The Oberstdorf Travel Guide

Live Like A German

Having a great time in Beautiful Oberstdorf... Toured the town and are now in a local Biergarten... The hefeweizen is ordered and for dinner I am going to have Pfifferlinge and Knoedel!!!

Andreas Nilsson

Nice in the winter, but also in the summer.

Live Like A German

Today we went on a carriage ride through the blooming meadows up into the mountains! Saw some beautiful lakes, tiny chapels and of course lots of mountains! Had some great food and absolutely loved our carriage driver and his informative fun tour!

Ilona Yagyagan

Another great place to visit is the Soellereck, where you can go up with the cable-car, and it also has 5 ski-lifts. In summertime its a great place to explore the mountain area around Oberstdorf. It's a beautiful region to visit, don't leave it out, if you plan a trip to Germany.

Ilona Yagyagan

In 1987 the World Nordic Championship was held in Oberstdorf, and it's also famous for its yearly participation in the Four Hills Ski tournament. The Heini-Klopfer-Skiflugschanze in Oberstdorf is the second largest ski jumping hill in the world.You actually can go up the Ski Flying Tower in a diagonal elevator, and have a beautiful view of the area. When I stood up there, I only could think of the ski-jumpers going down that ramp, and flying down the hill. Its amazing! The ski jump track is 139 meters long to the jump ramp, launching at 106 km per hour, landing at 130 km an hour. From the highest launch point to the last landing is 207 meters of height distance with the tower rising up to 72 meters over ground below. Nothing for the people are afraid of heights!

Local History Museum

Oberstdorf History Museum
[ source: Oberstdorf Tourist Bureau ]

The museum of local history of Oberstdorf is located in one of the old Oberstdorfer houses of the 17th century. In 38 rooms you can find collections including the cultivation of home décor, a weaving mill, rope making, agriculture and alpine economy, old trade, a stone collection, early history of the langlauf (cross-country ski run), the history of the alpinism, music instruments, animals (stuffed) and trophies, garbs and traditions and many other things. In the basement you can find amongst others a cheese kitchen and a gentian distillery. Visitors have the opportunity to take a look into the past of Oberstdorf and the Allgäu.

Oberstdorf-Kleinwalsertal Ski Resort Ski Area

Nebelhorn mountain, close to Oberstdorf
[ source: Flickr ]

With three different ski areas, all linked by a shuttle bus service, the skiing is extensive, especially for Germany, with a long season (December to May).

The country’s most southern region has always been highly rated for alpine and cross country skiing, and also has excellent snowboarding terrain. The three main ski areas are the Nebelhorn, Fellhorn/Kanzelwand and the Söllerek. An electronic guest card, the Allgäu Walser card gives skiers and boarders access to all buses, as well as special offers.

The Nebelhorn (2224m), Oberstdorf’s original ski area, which is reached from the centre of town by the Nebelhorn cable-car, provides the highest and most challenging slopes in the region, and the German ski instructors’ exams are held here. The Fellhornbahn (Fellhorn/Kanzelwand) serves a much bigger area which in turn is linked with the geographically bizarre Kleinwalsertal enclave of Austria – a valley completely surrounded by Germany. From the scenically-placed and often sun-drenched Panorama restaurant at the top, right on the border, you can look down on German slopes on one side and Austrian on the other, although there is only one main run down to Austria. The long Kanzelwand run to Riezlern is in fact an intermediate super-highway (though it gets narrower later) which connects the two countries, enabling skiers from either side to explore each other’s ski areas. Riezlern’s main runs – and those of neighbouring Hirschegg, Mittelberg and Baad - are in fact on the opposite side of the Austrian valley. The main Fellhorn and Kanzelwand ski areas, some five miles out of town, can be reached by ski bus. A two-part ride in one of Germany’s biggest cable-cars takes skiers and boarders to the top station at 2037m. Those who want to get out at the top of the first cable-car can stop at a mountain restaurant and still enjoy the network of chairs and above-the-treeline intermediate skiing, before either skiing down again or pressing on to the top, from where they can continue all the way down to Kleinwalsertal.

The Nebelhorn ski area (it means “misty mountain” and sometimes lives up to its name as any bad weather coming through the valley normally strikes here first) is reached by cable-car from the town centre. You need to take three sections to reach the top, where black and red runs offer an excellent high-mountain experience with breathtaking scenery: they say you can see as many as 400 peaks between the Zugspitze and Switzerland’s Mount Säntis. The Nebelhorn has some good off-piste opportunities, and it’s also the start of some of the area’s best ski-touring routes. The 7.5 km run from the top all the way down to the bottom is reputed to be the longest in Germany. The final section meanders through glades all the way down to the base station. A third area, perhaps the most delightful though not the most challenging, is the Söllerek. It has the smallest vertical drop, but it’s a beautiful sunny area for intermediates and families, with long gladed runs, particularly the twin runs off the long Höllwies draglift, where visibility in bad weather is always improved by being on forest trails. A children’s fun area has been added at the bottom gondola station.

Oberstdorf (official home page)