Travel Diaries
Start your day with a biking tour in the “most bicycle-friendly city in Germany” – Münster
With the semester ticket in Nordrhein Westfalen Region, I can easily get to this cyclists’ paradise by any public transportations that are available.
The city has extremely well-developed facilities for bike lovers where over 450 kilometers network of cycle paths are designed for bicycle traffic. Located at the heart of Münsterland Cycling Region, cycling is the best way to discover the stunning parts of Münster including the flat parkland and old moated castles.
Don’t worry if you do not have a bike. The most convenient way I found is to rent a bike near the bike rental stations where most of them are located within walking distance from Münster central station. Rental cost per bike is ranging from 8 to 12 Euros per day and normally I prefer to reserve the bike online one or two days in advance so that the bike will be ready upon my arrival.
What surprised me most is the cycling wisdom of the Münster citizens as they all looked so relaxing on bikes despite of the extreme weather, bulky baggage on hands and busy traffic around. For my first cycling day trip in Münster, I picked a path for “Newbies” with a more pleasant and easy ride starting from Haus Vögeding and passing through Wasserschloss, Hülshoff, and MünsterRoxel. This 1.5-hour route was a good mix of city scenery, castle and natural landscape. There were also some other choices for skillful cyclists where you can start a round trip from Münster central station and bike along Waldaue with a massive green surrounding and lake, pass through Telgte old city and kanalüberführung (a historical bridge). I would say this 4-hour route is quite challenging but very promising that I was able to discover Münster at different perspectives. I was very lucky to have pleasant weather during my visits. If you are also tempting for a biking trip, the best seasons that I would recommend are between May and July which it is neither too cold nor too warm.
Text by Sui Yee Chung (IMIS Winter Semester 2018/2019)
Discover the highest mountain in Germany – Zugspitze
As I am not a winter sports enthusiast, I did not do any skiing or snowboarding during the last visit. The scenery alone was good enough for us to spend the entire day in Zugspitze. At the Zugspitze-Exhibition, I was presented with the historical developments of Zugspitze in an entertaining way.
On top of this, the highest church in Germany and igloo village were also the highlights of my trip. For the sports lovers that I met during the trip, Zugspitze is undoubtedly a winter sports paradise where it offers ten ski areas and sports lovers can always practice skiing and snowboarding at any level.
After some sightseeing at the peak of Zugspitze, I took the cogwheel train to a crystal green- coloured lake which lies at the base of the Zugspitze with beautiful scenery named Eibsee. There is a cogwheel service connecting Zugspitze and Eibsee regularly, the cogwheel train offers round-trip service with the flexibility to choose the locations for hopping on and off.
Some people prefer to start an early day from Eibsee and then go up to Zugspitze, but we did it the other way round as the experience and scenery with cogwheel train was better from a higher point.
We had a pleasant lunch near Eibsee and did a slight trekking around the Eibsee to enjoy the impressive lake scenery.
The trekking took us around two hours with 7,5 km distance and it is absolutely a comfortable and pleasant walk with a rather flat path after lunch.
As that was just a two-day trip, I chose to reserve accommodation in the Munich downtown for more flexible transportations in the next day. For those who have more relaxing schedules and planning to stay there longer, numerous accommodations are available in the surrounding area of Zugspitze and there are always options for either staying in fancy resorts or budgeted places based on your preference.
Text by Sui Yee Chung (IMIS Winter Semester 2018/2019)