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Often packed: the parking lot at Eibsee, which can be seen in the background. The cable car to Zugspitze goes from here. © Peter Kornatz
On peak days, thousands of visitors want to go to Eibsee and from there to the Zugspitze. This causes long traffic jams – and annoyances for local residents. Now those responsible have an idea: they want to introduce a new parking ticket. Cost: 40 euros per day.
Grainau – On days when the weather is good for excursions, Katharina Kraus has to plan precisely. When she leaves the house at 7:30 a.m. to go to her workplace in the Werdenfelserei Hotel, she packs everything she needs for the day. “I know I can’t go home until the evening.” Quickly picking something up in between – bad idea. The 34-year-old lives with her family on Eibseestrasse, just before the car park from which you can take the cable car up to the Zugspitze. Especially now, during the holiday season, she lives in the middle of traffic chaos. It takes her up to an hour to make the short journey from Grainau (Garmisch-Partenkirchen district) in the valley to her house – instead of 10 minutes.
Lots of traffic on the doorstep: Katharina Kraus stands with her son Jakob on the road that leads to Eibsee. © Krinninger
Residents suffer from permanent traffic jams at Eibsee
The Eibsee and the Zugspitze are blockbusters in the Bavarian tourism landscape. On peak days, thousands of visitors come, and the trend in recent years has been increasing. Mayor Stefan Märkl (CSU) suspects that this is also due to the internet. Guests from all over the world take photos of the beautiful mountain lake, of Germany’s highest mountain, post them on Instagram or Facebook – and thus make the best advertising. In addition, holidays in Bavaria are booming, and the desire to go to the mountains is great, especially after Corona. “That’s not a bad thing,” says Märkl. It’s just that the residents suffer massively from the columns of cars that regularly push their way up the mountain. Car after car, for miles.
We suffer greatly from this.
Katharina Kraus has lived on Eibseestrasse since her wedding in 2012. She and her husband have two Kinderfour and nine years old. Especially at lunchtime, when Katharina Kraus picks up her son from kindergarten or her daughter from school and drives back, she already knows: Now she’s stuck in a traffic jam again.
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“It’s often very stressful for the children. They want to go home, they’re hungry, it’s hot.” Of course, the school bus that her daughter sometimes takes can’t get through either. And then it happens that tourists simply park on her property – despite the prohibition signs. It’s not uncommon for there to be arguments when she addresses the uninvited guests. “But this is our private property,” says the 34-year-old. She also needs the parking space for her own overnight guests, to whom she rents out a holiday apartment. Her holidaymakers are naturally also annoyed when they take a particularly long time for the last stretch after a strenuous journey.
Mayor: “90 percent ignore the parking guidance system”
The municipality and the district are aware of the problem. “We have already tried a lot,” says Mayor Märkl. A parking guidance system actually shows when the parking lot at Eibsee is full. “But 90 percent ignore that,” he says. From 2020 to 2023, a private transport company was commissioned to close the road when necessary. That worked well, the emergency routes were clear, there were fewer traffic jams. But on Whit Monday 2023, the company threw in the towel, reports Märkl. “They were insulted so often that they didn’t want to put up with it anymore.”
(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular GAP newsletter.)
Model for the 40-euro ticket: a valley in South Tyrol
But now there is a new idea. The district, together with all other institutions involved, is planning to introduce a day ticket and to close off the road to Eibsee with a barrier. The model of the
Tourism Association Prags in South Tyrol. They are also suffering there – the picturesque Pragser Wildsee is a magnet for visitors. For the second year in a row, there is a parking ticket for cars for 40 euros. Half of the ticket can be redeemed in local restaurants. “It works very well,” says tourism director Silke Stabinger. There is no traffic chaos even on busy days, and the feedback from guests is positive. Eibsee resident Katharina Kraus also thinks it’s a good idea. Something has to happen at some point. “We are suffering a lot from it.”
Solo con ticket: You can only get to the Pragser Valley in South Tyrol with a ticket. This costs 40 euros per day. © Johann Groder
There is only one catch, perhaps several. Firstly, structural changes would be needed, such as a roundabout, so that drivers without a ticket can drive back down into the valley. And there are also legal problems. The Free State of Bavaria would have to approve the road closure. This is possible, says a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport. This would require “overwhelming reasons of public welfare”. However, the requirements for restricting public use are very high. In Grainau, the introduction of the 40-euro ticket is therefore not expected until 2025 at the earliest. This would have to be booked online in advance. Spontaneous arrivals would be warned in good time if the parking lot is full. The details are unclear: does someone who pays 72 euros for the ascent and descent on the Zugspitz cable car from Eibsee have to shell out an additional 40 euros for parking? Or will this be offset? According to the Bavarian Zugspitzbahn, there are no discussions about this yet.
