If you’re on this site, you hopefully want to do some walking and there are times when outside of a car, there is no way to get to a brewery unless you walk or bike there. Sometimes, it could involve just following the road and if there’s no bus, the road is likely be fairly empty. Often, there is a parallel bike path just off the road and obviously, it’s best to walk on that if one is provided. That said, unless it’s dark, walking on a road is easy enough and relatively safe. Drivers are courteous but common sense says to keep an eye out for vehicles coming your way. Biking, while outside the scope of my website, is another great option and there are ample bike paths connecting villages, too.
Unless you are really set on a particular brewery, it’s better to tackle ones that are on actual hiking trails as there are plenty of them. The trails themselves are generally fairly well-marked but some basic hiking navigation skills are always helpful. The most popular trails like the Fünf Seidla Steig and Aufsess trails are the best marked. You’re not likely to be alone on the trail so if all else fails, follow your fellow walkers. In less busy areas, the hardest part is finding the trail. Once you are on it, they are easy enough to follow. Good hiking maps are available and a GPS takes some of the worries away if you’re new to an area. When unsure, ask the people at the brewery. They should be able to get you on the trail, especially if it’s a popular area with hikers.
Try not to bite off more than you can chew or maybe in this case, drink. If there are a lot of breweries on your route, you have to factor time spent in them into your walking time. I find 25 km and 5 breweries is about all a good hiker/drinker can comfortably do and if I’m doing something like that, I make sure to have a room on top or very close to my last brewery. Probably a more realistic walk is 15 km and 3 breweries. If you’re unsure what kind of hike to do, check out my list of beer hiking trails. I have trail lengths and breweries en route for each one. These are marked trails with varying ease of access. If you haven’t done anything like this before the Fünf Seidla Steig ® is the easiest one to organize.
(Fünf-Seidla-Steig® is a registered trademark of the breweries Elchbräu, Brauerei Hofmann, Lindenbräu, Brauerei Friedmann and Klosterbrauerei Weißenohe)
In general, start early. Use public transportation early, too. Go as deep into the area via bus/train as you can and walk back towards your best transportation hub. To me, if you’re going all that way to check out something truly off the beaten path, why not spend the night? Either way, be sure to have your transportation back to your starting point sorted out. Know alternative buses back and definitely know your last bus back along with possible places to stay if you get stuck.
If you need some help planning or want someone with experience to take care of the logistics and show you some of Bavaria’s finest scenery, beer and food.
