Germany's rooftop, the Zugspitze, remains major attraction

By Britte Schultejans Aug 30, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany - 'Oh, I love it!' a young American woman exclaims as she makes a snowball, then hurls it at her boyfriend.

She apparently isn't disturbed at all that snow and thick fog are blocking what should be a breathtaking panoramic view for which the masses of visitors come for, atop the Zugspitze mountain.

About half a million guests each year make their way to the top of Germany's tallest peak, at 2,962 metres, in the Bavarian Alps. In 2009 - the last full year for which figures are available to the cable car company, the Bayerischen Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn AG - the share of foreign tourists was 37 per cent.

A good portion of these were from Europe, but in recent years the number of tourists from Arab countries has especially been rising. Up to 10,000 Arab guests come here every month, except during Ramadan, in the summer. For these guests, an extra prayer room was set up in the mountaintop restaurant.

'Sometimes there are some very moving scenes there,' says Eva-Maria Greimel, spokeswoman for the Zugspitze cable car company. 'Many of these guests have never seen snow before.'

The Arab visitors especially are thrilled by the sleds which are provided free of charge for riding on the mountaintop glacier. Parents and kids alike hold sled races, with the chapel of St. Mary's in the background.

The chapel, consecrated by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - now Pope Benedict XVI - is the highest-elevation church in Germany. This makes it a favourite venue for weddings.

'A lot of marrying goes on here, but not much in the way of celebrating,' Greimel notes.

But this is not for lack of any opportunity. The gastronomy infrastructure can handle up to half a million guests a year. There are two restaurants on the lower-lying glacier, while the mountaintop cable car station has a panoramic-view lounge complete with what is billed as 'Germany's highest beer garden.'

Many guests are also here simply in order to be able to check off another item on their 'to-do' list: Zugspitze - been there, done that.

Eva-Maria Greimel has witnessed this, while over and over, visitors complain about the high prices once at the top of the mountain. 'That's when they say they are merely going up there and coming right back down again,' she says.

The most favourable alternative is the Zugspitze round trip, costing 48 euros (68 dollars) per adult. The Eibsee cable car takes you to the mountain station and from there the Glacier cable car takes you further up to the Zugspitz plateau.

Then you can take the cogwheel train all the way back down again to the valley. Or, you can do the round-trip the other way, starting with the cogwheel train.

The ticket costs 11 euros more if a second peak is booked. The Alpspitze peak, for example, is one where recently two adventure trails were opened, and where the spectacular AlpspiX platform provides a fantastic Alpine panorama view.

Offers such as these can help to alleviate somewhat the crush of tourists on the Zugspitze.

On peak days with more than 4,000 visitors, people must sometimes stand in line for hours before boarding the cable cars, and at the lookout platform with its view of the golden cross atop the mountain, the tourists are constantly bumping into each other.

'The alpine experience actually is a lot different,' a spokeswoman for the Zugspitzbahn cable car company says on a day recently when there was a crush of visitors. 'Such days like these are not the general rule.'