When planning our trip I spoke with a friend about where we were going and she told me about the hike to Drachensee. Her friend who lives in the Munich area said it was her favorite hike in the area so I put it on the list of possibilities, but I didn't actually think we would make it there as I had so many other hikes planned. It was in Austria so I figured if we didn't get to it we would when we did an Austria hiking trip. Plus it was a little bit out of the way, but could be done on our travel day between campsites as then it was just a little bit out of the way.
So on the day we left to go to our next campsite we woke up and it was pretty cloudy. I had the weather for Drachensee and it said in the late morning partly sunny with clouds so we decided let's just go and hopefully if the mountains are covered in clouds it will clear up while we are up there. If not we will have to come back. Either way it should be a nice hike. So we got up and got ready and headed out. Now you can hike from Ehrwald up to the lake or take a cable car most of the way up and then walk from there. If we were staying in the area we might have hiked up, but reading up on the trail it would have added about 3 hours to the hike which we didn't have. Not if we wanted to get to our next campsite before bedtime so we took the cable car up.
And there were lots of clouds
When we got to the top it was super cloudy, couldn't see very much, and so so cold! I literally had every layer I brought with me on and was still cold!
The trail has 2 paths you could take - the rock road or a walk through the forest. We chose the forest path as why not? It was a pretty nice walk, mostly just in the forest, but occasionally had openings where you could see some mountains. Now most of them were clouded over and you couldn't see anything, but some were clear enough.
There is a mountain in there!
This is the first lake you get to, Seebensee. Somewhere up in the clouds is a Hütte to hike to that you cannot see...and Drachensee. The hike to this point was fairly easy and anyone could hike the rocky trail up to here, but the hike to Drachensee everything said is a steep 30 min climb.
The view from the other side of the lake on the way to Drachensee. We took a quick break here before climbing up and we weren't too hopeful that we would be able to see anything from the top. But we were here so why not spy?
Heading up!
By the time we got to the top most of the clouds had burned off and it was gorgeous!!!
Our lunch spot
After lunch and enjoying the views it was time to start heading back down to Seebensee
When we got to the bottom it was so sunny and clear and mindblowing how beautiful it was!! This was all hidden when we started hiking up!!
These last 2 photos go together for a 360 view from Seebensee. It was so incredibly beautiful
We took another break to enjoy the views here as it was amazing. Our favorite spot of the trip, but just barely. We both agreed that the lake makes it just slightly better than the Höllentalklamm hike, but both were just absolutely gorgeous!! And now I really want to plan more hiking in Austria to see what other beautiful places we can hike to!
Heading back to the cable cars and so much nicer out!
You could see all the mountains that were in the clouds in the morning. Oh, it was such a great hike! I was so so glad that the clouds cleared up so we could see everything. Without that it was a nice hike, but nothing special. But man, those views!!
We got to our next campsite on Hopfensee just in time for dinner. It is right on the lake which was pretty nice.
And you could watch the sunset!
As I said before this was our favorite day of the trip just topping the day we hiked Höllentalklamm. Both of those hikes were just so incredibly beautiful! As I said in the beginning we didn't hike up to the top of the cable cars as we didn't have time, and we really didn't. If we would have we wouldn't have gotten to our campsite until at least 9pm, but probably later as we would have had to stop and eat dinner at some point. That would have been not so good because by 9 I was usually pretty tired and shouldn't be driving. So cable cars up and down and hiking around up top was perfect. And a long day already. Fitbit recorded 20 km/12.5 miles.
This is a hike I would definitely recommend. If you take the cable cars up you can walk along the rocky road to Seebensee which is just beautiful. Yes, there is some uphill to hike, but it is not too bad. I personally preferred the views from there compared to Drachensee and it is pretty easy for most people to get to. Oh, this was such a wonderful day!
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