Exploring Germany's highest peak: The Zugspitze

"Where there's a valley, there's a mountain" as they say in Bavaria. And in this case it's Germany's highest. Once you pass Lake Eib it takes about 10 minutes to reach the summit of the Zugspitze, at 2,962 meters elevation. It is not a solitary place at all, whether summer or winter. It has restaurants, fried potato stores, cash points, conference rooms and Germany's highest Internet café. And, of course, it has excellent skiing and snowboarding infrastructures.

From the summit, visitors have all of Germany at their feet. The Zugspitze is located directly on the border with Austria. The view into the distance from the summit is breath-taking. Just by turning around in a full circle you can look out over hundreds of mountains. The Zugspitze belongs to the Wetterstein mountain range in the northern limestone Alps. The highest peak in Germany is also the highest summit in the Zugspitze massif, which includes the surrounding mountains.

The first mountaineer known to have enjoyed this view was Josef Naus. He and his team of surveyors ascended the mountain on instruction of the Royal Bavarian Topographical Survey. Now, every year nearly half a million people get to take this view from the Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze.