Tegernsee holds its light differently than the coast — deep green, folded into fir forest and limestone rock, the water so still most mornings it doubles the mountains on its surface. There is a rhythm to a weekend here that has nothing to do with “Must-Sees.” It starts early, moves slowly, and leaves room for a nap, a swim, an hour of doing absolutely nothing.
Here are the addresses IRMA returns to, season after season.
RESTAURANTS & CAFÉS
Café-Restaurant Angermaier.
Set at the foot of the Baumgarten with a wide view over the lake and the mountains beyond, this is a good halfway point on any walk. Order whatever slice looks best that day and let the afternoon stretch out over a pot of Earl Grey.
Berg 1, 83700 Rottach-Egern
Fährhütte14.
The Althoff Seehotel Überfahrt’s lakeside restaurant and beach club, tucked into a nature reserve away from the road. Chef Arne Schmitz’s globally inspired, lake-and-land cooking, best taken on the jetty as the light goes gold.
Weißachdamm 50, 83700 Rottach-Egern
Forsthaus Valepp.
A former royal hunting lodge deep in the valley toward the Austrian border, all wood-panelled Stuben and a sprawling beer garden — the reward at the end of a long forest walk.
Valepp 1, 83727 Schliersee
Gasthof Glashütte.
Running since 1698 at the foot of the Rosstein and Buchstein, the tiled stove still heats the main room rather than central heating. Honest Hausmannskost, and in winter the beer garden marks the end of the cross-country trail from Kreuth.
Glashütte 28, 83708 Kreuth
Haubentaucher.
A relaxed bistro right on the water at Rottach-Egern’s best address, unpretentious and warm — the kind of table you linger at longer than planned.
Seestraße 30, 83700 Rottach-Egern
Herzogliches Gasthaus Altes Bad.
Bavarian tradition cooking in a former royal bathhouse where kings once dined, its beer garden looking straight onto the Blauberge.
Wildbad Kreuth 2, 83708 Kreuth
Leeberghof.
A small hotel and restaurant above Tegernsee and Rottach-Egern with more than 150 years of history on one of the valley’s loveliest plots — honest hospitality, unpretentious Bavarian conviviality.
Ellingerstraße 10, 83684 Tegernsee
Schwarzentenn-Alm.
An hour’s walk up from the Klamm car park, and our favorite hike on the whole lake — it reminds us of Canada, steady enough to earn the view, quiet enough that you mostly hear your own breathing. Homemade cake and a bit of Blasmusik wait for you at the top.
Schwarzentenn, 83708 Kreuth
Weißachalm.
For alfresco dinner by the river on a warm evening. Pre-order the roasted duck — it’s worth planning ahead for — and take a swim in the Gumpen beforehand. Cold water, warm evening, then dinner: the whole idea of a slow weekend in one sequence.
Weißachaustr. 51, 83708 Kreuth
MARKET & PROVISIONS
Boarhof.
Where a Tegernsee weekend begins for me — homemade bread, farm butter, cheese, something pickled, and jars of homemade marmalade for the Brotzeit table.
Max-Obermayr-Weg 4, 83707 Bad Wiessee
Fischerei Tegernsee.
Fresh trout, whitefish and char straight from the lake — as local and as simple as a Tegernsee supper gets.
Seestraße 42, 83684 Tegernsee
SHOPPING
Peter Prechtl.
Antique jewelry and small treasures in Rottach-Egern — half the fun is not knowing what you’ll find.
Seestr. 51, 83700 Rottach-Egern
HOTELS
DAS TEGERNSEE.
Quiet luxury on the sunny south-facing slope above town, five houses that each tell the valley’s story a little differently, and one of the region’s finest spa landscapes to come back to after a day outdoors.
Neureuthstraße 23, 83684 Tegernsee
Landhaus Marinella.
A small, family-run guesthouse right by the lido in Bad Wiessee. We’re a little in love with their garden, and breakfast on the terrace the next morning is reason enough to book the room.
Am Strandbad 7, 83707 Bad Wiessee
CULTURE
Olaf Gulbransson Museum.
A small, quietly excellent museum devoted to the Norwegian caricaturist and Simplicissimus artist, housed in a modernist building by Sep Ruf overlooking the lake.
Kurgarten 5, 83684 Tegernsee
Pfarrkirche St. Laurentius.
The yellow-topped church tower that gave the “Malerwinkel” its name. When a full weekend starts to feel like almost too much of a good thing, even in the best way, the small Andachtskapelle inside offers a few quiet minutes that reset everything.
Seestraße 57, 83700 Rottach-Egern
LAKE & ACTIVITIES
Bootsverleih Reiffenstuel. A family-run boathouse in the Egerner Bucht since 1925. For sailing afternoons with no motor and no rush — just wind and the sound of the hull cutting through water.
Seestraße 44/67, 83700 Rottach-Egern
Marina Tegernsee.
A small harbour of hand-restored mahogany boats and electric yachts — the right place for a sundowner drifting slowly back toward the mountains.
Hauptstraße 39, 83684 Tegernsee
Before we leave, we always walk in the woods near our country house in Obere Wies — no destination, no pace to keep, just trees and a deep breath before heading home.
“None of these addresses are exactly secret — except maybe that wood, and I might keep it for myself a little longer.”
