Our first snow holiday, the plan was to do nothing but hike all day. We stayed in Das Reiners hotel in Grafenau for 9 days and did day hikes in the neighbourhood. It had just snowed a lot the week before, but we mainly had clear sunny days.
We get up and start packing. I fold all the dirty clothes in one side of the trunk, determined not to open the zipper until we’re near the washing machine at home. We leave around 9 with an ETA of 3 pm at La Butte au Bois, a Relais & Chateaux hotel with a Michelin… Continue reading A smooth drive to la Butte au Bois
This is our last walk and we had some doubts about whether we wanted to actually do the steep climb. However our legs are in pretty good shape in the morning so we set off to Gfäll after stopping at the Edeka store to get some sandwiches for lunch. The road to Gfäll is the… Continue reading Der Grosser Rachel
Up at 7 am, breakfast at 8 as usual. We plan to leave from the hotel on foot and do loop walk number 5. When we leave around 9 it’s still pretty chilly, although the sun is out today and there is not a cloud in sight. We start off on rural roads between snowy… Continue reading along the Grosse Ohe river
Today is our day off, so we are determined to get up late and not do too many steps. We leave for Passau around 10 am and follow the two-lane road down to the Donau. The temperatures must have been very low during the night, because the trees are thickly covered with hoarfrost and make… Continue reading no hiking today !
When we wake up the light outside is grey, the valley is completely covered by a dense cloud. We stop by a grocery show in Grafenau to pick up sandwiches for lunch and then set of to Waldhäuser. When we climb out of the valley by car the sky is bright blue and the sun… Continue reading to the top of the Lusen
Wake-up alarm at 7 am, breakfast around 8 am is becoming our habit. We try to leave around 9 am to maximize the daylight hours. Since it starts getting dark around 4 pm, you need to start early enough. Today we walk through the Tier-Freigelände, which is a free zoo spread over 2 km². the… Continue reading a walk through the zoo
As I’m not entirely recovered from a respiratory infection we decide to start off easy. After a decent breakfast from the buffet, we take the car to the Kurpark in Grafenau. We’ve checked the weather forecast and we’re prepared for cold weather: I have three layers of wool and a down body warmer on top,… Continue reading Aussichtsstein & Baumwipfelpfad
a visit of the castle garden As the castle brochure boasts of a large private garden, we set out after breakfast to discover it. We follow the map to the entrance and descend through the dry moat to the tiered garden. The hill side is pretty steep and the garden is definitely not wheelchair accessible.… Continue reading a long drive to Bayern
The total driving time to our destination Grafenau in the Bayerischer Wald is estimated by Google Maps to be 9 hours for 800 km. because we don’t want to drive all day, we’ve decided to leave on Thursday afternoon and do a short stop. Arne’s car is supposed to get its winter tires and scheduled… Continue reading to the Rhein valley
Febe writes 