Hiking Fussen

After eating a delicious breakfast at Dorfladen Ehenbichler Bakery on Schulweg 14, we headed for a treetop adventure on the Austria-Germany border called Baumkronenweg Ziegelwies.

We walked above the treetops on long wooden platforms overlooking the nearby Lech River in the first part. This was a concise walk, taking about 10-15 minutes. After finishing the treetop walk, we decided to embark on the river hike next.

The river hike followed the trail, with all sorts of amusements on the way. There were beams to walk, monkey bars, floating rafts, and many swings.

We had an enjoyable walk on the river trail. At the very end of the trail, we ran into the Lockfall waterfall, which has a nice drop and a scenic gorge nearby.

We returned to the trail and then continued to the forest hike.

In the forest, we followed the trail initially uphill through similar amusements. There were some witches and ghosts for kids to admire. A giant spider web was installed for climbing, and both Alex and I tried to climb it. Alex succeeded in climbing to the top and touching the spider.



We ran into a group of German kindergarteners hiking the trail. We finished the hike around 12:30 p.m. and then headed for the Tegelbergbahn Luge.

Driving to Tegelbergbahn proved complicated due to problems with the Google Maps app on my iPhone 7. It was not giving me correct driving directions. It suggested blocking or unavailable roads or providing driving directions to the Neuschwanstein Castle instead. Eventually, I found the right way and arrived at around 1:00 p.m.

Alex has been excited to try luge in Germany – as he really liked the luge he rode in Mont Tremblant, near Montreal, Canada. The luge in Tegelbergbahn is quite different, as there is no steering and only a brake lever is present. I purchased 6 runs for Alex, and he enjoyed going as fast as possible (using minimal braking) on each run. Alex hurt his shoulder on one of his descents because he tried to go without braking. I also purchased 1 luge ticket to see what it was like. I thought the descent was quite fun, but it was not as scary as expected.

I recorded a short video of Alex's luge descent here:

After the luge, we decided to get lunch in the nearby Bavarian village of Fussen. Inna found La Perla Ristorante Pizzeria - a well-rated restaurant in Rick Steve's Guide to Vienna and Tyrol, so we decided to drive there.

There was a lot of traffic on the road (from the nearby Neuschwanstein Castle), and it took us a bit longer to finally enter Fussen. We tried to find parking there, but Google Maps gave us incorrect directions again. We finally decided to park just outside Fussen and walked there instead. (There was hidden parking near the river, but neither Google nor anyone else knew about it).

Once in Fussen, we walked over to La Perla Pizzeria and ordered two pizzas to share and a liter bottle of San Pellegrino sparkling water. Inna and I shared the "Quattro Stagioni" (Four Seasons), while Alex had the "Mozzarella Pizza". The pizzas were quite delicious, and we really enjoyed them.

Alex hoped to taste gelato, so we searched for a well-regarded Gelato shop. We found Eiscafe Hohes Schloss – a well-rated gelateria – nearby, and Alex selected 3 flavors: caramel, hazelnut, and mint. Inna and I also chose 3 flavors: crema, mandarin, and berry. We really liked the crema flavor in our gelato, and even Alex was interested in it.

After gelato, we decided to try German cakes. A nearby Stadt Café had several delicious cakes on display, and we ordered two cakes to share.

The cakes looked delicious but were nowhere near the quality of the ones in Austria (especially in Café Demel in Vienna). We were hoping for much better in Bavaria.

A nearby bookshop only sold books in German, so we walked around a bit, looking for a bookstore that also carried books in English. It started to rain, so we ran to our car, parked far away. We got a bit wet, but the severe shower started once we were safely in our vehicle. There is a daily shower in the Bavaria/Tyrol region, and umbrellas must always be reserved.