A special second birthday in the mountains

We celebrated the girls’ second birthday weekend by hiking up to and staying at Brunnsteinhütte in the Karwendel region. I recommend this if you do not feel like cakes, presents and all the birthday preparations – but instead simply enjoying nature, family time and the simplicity of a DAV-hut.

A quick drive from Munich (a little over an hour) we hiked up to Brunnsteinhütte and were treated with a beautiful view, plenty of opportunities to play for the kids and really good food.
This donkey, some mountain goats and a dog live on the Alm.
Kaiserschmarren instead of cake

Brunnsteinhütte – a sustainable and family-friendly destination

Where to find it?

When researching new destinations that are realistic for us with the twins (remember, we each carry one child), I stick to the great DAV guide. DAV is short for Deutscher Alpenverein, the German Alpine Club. Each year it publishes a family-friendly hut booklet.

How to book Brunnsteinhütte?

While many huts can be booked conveniently via DAV, Brunnsteinhütte still runs the old-fashioned way: Email. As soon as it become clear that the harsh lockdown rules would be lifted I emailed the hut managers family Gallenberger and reserved their family room for up to 8 people. To confirm the reservation I wire-transfered a reservation fee of 12Euros per person to their account.

The hike up – a challenging, but beautiful hike

Very conveniently, the hut offers a parking lot close to the cable car for materials (where we dropped off all the sleeping bags and sheets we had to bring due to the new Corona hygiene rules). From there the path leads constantly up. The ground changes alters nicely between stones, larger rocks and forest ground with some roots exposed. I would assume it is not too pleasant to come here after its has rained. It took us about 2hours with breaks to walk up.

On the way back we walked across the suspension bridge. Here are some impressions from the hike:

My friend Dani came with us
The Cable Car for goods and bags
the suspension bridge

Brunnsteinhütte offers great food and embraces sustainability

The Gallenbergers have been managing the hut for more then 20years, their kids grew up here. They offer hearty, Alpine food. The portions are enough to share, or, if you just came across another mountain pass they will definitely recharge you.

The toilets are natural composting toilets, meaning there is no running water, but a really big hole. There is only cold water in the washrooms and one has to take trash home again. Can you imagine what a pleasure it was to carry a bag of about 20 poop diapers home 😉