People often overlook Germany as a holiday destination, but it is a great country to visit and the people are generally very friendly, there is loads to see and do and just as importantly there is a wide choice of great quality food and drink options available to suit all pockets. We have just had a fabulous week in Bavaria, Southern Germany, based in Garmisch-Partenkirchen around a 90 minute drive from Munich airport.

SATURDAY

With an alarm set for 0400 on Saturday morning, it made for an early start for our Lufthansa flight (LH2513) from Birmingham to Munich. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 0725, so leaving the house by 0500 left us plenty of time to drop the car off at the 'meet and greet' parking in front of the terminal at around 0600 ahead of baggage drop off.

The plan was to meet up in Munich with our friends Tim, Georgie and Thomas as they were flying from Stansted to Munich, collect a hire car and the head south to Garmisch-Partenkirchen on the German/Austria border where we had rented a three bedroom villa for the week.

After finally collecting our car we were off and made our first stop, for lunch, at Walchensee, around 90 minutes drive from Munich Airport. Part of this journey was on one of Germany's famous Autobahns (think of cool Germanic electropop group Kraftwerk) where there is no speed limit, cruising at over 100mph on the A95 the Mercedes, BMW, VW and Audi cars were still storming past leaving us standing still. Lunch overlooking the lake, featuring some Germanic staples, was a nice way to start the week in Bavaria and a whole lot slower paced than the Autobahn.

Our rented villa was located within walking distance of both Garmisch and Partenkirchen (the towns were officially joined in 1935 by Hitler ahead of the 1936 winter olympics) and had plenty of space for us to spread out in. As well as the two parts of the town being within walking distance (with numerous eating opportunities) there was also two supermarkets and a bus stop available if you wanted to save your shoe leather or not bother with the car. As part of staying in Garmisch-Partenkirchen you get a 'GaPa Pass' that allows you to use the local buses and some rail services for nothing during your stay.

The first night coincided with the 'White Nights' festival, so donned in our white clothing, we headed out into Garmisch to enjoy the vibrant festival featuring live Bavarian music's, DJs spinning club tunes and plenty of food and drink options. What a great way to spend the first night in Bavaria and I have to say I quite like my new white trousers . . . . . .

SUNDAY

Being a ski resort Garmisch-Partenkirchen is surrounded, unsurprisingly, by mountains that are criss-crossed with cable cars. On the Sunday we headed out to visit **** Mountain (1,780m/5,389ft) which was reached by travelling on the w***bahn. Views from the top of the mountain overlooking Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Zugspitze, Germany's highest point were fabulous on this gloriously sunny day.

MONDAY

Our Monday was spent reaching the top of the Zugspitze, this involved a 90 minute trip on a cogwheel railway followed by a cable car to the summit. Again stunning views were had from the 2,962m peak which also allowed us to walk across an international border - into Austria - at an altitude of over 9,700ft. The journey back down to the valley was via cable car to the Eibsee, where we broke the journey overlooking the lake, before taking the train back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

TUESDAY

Tuesday marked a change in the weather, gone was the sun and here for the next few days was rain!

On Tuesday we visited the Partnach Gorge, which was walking distance from the Olympic Ski Jump Stadium in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The walk through the gorge was spectacular, with over 700 metres of narrow paths carved through the rock next to the thundering water making its way through the 80 metre deep ravine. Our walk back included a climb up the side of the gorge on a zig-zag path before crossing over a bridge above the water affording a different view of this stunning natural attraction. Given we had walked a fair distance it seemed in order that we partook of an afternoon cake, the owner of the villa suggested we visited Almhutte on the outskirts of town to experience the best cream puffs available, they were not only very good, but also massive. Needless to say none of us actually finished our calorie laden afternoon treat.

WEDNESDAY

Undeterred by the weather on the Wednesday morning we drove into Austria to the town on Reutte to traverse the Highline 179 bridge. This is the longest 'Tibeten style' bridge in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records suspended over 100 metres above the valley over a distance of 405 metres. It also has a mesh floor so you can see straight down for the whole crossing - if you are scared of heights then don't look down. By the time we had reached Oberammergau in Germany in the afternoon, the rain was starting to get the better of us. After a visit to the Kathe Wolfhart Christmas shop and a quick walk around there was some time for coffee and a cake before heading back. We did not have time or the inclination to find out more about the Passion Plays that the town is famous for.

THURSDAY

Opening the curtains on Thursday and still the rain poured, but we had booked in advance to visit the famous castles of King Ludwig II, so were off to see these regardless of the weather.

At least some of the day would be spent indoors as we visited the interior of the castles at Hohenschwangau and Neuschswanstein. The castles are in a spectacular setting and rumour has it that Walt Disney based actually based his fairytale castle on Neuschswanstein and I can see the similarity. The sun did make a brief appearance in the afternoon at just the right time to get a nice photograph from Neuschwanstein back to Hohenschwangau, but that was about it for getting anything close to a picture postcard view.

Once back at the villa it was time to dry off before heading out to Sausalitos, a German chain of Mexican Cantinas - there is only so much beer and pork products one can take, so it was cocktails, chicken fajitas and burritos on the menu. Big cocktails at happy hour prices and big portions of food were in order - it was nice to stagger back to the villa afterwards although not necessarily in a straight line.

FRIDAY

By the time Friday had arrived the weather was a little brighter so a fairly steady day was had in both Garmisch itself and Partenkirchen before packing our bags ready for departure on the Saturday morning. Garmisch is much more commercial than Partenkirchen with most of the retail opportunities being in the former so it was nice to wander around the clothing shops (so many brands of great walking gear available) before hiding from a passing rain shower for what should have been a light lunch at an Italian restaurant. The food was far from light, but a few German beers certainly washed it down nicely

We had made a reservation for our final evening on holiday at Zum-Wildschutz, which was highly rated on Trip Advisor, and would be serving traditional Bavarian fare with some live music too. The food was nice, but very rich, very solid and certainly a menu that was heavily laden with pork and potato products (albeit they had run out of a number of choices that we tried to order, so they will not be getting a five from me). This was traditional Germanic style food served in a nice atmospheric restaurant that was a pleasant way to end our time in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

SATURDAY

With the sun shining it was time to leave our rented villa by 1000, but we had plenty of time until our flight back to Birmingham from Munich at 2135 and Tim, George and Thomas were staying in Munich for the evening before heading back to the UK on Sunday. We had one last mountain to visit before heading back north, this time we took the Alpspitzbahn to 2,033m to see the Alpspix viewing platforms that see you walk out over a 1,000m precipice. We all agreed that this was our least favorite of the three mountains we had visited, the viewing platforms were good, but a 1,000 metre drop does not look too different to the 100 metre drop from the Highline 179 especially as there is little to give perspective. It was interesting to see the paragliders setting off from next to the cable car station, but maybe that way down the mountain can be experienced on a future visit?

We headed north for a late lunch overlooking the Starnberger See, which was about 30 minutes from Munich before dropping Tim, George and Thomas in the centre of Munich at their hotel. It did look to be a little bit 'sketchy' but they survived the night in the Hotel Das Prasident close to the Hauptbahnhof.

With still a few hours to kill before dropping the hire car off we decided to visit the town of Freising, about 10km from Munich Airport, and what a great little find this was. There was a fabulous Altstadt Festival in full swing when we got there with rousing Bavarian music - punctuated by reminders to drink, drink, drink - food stands, beer sellers, activities for the whole family and lots of convivial seating filling the streets. It was wonderful. The town also had a very impressive cathedral (or Dom) situated on the hill overlooking the old town area. Although we are not religious, the scale of the building and intricate interior was awe inspiring and not what was expected when viewed from the outside. After all that excitement it was time for some ice-cream to cool down and soak up the atmosphere in the town. It would be tempting to visit Freising again in the future and maybe consider it rather than heading into Munich itself.

So there the week in Bavaria comes to an end, it was soon time to head to the airport and head back to Birmingham with Lufthansa on flight LH2513 departing at 2135. What a great week it has been and Garmisch-Partenkirchen firmly stays on our 'return to' list.