailheads for both these options are different. Getting to each of these trailheads from Munich is mentioned in detail in the following sections.

Ohlstadt to Herzogstand via Heimgarten to Kochel

Any regional train departing from Munich to Mittenwald, Seefeld or Innsbrück Hbf will halt at Ohlstadt making it very accessible from Munich. Trains run hourly and mostly depart from platforms 27 – 29 (at the far right corner of Munich Hauptbahnof). The entire train ride takes close to an hour. More information regarding the train schedules can be found here (The departure and arrival stations must be mentioned as ‘München Hbf’ and ‘Ohlstadt’ respectively).

After alighting from the train, head to the trailhead. This is roughly a thirty minute walk from the bus stop. Upon reaching the trailhead, you will come across the first yellow boards with directions to Heimgarten (trail 441).

Herzogstand and Heimgarten roundtrip from Kochel

There are multiple hiking trails for these mountains from Kochel. Two of the popular options are,

Kesselberg Paßhöhe (725m) – Herzogstand (1731m) – Heimgarten (1790m) – Walchensee (801m) – Ohlstadt (665m)
Herzogstandbahn Valley Station (785m) – Herzogstand (1731m) – Heimgarten (1790m) – Walchensee (801m) – Herzogstandbahn Valley Station (785m)

The regional express, Kochelseebahn, runs every hour from Munich to Kochel. The entire train ride takes a little over an hour. In fact, the tracks to Kochel and Garmisch – Partenkirchen run parallel to each other. Therefore, if you are a Garmisch regular, the first few stops for both these journeys will be identical. After that, the tracks branch out and in the middle of these tracks is the range consisting of Herzogstand and Heimgarten!

After reaching Kochel, head to the bus stop just outside the train station and continue further with Bus Number 9608 to Garmisch Partenkirchen. The bus schedule is linked here. The connection time between the train and bus 9608 is around 10 minutes. While this could be tight in case of delays, it is helpful to know that the bus almost always waits for the train to arrive! Fifteen minutes into the bus ride, you will reach ‘Kesselberg Paßhöhe, Kochel a. See’. From this bus stop, there is a trail that leads to Herzogstand and further to Heimgarten (first option). Alternatively, if you would rather take the cable car up or do a round trip hike, you can also get off at ‘Walchensee Herzogstandbahn, Kochel a. See’. Herzogstandbahn is merely 5 minutes away! A second trail to Herzogstand, and further to Heimgarten (second option) also starts from here.

More information regarding the train schedules can be found here (The departure and arrival stations must be mentioned as ‘München Hbf’ and ‘Kesselberg Paßhöhe, Kochel a. See’ or ‘Walchensee Herzogstandbahn, Kochel a. See’ respectively).

By Car to Herzogstand and Heimgarten

With a car, I would only recommend the round trip option of the hike,

Herzogstandbahn Valley Station (785m) – Herzogstand (1731m) – Heimgarten (1790m) – Walchensee (801m) – Herzogstandbahn Valley Station (785m)

The other two options will result in you ending up at a different location than the one you started at. In this case, it would be a bit of a hassle getting back to your car with public transportation!

Neverthless, if you would still like to drive to Ohlstadt and start from there, head to these GPS co-ordinates. The co-ordinates correspond to a parking lot from which you can easily start the hike to Heimgarten and then to Herzogstand via the ridge. The parking fee is 5 EUR for the whole day. After the hike, you will end up close to Walchensee. From here, to get back to Ohlstadt, you will have to take bus 9608 to either Kochel Bahnof or Garmisch Partenkirchen and head to Ohstadt with bus number 9611 from Kochel or take an regional train from Garmisch!

Hike to the summit

Walchensee and the surrounding mountains in Kochel is a very popular hiking area due to its extreme close proximity to Munich. In fact, I think, every Münchner has been here at least once! There are multiple hiking trails for these mountains. The one from Ohlstadt to Herzogstand via Heimgarten will be the focus of this section. The waypoints for this one are as follows,

Ohlstadt (665m) – Bärenfleckhütte (1262m) – Heimgarten (1790m) – Herzogstand (1731m) – Walchensee (801m)

Trailhead : Link

As mentioned, I started the hike from Ohlstadt, went up Heimgarten and then continued on the ridge to Herzogstand and descended to Kochel. The hike itself was absolutely gorgeous. I would classify it as an ‘intermediate’ hike. However, the ridge walk between Heimgarten and Herzogstand is a ‘black’ trail which in Bavaria translates to an advanced trail with exposed sections and narrow paths.

Ascent via Heimgarten to Herzogstand

Initially the path (number 441) wound through thick forest terrain with occassional wooden steps. Due to these wooden steps, you also gain altitude pretty quickly! Once you cross Bärenfleckhütte, Staffelsee in Murnau, Starnbergersee and Riegsee become visible in the distance. Shortly after, the summit cross of Heimgarten also adorns your view. From the summit of Heimgarten, I continued along the ridge leading to Herzogstand. The ridge boasts some of the best views of the entire hike. The view towards Kochelsee and Walchensee are simply outstanding! However, once I reached Herzogstand, the crowds from the cable car also arrived. Herzogstand is indeed a very busy peak but the views are magnificent, justifying its popularity!

The total ascent to Heimgarten with an altitude difference of just over 1000 metres took me about three hours. The ridge walk from Heimgarten to Herzogstand took me under two hours with many photo stops. Finally, the descent to Walchensee took me a bit less than three hours. Therefore, in total, this hike can take anywhere between seven and eight hours. However, if you like me decide to stop on the way to take pictures or just soak in the beauty of nature from time to time, add in an extra hour!

Best Time to Hike Herzogstand and Heimgarten

As the ridge is quite narrow and exposed, I not recommend doing this hike during the winter months or even after heavy rainfall! Moreover, I also do not think that the ridge is maintained during winter. However, the Herzogstandbahn runs all year around. Simply hiking till the summit of Herzogstand would thus be possible even in the winter months.

Personally, this hike is best experienced on a cool summer day, preferably on a weekday. Late spring days or early fall days are also perfectly alright as long as there isn’t a lot of snow on the trail. You can check if the mountain is in a climbable state by following the live webcam footage here.

Things to Know about Herzogstand and Heimhgarten

There is a restaurant at the summit of Heimgarten, Heimgartnerhütte and then again at the mountain station of Herzogstanbahn, Berggastof Herzogstand where local food is served. The latter is a bigger mountain hut compared to the former in order to accommodate the influx of people from the cable car. Thus, it is not required to carry a lot of food.
For this hike, I highly recommend wearing sturdy hiking shoes. Hiking poles can also be quite useful because the trail is steep in some parts. A general overview of all the other necessary equipment required to hike in the Alps is listed in this blog post. Although not all of them are required for this hike, it is very helpful to be aware as to why hikers opt to carry certain equipment!

Costs

Transportation

If you are traveling from Munich with a group of friends, I would highly recommend purchasing the Bayern ticket! Bayern Ticket is a day ticket that lets you travel all around Bavaria in regional trains. This Ticket costs 26 EUR for one person and 8 EUR for every additional person (upto 5 people). i.e.,

If you are traveling alone, you would pay 26 EUR
If you are traveling with a friend, you would pay 26 + 8 = 34 EUR (for 2 people, 17 EUR per person)

If you are planning to take the cable car up, Herzogstandbahn is priced at 16 EUR for a round trip. More details regarding the cable cars (opening hours, one way price etc.) can be found here. The paid parking lot at the valley station charge a parking fee of 8 EUR for the whole day.

At the moment (June, July, August 2022), the German government is offering a subsidised monthly ticket due to the rising fuel prices. This ticket is called the 9 EUR ticket and is valid for the whole month for travel across Germany. The 9 EUR ticket is also valid for this trip from Munich.

Food

It is a hiking tradition in Germany to dine at mountain huts after summiting. Therefore, for a complete alpine hiking expereince, I would usually suggest indulging in a hearty meal at one of the huts! In any mountain hut, a meal with a drink of choice would cost you between 15 to 20 EUR. As Herzogstand is a bit touristy, it could be that the rates here are a tad bit higher!

Nevertheless, it is always a good idea to carry some snacks to munch on during the hike. I typically get trail mixes, snickers and banana. If you need some insight regarding the kind of snacks to buy, the ‘smart snacks’ section of this blogpost should give you a fair idea! The snack costs for two people from a decent supermarket would be around 10 to 15 EUR.

My Herzogstand/ Heimgarten Experience

I did this hike on a Monday morning, way back in June 2020. I vividly remember being home bound due to the pandemic for three months straight. As someone who thrives on being outdoors, this was my worst nightmare. So, when the rules regarding travel were relaxed, I began frequenting the mountains on a weekly basis. Somewhere around this time was also when I realized what a boon it is to have such beautiful nature so close to where I live. Travel was still immensely frowned upon but since the Bavarian Alps were at my doorstep, I felt blessed.

I remember taking the first train from Munich to Ohlstadt, heading to the trailhead and up Heimgarten. Once I gained altitude, so many lakes started specking my view. I also clearly remember barely taking a break at the summit of Heimgarten because the ridge looked far too inviting. Shortly after, the view from Herzogstand blew my mind! All through this, I was running on pure adrenaline filled with a helpful serving of gratitude!

Somewhere along this trail, I was also bitten by a tick, who proceeded to squirm in and comfortably build a home inside me. I had no idea it was in there and a few days later, I had to get it tweezed out in the hospital. Apparently, they can cause Lymes disease and Meningitis. Thus, this is the story of how tick sprays became a part of my hiking bag. I even went a step ahead and as a precaution, got vaccinated for Meningitis.

Long story short, this hike was truly a memorable one for me. Every time I take the train to Garmisch, I gaze at the mountain range separating Ohlstadt from Kochel and fondly recollect the day I was up there 🙂

Ready, Set, Go!

Herzogstand and Heimgarten are two peaks which appeared very recently. This part of Germany was once completely covered in ice. In fact, during the last ice age (Würm Glaciation which ended 11,700 years ago), the glaciers were as high as 1200m. Moreover, on a clear day, the Olympia Tower in Munich can also be seen from its summit. These are all wins in my book and I cannot think of a single reason why you shouldn’t hike up these peaks!

Before you embark on your hiking adventure, I highly recommend skimming through my mountain hiking guide for an unparalleled overview on alpine hiking. Moreover, all the equipment required to conquer an alpine hike is listed in this blog post.

If you are looking for another hiking experience in Germany, I cannot recommend the following hikes enough:

Have any questions about hiking on this trail? Leave them in the comments below!

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