Tegernsee. Met at Munich, round the city by the right road, and at the lake in an hour or so.
Bavaria's best known wellness valley is about fifty kilometres south of Munich. From the airport the car goes round the city rather than through it, and we build the margin into the departure time so that you arrive calm.
- 20+years in private travel
- Ownedchauffeur fleet in London and Manchester, a trusted global network beyond
- 24/7operations desk, one contact
- 3services on one itinerary: car, jet and yacht
In partnership with Harrods Aviation · Signature Aviation · SW Global
The geography
One lake, five villages and a ring of hills
The Tegernsee is a small alpine lake about fifty kilometres south east of Munich, roughly six and a half kilometres long and a kilometre or so across. Five places share its shore: Gmund at the northern end where the road arrives, Tegernsee on the eastern side, Rottach-Egern at the southern tip, Bad Wiessee on the western shore, and Kreuth beyond it towards the Austrian border. They are all within ten or fifteen minutes of one another, but the lake sits in between, so the wrong shore is a real detour rather than a short hop.
Above the northern end of the lake, at Marienstein in the parish of Waakirchen, is Lanserhof Tegernsee, at Gut Steinberg 1 to 4. It is named because it is the address most often handed to a driver here, and for no other reason. It is a few minutes from Gmund and a little further from the villages on the water, which surprises people who have booked a hotel on the lake for the night before.
The valley is prosperous, quiet and much visited by people from Munich at weekends. In summer and on fine winter Sundays the lake road fills up, and the single approach through Gmund is where it shows.
The essentials
What the transfer really involves
- AirportMunich (MUC)The field that makes sense for scheduled arrivals and for most private ones, with full handling and long hours. See Munich Airport.
- By road from Munich AirportAbout 90 kmRoughly 1 hour to 1 hour 20, because the airport is north east of the city and the lake is due south of it. The ring road decides the figure.
- From Munich itselfAbout 50 kmThe A8 towards Salzburg, out at the Holzkirchen exit, then the B318 and B307 down to Gmund. About an hour in normal conditions.
- A closer private fieldOberpfaffenhofenMunich's business aviation airport, about 22 km west of the city, with a single runway of roughly 2,286 metres and no scheduled flights. Worth asking about, subject to the aircraft and the permissions.
Ranges for planning, checked in September 2026. German motorways are quick when they are moving and immovable when they are not. We build the margin into the departure time.
Into the valley
Munich Airport to the Tegernsee addresses
| Destination | Quiet roads | Busy periods |
|---|---|---|
| Holzkirchen, where you leave the A8 | 50 to 65 minutes | 70 to 100 minutes |
| Gmund am Tegernsee | 60 to 75 minutes | 85 to 115 minutes |
| Waakirchen and Marienstein | 60 to 80 minutes | 85 to 115 minutes |
| Tegernsee | 70 to 85 minutes | 95 to 125 minutes |
| Bad Wiessee | 70 to 90 minutes | 95 to 130 minutes |
| Rottach-Egern and Kreuth | 75 to 95 minutes | 100 to 135 minutes |
Realistic ranges rather than promises. Two things move them: the Munich ring at the morning and evening peaks, and the A8 towards Salzburg on winter Friday afternoons, when the whole of Munich appears to be going skiing at once.
The drive itself
Round the city, then down to the water
From Munich Airport the car goes round the eastern side of the city and joins the A8 towards Salzburg, which is the busiest stretch of motorway in Bavaria and the reason the range on this page is as wide as it is. At Holzkirchen you leave it, and the character changes immediately: the B318 runs through farmland towards Gmund, the hills appear, and the last fifteen minutes are a proper country road.
Two dates are worth planning around. The last week of September and the first of October are Munich's festival fortnight, when the city's hotels are full, the ring road is slower than usual and cars are hard to come by at short notice. In the ski season the Friday afternoon exodus southbound on the A8 can add half an hour to an otherwise simple run. Neither is a problem if we know early; both are a problem if we find out on the day.
For a longer stay, most people settle on a car held locally rather than journeys booked one at a time. The valley is small, the distances are short, and having a driver who already knows whether you are on the Bad Wiessee side or the Rottach side saves a conversation every morning.
Planning it properly
What the desk will ask you
Nothing clinical, and we do not ask why. These are the answers that decide when a car leaves and what kind of car it is.
- The exact address. The lake has five villages and two shores, and the difference between them is twenty minutes, not two
- Whether the car should meet the aircraft. Where the terminal permits it, that is arranged through the handling agent at Munich
- Whether you are arriving before or after the Munich peak. An hour either way changes the drive more than the route does
- Who else is travelling and when. Companions arriving separately are entirely ordinary and easily forgotten in the planning
- Luggage, honestly counted. A fortnight in the mountains produces more of it than a week in a city, and it decides whether a saloon or an estate sized cabin is sent
How it is put together
One itinerary, front door to the valley
- 01
The outline
Dates, the address in the valley, how many are travelling and what luggage there is. Nothing about the reason, and we will not ask.
- 02
The plan
The car from your door to the London terminal, the aircraft, the Munich handling and the transfer south, written down in one place.
- 03
While you are there
One number for changes. A car for an afternoon, a relative to collect from Munich, a departure moved by three days.
- 04
Coming home
Planned before you go and altered as often as it needs to be, with the car in London told each time.
Our part in the trip
We look after the travel, door to door
We arrange the aircraft, and the cars in Germany through operators we know, with one contact holding the whole itinerary from your front door to the lake. We are a travel company rather than a medical one, so we bring no medical staff or equipment, give no care or advice, and neither work with nor recommend any clinic or resort named here.
Around the trip
Related pages
Airports
Getting there
Nearby and related
Request a quote
Tell us the address and the dates
Where in the valley you are going, the dates, how many of you and how much luggage there is. We reply with aircraft options, the field we would use and why, and an honest transfer time round Munich. You need tell us nothing about the reason. Nothing is booked or charged online.
Prefer to talk? +44 2030 048300 or WhatsApp, at any hour.
Questions people ask
About travel to the Tegernsee
Do you work with any clinic or resort here?
No. We have no relationship, commercial or otherwise, with any clinic, hospital, hotel or resort in the valley, and we recommend none. Places are named as destinations for a car.
Is any of this a medical service?
No. We arrange the aircraft and the cars and look after the itinerary. We bring no medical staff or equipment and give no care, advice or supervision of any clinical kind.
Why is it slower from the airport than from Munich?
Because Munich Airport is north east of the city and the lake is south of it, so the car goes round rather than through. From the city centre it is about an hour; from the airport it is an hour to an hour and twenty, and the ring road decides which.
Can we land closer?
Possibly. Oberpfaffenhofen, west of Munich, is a business aviation field with a runway of roughly 2,286 metres and no scheduled traffic. Whether it helps depends on the aircraft, the permissions and where in the valley you are going, and we check all three before offering it.
Are the cars in Germany yours?
Our own cars and chauffeurs are in London and Manchester, and a trusted global network covers everywhere else. German transfers come through operators we know, and one contact at Odyssey holds the whole itinerary.
One contact, wherever you are