Leutascher Geisterklamm

Soooo much fun! Take in some stunning sights while getting some exercise.

As a lover of anything mountain and everything hike, checking out one of the gorges in the area was top on my list in our recent trip to the area. We ended up opting for Leutascher, and it did not disappoint.

Figuring out where to park to gain access was our only issue. But once I found the right article we found a spot and headed towards the gorge. It's a lovely and peaceful walk from street parking in Mittenwald to the entrance. We paid the 2 euros each to take the short, lower level walk just over the stunning blue waters to check out the falls first. It's a very easy, narrow, out and back...a must-do for sure. We then chose to take the Gobblin Trail loop up high and over the bridge, returning through the beautiful forest and back around to the entrance. The route is fairly steep, maybe not for everyone, but the views down and through the gorge linking Austria and Germany are definitely worth the trip.

Highly recommend!

This natural gem sits in the Limestone Alps which border Austria and Germany near a small town in Mittenwald, Germany, where the winding gorge of baby blue water cuts between the mountains and valley. Breathtaking!! Awesome and exhilarating!! Definitely a must do activity if you're ever in Bavaria / Austria!!

We started our nature trek on the Mittenwald, Germany side and paid 6 Euro to park. The trails are all marked (red, blue and green). We opted to do the entire loop of red and cut through the green to traverse the panoramic bridge. The walk starts of in the woods and then the "trail" becomes a STEEL WALKWAY that is attached to the side of the mountain. IF YOU ARE AFRAID OF HEIGHTS - STOP AND TURN AROUND - it doesn't get better! It literally is close to 1000 meters of "see through" steel that you're walking on and if you look down at your feet you will realize that you are pretty high up.

If walking on a steel, see through walkway doesn't scare you - you can then traverse a panoramic bridge. All the photos on here do not even touch how beautiful this place is!! Seriously one of the best kept secrets and well maintained trails I have ever been on!

So to note: the RED trail is the Mountain Spirit Gorge Trail and is much longer than the blue. I enjoyed this route because it takes you to a little mountain cafe on the Austrian side where you can grab a bite, rest and enjoy the beautiful Austrian landscape. This hike is for anyone of any age really. We saw young and old all throughout the trail. Most parts of the trail could be tricky if you're not wearing grippy shoes since it's loose gravel-like and going downhill could be a challenge. Tons of people using trekking poles.

There are two ways to get here - Austrian side or German side. You can view the WASSERFALLSTEIG which is an easy walk of 200m through a wooden walkway that anchors into the mountain but not high up at all. It gets cold and you will get a little wet with the mist from the falls and drips from the mountain. This portion of the trail is super easy and short with amazing views of the water and waterfall. You can stop here or go on further and follow the red trail to the LEUTASCHKLAMM. Hard to tell how long it would take a person to do the entire loop trail since it is inevitable that you will want to stop many times to gawk at the wonders of nature.

Absolutely excellent break from all the typical touristy things in Germany and Austria!! Highly recommended!

I came because of a Pinterest photo. I left amazed and petrified.

If you are afraid of heights: don't go. Seriously. From the Austria side to the waterfall is more than a 1 hour walk across an open metal grid that is somehow attached to the side of the gorge. At times are you are more than 100 meters above the water. Terrifying!! There are two bridges as well. Once you get to the waterfall area the walkway is entirely wooden but then you just have two thick metal wires for a railing. If I had to do over I would just park at the German side, walk for 15 minutes and see the waterfall (€3/person). You can get pretty close to the waterfall so make sure you have rain proof gear. And mittens or gloves if you plan on using the railing to cling for dear life. Wet metal gets old after awhile.

If you aren't afraid of heights: do whatever you want

Bathrooms aren't that great (on the Austrian side). Bathrooms are on the back of the café, no heat, no hooks for belongings and no soap!! Bring your hand sanitizer!

Parking is €5 euros on the Austrian side of the gorge. Coins only.

This place is simply a must see! It's a canyon with aqua waters rushing through it. It's simply beautiful. With that said, I'm glad you're reading this because it will allow you to plan your trip better than I did. The Leutascher Geisterklamm (LG) can be accessed from either Germany in the east or Austria in the west. Like 90% of it is in Austria and you can walk from one end (country) to the other. However, both countries will give you a very different experience. We parked on the Austrian side for €5 and walked the length of it and back, a distance of 3.9 miles (6.3km). It took 2 hours and 45 minutes, which was unfortunately about 2 hours 15 minutes longer than we thought it would take to see this. Starting from the Austrian side, you walk about 15 minutes before the trail starts to go downhill. A few minutes later you will reach the canyon edge where you'll walk on a metal walkway bolted to the cliff face for most of the length of the canyon. You can see the water rushing about 100 meters below you, and it's beautiful. However you can see through the metal walkway so it may not be the place to go if you are afraid of heights. Eventually, after the second bridge, the path goes up into the woods before descending to the canyon floor on the German side.

At this point, on the German side, you get a completely different experience of the gorge. For €3, you can walk just a few feet above the rushing waters deep down in the canyon. You may have seen this on Pinterest. It's cool being so deep in the canyon and seeing the water up close- it's beautiful! The path going into the gorge from this side is much shorter and finishes with a waterfall. You can then hike back to the top of the canyon and back to your car in Austria. You can either go back the way you came or take a shorter, more direct path that does not allow you views of the gorge; we took the latter.

Here's the thing though. You could make the case this is better than the Austrian side. Personally, I think neither is better than the other. With that said, the Austrian side is more equipped for tourists with the parking lot and stuff, the German side is MUCH easier to get to, especially from where you leave your car. The problem with the German side is there's no parking to speak of, just a few cars pulled over on the side of the road. Also the road it's on is so small it's easy to overlook. Driving over from the Austrian side, there's one sign for it, but it's easy to miss.

So that's the thing. Decide how much time and energy you want to spend seeing this the decide to a) see the Austrian side, b) see the German side or c) spend half the day seeing both sides. No matter what you do though, it'll be worth it.

You can access the Leutascher Geisterklamm from either Mittenwald Germany or Leutasch Austria. On our trip we started from the Mittenwald end which can be accessed from the center of town. Just follow the yellow or white signs that say Leutascher.
At the Mittenwald start is a cool beer garden that also sells tickets to the deepest part of the gorge for about 2.50 euro a person. This is a small walk back to a beautiful waterfall completely within the gorge. This is a cool sidetrip, and worth the small price to see.
To hike the actual gorge trail is free of charge, and cuts off to the right directly before the beer garden. After following a few switch backs up the hillside you hit and elaborate maze of elevated walking paths. You can follow these paths all the way into Austria, or just explore the others that lead within the gorge.
Its a cool trip for kids as they have some neat signs set up as fairy tails to talk about the gorge although the switchbacks can be a bit challenging for kids getting up.
Overall this was one of my favorite parts of Bavaria, and a must do while in Mittenwald or Leutasch.