Blue Rider, Blue Land - around Murnauer Moos

There are 200 bicycle parking spaces in the immediate vicinity of the station.

If you arrive without a bicycle, you will find it at the bicycle rental "Radlstadl" at Bahnhofstraße 10. At the roundabout in front of the station building, turn into Bahnhofsweg and follow this for about 5 minutes on foot.

Then turn right and immediately left into Bahnhofstraße. You will arrive at the rental shop after about 10 minutes.

Whether city bike, children's bike, e-mountain bike or e-bike: the bike rental Radstadl offers a wide range of bikes to explore the area around Murnau. A day's rental for a city bike costs 12 euros, for example, and you pay 35 euros for an e-bike. Before setting off, please ask for the current availability of the bikes and opening hours.

From Bahnhofstraße, cycle a little way down the Burggraben and turn left towards the old town via Höllgasse and Untermarkt into Schlossbergstraße. You can already see the tower of St. Nicholas Church on the right-hand side. The cycle route in Höllgasse and to St. Nicholas leads over stairs.

The parish church of St. Nicholas, consecrated in 1734, dates from the late Baroque period and is one of the most beautiful places of worship in the Blue Country. The simple exterior barely hints at the imposing rococo interior. The light-flooded nave, surmounted by a mighty dome, highlights the architectural details. This building thus had a decisive influence on the development of Bavarian sacred architecture. St. Nicholas also became famous because it served the expressionist Wassily Kandinsky as a motif for his oil painting "Murnau with Church" in 1910.

Dates for free guided tours are announced on the website.

Cycle southwards back to Untermarkt until you reach a cycle path. This takes you left to the Loisach. There you cycle along a well-paved field path towards Eschenlohe, where views of the Murnauer Moos against a spectacular mountain backdrop are captivating.

After about ten kilometres you reach Eschenlohe. If you want to take a break from cycling here: at the village square, the Luidl bakery offers regional delicacies. Behind the bakery, it is worth taking a look at the late Baroque parish church of St. Clemens with its impressive frescoes.

At the village square, turn into Höllensteinstraße and follow it until you cross the motorway bridge, then turn right again. After about 15 minutes you will reach the feeder road to the Murnauer Moos nature reserve, which will take you directly to Langer-Köchel Lake. Please stay on the main paths and do not enter the nature protected areas of the Murnauer Moos. Further on, the route follows the Bodensee-Königsee cycle path.

Pure idyll in the former open-cast mine: On the western edge of the Murnauer Moos lies the shimmering turquoise Langer-Köchel Lake, where you will find plenty of peace and quiet far away from the often well-travelled Moos circular hiking trail. The lake is not of natural origin, but the open-cast mining remnant of the former Werdenfels hard stone works. In the past, hard stone was mined at Langer Köchel. After mining ended, the lake filled up naturally in a short time. Natural forest grows on the ridge of Langer Köchel. It is hard to imagine that here - in the middle of the Murnauer Moos - blasting was carried out regularly for 70 years.

Between 1930 and 2000, glaucoquartzite was extracted there, which was mostly used as ballast in railway construction. Since the excavators stopped, nature has reclaimed the Langer Köchel, and so you can observe rare animals such as the dwarf dragonfly here alongside adders or corncrakes. The lake is part of the Murnauer Moos nature reserve, so please note that swimming or fishing is not allowed here.

Back on the road, continue to the small village of Grafenaschau, with its Café Habersetzer. After one kilometre, turn right at the bridge into the Murnauer Moos, back to Murnau. As pedestrians have the right of way in this area, please be considerate. At the edge of the path there are always places to rest and look out.

A little further on, the Ramsach Church of St. George, which served as a motif for the painter Gabriele Münter in 1928, greets you on the left. Popularly known as the "Ramsachkircherl" or "Ähndl", it is one of the oldest churches in the region. It is worth a visit for its hand bell alone, which is probably over 1200 years old and was rung by the Iro-Scottish missionaries in Bavaria. Opposite, the "Ähndl" inn invites you to a rustic cycling snack.

More Bavarian idylls are hard to find: on the left the little church "Ähndl" (Ahnin, Ahne) with its onion dome, on the right the rustic inn with the same name, behind it the Murnauer Moos with its mountain panorama. "Ähndl" is a popular destination for hikers and mountain bikers, but also for Murnau gourmets. Owner Thilo Bischoff is one of the top chefs in the Blaues Land and already boasts a Michelin star. On the menu, you will find mainly classics of Bavarian cuisine - such as crusted roast and Kaiserschmarren - to snacks or cakes, in addition to refined own creations. In summer, the beer garden offers fantastic views towards the Alps.

Behind the Ramsachkircherl, continue to the right past the Alpenhof Murnau, then left into Mühlstraße and from there left again into Kottmüllerallee. You will find the Münter-Haus at number 6.

It is considered the birthplace of the Expressionist artists' group "Blauer Reiter": the handsome Münter House at the gates of Murnau's old town. The artist couple Gabriele Münter and Wassily Kandinski spent their summer holidays here at the beginning of the 20th century with painter friends such as Alexej Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin. Soon called the "Russenhaus" by the people of Murnau, it quickly became a meeting place for the avant-garde of the time.

On 21 August 1909, Gabriele Münter bought the house on Kottmüllerallee. The Murnau landscape, the house itself and its garden became important sources of inspiration for Münter and Kandinsky. They often took the view from the window to the church, the castle as well as the mountain range as the motif for their abstract works. Franz Marc, who lived in nearby Sindelsdorf, also visited, as did fellow painter August Macke and composer Arnold Schönberg.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Münter and Kandinsky fled to Switzerland, as Kandinsky, as a Russian, was counted as part of the enemy camp. In November 1914 he returned to Moscow, where he would remain until 1921. Gabriele Münter lived in Sweden and Denmark from 1915 onwards. Münter returned to Germany in 1920. From 1931 until her death, the painter lived in the Murnau house again, from 1936 with her partner, the art historian Johannes Eichner. In the cellar of the house she kept an immense treasure of paintings by the "Blaue Reiter" and its circle. In this way, Münter saved numerous works from their destruction by the National Socialists.

At the artist's request, the Münter House has been open to the public as a place of remembrance since 1998. Even today, parts of the original furnishings, numerous paintings, graphics and reverse paintings on glass, furniture painted by Münter and Kandinsky as well as examples from the popular collection of the two artists can be seen.

You cycle back onto Burgraben and follow the road northwards until it joins Bahnhofstraße. There you can leave your bike again and walk the way to the station via Bahnhofstraße.

If you still have time and fancy a dip in the cool water, you can pay a visit to the Staffelsee, which is only a few minutes away by bike. To do so, cycle towards the station and follow the subway south of the station along Seeblickweg and Bergstraße to the lake. Here you will find a beautiful lido with a snack bar.