Turquoise Eibsee Lake, Zugspitze Mountain, Bavaria, Germany

Which way to the top?

Standing astride the Austrian border, the peak called Zugspitze towers almost 3,000 metres over the lake called Eibsee, which reflects it in the foreground of our image. From here, the highest point in Germany may appear impossibly far away. However, head to the Eibsee's southeastern shore and you'll find a cable car with the longest free-spanning section in the world, capable of swooping to the slopes in 7 minutes flat. If dangling in thin air doesn't sound like your thing, a steep rack railway also tunnels up from the nearby town of Grainau.