Food in the Bavarian Alps is hearty, regional and built around bread, cheese, pork and beer. It is also easy to enjoy once you know a few habits. Here is what to order, where to look, and how the rhythm of a day in the foothills fits around the sights.
Cheese and noodles: the Allgäu staples
The area around Füssen is part of the Allgäu, a dairy region, and cheese is the signature. The dish to try is Käsespätzle, soft egg noodles layered with melted mountain cheese and topped with crisp fried onions, usually served with a green salad. Look also for a cheese board built around local mountain cheese, and for dumplings, which are served with roasts and in soups. These are warming meals after a morning in the cold, and a good rule is to choose them at lunch and keep dinner lighter.
Pretzels, white sausage and the Bavarian breakfast
The Bavarian classic is Weisswurst, a pale veal sausage served in hot water with sweet mustard and a soft pretzel, traditionally eaten in the morning. A fresh pretzel, called a Brezn, is sold at every bakery, and an Obatzda, a seasoned cheese spread served with onions and bread, appears on beer-garden menus. Leberkäse, a baked meat loaf served in thick slices, is the quick lunch of choice at bakeries and butcher counters. If you stay in a hotel with a breakfast buffet, expect bread, cold cuts, cheese, muesli and eggs.
Mains and sweets
Schweinsbraten, roast pork with crackling, dark gravy and a dumpling, is the standard Sunday lunch, and many inns serve it all week. Venison and trout appear in season on traditional menus. For dessert, Kaiserschmarrn is the one to order: a fluffy shredded pancake dusted with sugar and served with fruit compote. Apple strudel is the other staple, and Lebkuchen, spiced gingerbread, appears at Christmas markets, as does hot spiced wine.
Beer, and how to order it
Bavaria is a beer culture, and the state's purity law dates back to 1516. In an inn, ask for a Helles, the pale, smooth lager that is the everyday choice, or a Weissbier, the cloudy wheat beer served in a tall glass. A Radler mixes beer with lemonade and is popular on hot days. Beer is usually served by the half litre or litre, and the drinking is relaxed rather than rowdy outside festival time. Ettal Abbey brews its own beer, which has been made at the abbey since 1609, and also produces herbal liqueurs, and the abbey offers brewery and distillery tours with tastings on set days. Check the schedule before you plan your day around one. Garmischer Hof is another option, a hotel with its own brewery in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Mountain huts and summit restaurants
Many cable cars end at a restaurant, and these are among the best-located meals you can have. The Zugspitze has restaurants at the top, the Karwendelbahn summit in Mittenwald has a mountain inn with a large terrace, and the Tegelberg also has a place to sit and eat. Prices reflect the setting, so treat them as a view with lunch attached. The food is simple, with soups, sausages, noodles and cake, and the weather decides whether you sit outside.
How a meal works
Sit where you like unless a table is marked reserved; at a busy beer garden you may share a table. Tap water is not automatically served, so ask for it if you want it, and expect to be offered mineral water instead. You usually pay at the table by telling the server the total, not by leaving money on the plate. Tipping is modest: round up or add roughly five to ten percent for good service. Cards are widely accepted in towns, but small inns and huts sometimes prefer cash, so carry some euros. Kitchens in small towns often stop serving hot food earlier than city restaurants do, and in a village an evening meal is best reserved the same day or earlier.
Shops, Sundays and picnics
Supermarkets and most shops are closed on Sundays and public holidays, so buy supplies on Saturday. Bakeries often open for a few hours on Sunday morning. A picnic of bread, cheese, sausage and fruit is an easy way to eat well beside the Alpsee or the Eibsee, and it saves time when your castle tour is tight.
Where to eat by base
In Füssen, the old town has the widest choice, and Hotel Hirsch serves regional, seasonal cooking across several dining rooms. In Schwangau, Hotel Das Rübezahl has a restaurant open to non-guests. In Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the larger hotels have their own restaurants and the village streets have inns. In Oberammergau and Mittenwald, a coffee and cake stop is part of the visit. Wherever you are, ask for the daily special, which usually reflects the season.