Another beautiful place to paddle in Bavaria is Lake Starnberg.
From all the Bavarian Lakes, this one is closest to Munich (25km south-west) and also dubbed “Munich’s bathtub”. While you want to avoid it on really hot summer days, at this time of the year it is still a peaceful beauty. The conditions can range from flat and calm days where you can easily do a lake crossing to choppy days with windswell where even paddling along the shoreline is very exhausting.
On clear days you have a spectacular view of the mountains in the South and the sunsets are also amazing.
After Lustheim and Nyphenburg Palace (his birthplace), this is part 3 of our Ludwig II, King of Bavaria paddles. He was sometimes also called “Mad King Ludwig” was born in 1864: Palace Nymphenburg. Ludwig is best known as an eccentric whose legacy is intertwined with the history of art and architecture. He commissioned the construction of several extravagant fantasy castles and palaces, the most famous being Neuschwanstein.
Ludwig’s death was officially ruled a suicide by drowning, but this has been questioned. Ludwig was known to be a strong swimmer in his youth, the water was less than waist-deep where his body was found, and the official autopsy report indicated that no water was found in his lungs. Ludwig had expressed suicidal feelings during the crisis, but the suicide theory does not fully explain the death of his companion Gudden.
Aside from the dead king, some more celebrities often frequent the lake: Gemany’s National Team Manager Oliver Bierhoff and re-activated Arsenal Goalkeeper Jens Lehman live right by the Lake and often cross it by SUP.
Ein günstig gelegener Einstiegspunkt mit Parkplatz, der sich von der Autobahn sehr gut erreichen lässt, befindet sich hier:
