Lermooser

We expected to hear trains pulling out of the station once we’d checked into Lermooser, the Bed & Breakfast housed in Lermoos train station. We didn’t. What we heard instead was other guests chatting, recounting their days biking and hiking and planning their next adventure, with Germany’s highest peak, the Zugspitze, and Tyrol’s Sonnenspitze always in sight.

The building dates from the 1910s and was part of the border crossing Mittenwald railway. It stood empty for years, until hosts Cleo and Johann, a Munich couple, discovered it, fell for it and turned it into Lermooser Hotel + Kiosk.

Lovingly renovated, the protected station now feels like a different kind of hotel in a region of traditional mountain lodges. The rooms are full of light, a cream-coloured tile stove warms the former waiting room, and the old wooden floors are oiled white. Everything here has an easy touch, a stark contrast to the rocky or snow-white peaks all around us. Furniture and floors share the same pale wood, and the bathrooms are tiled in cheerful pastel tones.

Cleo and Johann built the eight rooms and shared spaces for relaxed travelers, and we felt that in every corner. There are 26 beds in total, for solo travelers, couples or groups. The design is minimalist throughout: we found everything we needed, but never too much of anything.

Ice cream colours, tiles and wood, a self-service fridge and the communal kitchen: It feels like staying with friends and their friends in a cosy townhouse, not with people we’ve only just met in a train station. 

The former waiting area of the train station leads to the heart of Lermooser: the well-equipped kitchen, the big tiled stove and cosy benches and tables. The area is open to all guests, so an aperitif on the roofed terrace can easily turn into a dinner invitation from a fellow traveler. We’d happily take it. 

Whoever thinks that train schedules might line the walls, will be disappointed: All the common rooms show works by regional artists. 

Instead of a reception desk, Lermooser has a kiosk. It welcomes overnight guests, train travelers and the people of Lermoos alike, with snacks, drinks, small plates and essentials on the shelves. Breakfast with regional goodies? Really good coffee? Right here. Behind the counter we picked up hiking and ski-touring tips for free, which we’d call the best deal in town.

Lermooser Hotel + Kiosk lies in the heart of Tyrol’s Zugspitzarena, a region made for the great outdoors. The Austrian village is only 30 minutes from Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany, home of the Zugspitze. The peak sits on the border with Austria, and you can reach it by gondola or on foot. If you choose the hike, we strongly recommend two days for the climb from its Austrian side to almost 3000 meters.

But there was plenty more to discover for us: in summer, cycle routes, a nearby bike park with more than 100 trails and the lakes, of course. Eibsee, famous for its green colour, is just a short drive away at the foot of Zugspitze in Grainau in Germany. We jumped into Blindsee, Seebensee and – closer, less crowded and equally beautiful within the alpine landscape.

In winter, Lermoos is well-known as home to cross-country skiing and skiing for every level. And if you’d rather rest your legs, we can’t think of a better place to do it than the garden or the terrace. Either way, it would be a shame not to get off the train at Lermoos station.