Bad Tölz

The Marktstrasse runs steeply down toward the Isar, broad and lined with tall houses whose fronts carry Lüftlmalerei, painted architecture, saints and scenes applied directly to the plaster, several of them from the nineteenth century revival of the craft. The town grew on timber rafting down the Isar to Munich and later on iodine-rich springs found in 1846, which made it a spa. On the last Thursday of October or the first Sunday of November the Leonhardifahrt brings decorated horse-drawn wagons and riders up to the chapel on the Kalvarienberg, one of the largest such processions in Bavaria.

What you actually see

• The painted market street - Lüftlmalerei facades along a broad slope.
• The Leonhardifahrt - a horse and wagon procession up the Kalvarienberg.
• The Kalvarienberg - a chapel and stations climbing above the town.
• The Isar - the river that carried the timber rafts to Munich.

When to go

April to October generally; the Leonhardifahrt falls in early November and fills the town. Winter brings skiing at nearby Brauneck. Spa facilities run year-round.

Honest expectations

The procession is one day a year and extremely crowded. The market street is short. The modern spa quarter is separate from the old town.

Nearby

Tegernsee lies east; the Isar valley runs south.