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. Every year on 6 November, the feast of Saint Leonard, the Leonhardifahrt brings decorated horse-drawn wagons and riders up to the chapel on the Kalvarienberg, one of the largest such processions in Bavaria.

History

People have lived at Tölz since the glaciers retreated at the end of the Ice Age, with finds from the Hallstatt culture and Roman Raetia, and the name appears as Tolnze at the end of the 12th century, when Hainricus de Tolnze built a castle to control traffic on the river and road; in 1331 Louis IV made it a market town. In the 14th century it became a crossroads of the salt and timber trade on the Isar, and after a fire destroyed the market street, church and castle in 1453, Duke Albrecht III had the town rebuilt in stone. In 1718 a chapel to Saint Leonard was built on the Calvary hill, the goal of the festival every November 6, and after springs were found in the middle of the 19th century Tölz became a spa, renamed Bad Tölz in 1899 (Wikipedia, Bad Tölz).

What you'll find

• 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 on 6 November and fills the town. Winter brings skiing at nearby Brauneck. Spa facilities run year-round.

What to expect

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.

Key facts