Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one and make a purchase, I might make a little extra spending money, at no extra cost to you. As always, all opinions are my own and these products/services have been found useful during our travels and come highly recommended to you from yours truly!
Come warmer weather, fields of flowers and endless sunshine, the cows of the Alpine region frolic around the lush Alpine pastures, grazing to their heart’s content. The cows meander comfortably in the high altitudes with plenty of fresh air, nutritious grass and crisp evenings. Cows are not the only ones to be spoiled by the endless beauty of the Alps but also calves and goats! All over the region, thousands of cows from Germany, Austria and Switzerland spend their summers at the Alm.
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Why Did I Want to Go?
Because they’re just so strinkin’ cute and it’s one of the best fall festivals in Germany! Literally! Even though I have lived in Germany for several years, when I think German or Bavarian, I picture pretty Alpine cows with big bells frolicking through the pastures and folk wearing their traditional Lederhosen backed by massive mountainous peaks with Alp huts scattered along the terrain. I have wanted to find a traditional hut hotel and wake up every morning with cows pleasantly nibbling away and a glorious sunrise. While I have not yet found that, I found an adorable tradition of decorating the cows and I knew I had to go! Plus, it’s one of the best things to do in Germany in autumn and one of the most unique traditions in Europe! Plus, Königssee’s Almabtrieb is one of the easiest day trips from Munich while the lake itself, as one of the most beautiful lakes in the country is one of the top places to visit in Germany!
Where Can You Find an Almabtrieb?
This tradition of driving cows, goats or sheep from the mountain pasture is an annual event throughout the autumn season which can be found throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Once the herders have brought the cows back down the mountain, they parade them through the villages at the foot of the mountains. An Almabtrieb is also know as Alpabzug, Apabfahrt in Switzerland or Désalpes in the French speaking region of Switzerland.
History of the Tradition
In the Spring
In spring, the cows are lead up into the mountains for a long summer of grazing ahead of them, known as an Alpaufzug or Alpfahrt which is as equally celebrated in Switerzland as the Almabtrieb, the return of the cows. However, in Austria and Germany it is not celebrated and there seems to be very little pomp and pizzazz as compared to the returning of the cows.
In the Summer
Throughout the Alps during summer, cow herds pleasantly feed on alpine pastures high in the mountains. Herders spend the whole summer watching over the cows, seeing to the cows’ every need in the hopes of returning the cows back to their owners in the autumn, in good health. It may sound easy watching over a bunch of cows, but herders often lead lonely lives beyond making cheese and butter. Starting from August until early October, the cows and goats make their way down the Alps. At any one time, there are about 500,000 cows in Austria, 380,000 in Switzerland and 50,000 in Germany. That’s a lot of mooooooing and a whole lotta jing-a-ling-a-lingin’!
In the Autumn
Towards the beginning of September and October, herders bring the cows back down the mountain to their stables in the valley. If there were no accidents on the Alm/Alp during the summer, many regions will elaborately decorate the cows and celebrate with traditional music and dance in the surrounding towns and villages. Once they have arrived back in town, each cow is returned to their owners.
If all goes well, the leading cow, ‘Kranzkuh’, is decorated with an elaborate headdress while the other cows follow behind, in what is known as a cow train with a traditional crown called a “Fuikl”. No cow is left without its bit of schmuck. Not only are the cows decorated with their pretty fancy crowns, but they are still wearing their very loud and lovey cow bells, which jingles and dingles with every step they take. I mean, where else in the world can you find cows dressed up like royalty?!
The colorful crowns are handmade by the farmers themselves, weaving them from spruce and fir branches and decorate them with colorful wood shavings. Each crown takes around 60 hours to make and required nimble fingers to achieve this meticulous work!
The celebration of crowning the cows is a tradition, like Erntedankfest, a “Thanksgiving celebration by the towns people giving thanks to God for yet another successful summer season and healthy livestock.
However, not all cow festivals are created equal. While you can find an Almabtrieb in practically any village near the Alps, some might not make a flashy show of it and simply walk their cows home. Others, like in Königssee are a bit more lavish and are quite the tourist attraction these days with a few festival booths set up offering food and of course, beer.
As the event is quite traditional, herders and locals alike will wear their traditional Tracht – Lederhosen and Dirndl that makes this an extra special, traditional event for the region.
We decided that we were interested in going to Königssee, near Berchtesgaden to watch a very different sort of Almabtrieb. Where normally the cows are walked down from the Alps, these cows were given a little extra special attention as the only way to bring the cows back to their owners from the lush pastures of the Berchtesgaden National Park was via boat across the Königssee. It’s not often you see cows charted across a lake via boat, making for one of the best Almabtrieb in the Alpine region.
This has been the only way to bring the cows home for the last 100 years via electric boats. The event was celebrated with a bit of traditional Bavarian folk music. Each cow is loaded off of the boat and allowed to meander around the designated docking station before they are individually crowned.
If you’re wondering what time the Königssee Almabtrieb begins, the first batch of cows arrived around 10am before being decorated around 11. The second batch of cows arrived close to 11:30 before all cows were finally herded through town.
**TIP**: I recommend getting there early enough to grab a front row seat, otherwise you will be 10 people deep and won’t see much!
Below are some websites I found information about the many different Almabtrieb throughout the Bavarian region, although these dates are prone to being cancelled or moved depending on the weather.
Almabtrieb Dates for 2021 in Bavaria, Austria and Italy
(Note: Many events have been cancelled for 2021 because of the on-going world crisis)
If you’re not sure where to look, look for any village that sits near the bottom of the Alps as they are sure to have an Almabtrieb festival every autumn, but be warned that not all festivals are equal. Not all festivals decorate their cows so you need to look for “geschmückt” or “nicht geschmückt” to know if the cows are decorated or not.
Where to stay near Königssee:
Our hotel, Hotel Grünberger ⭐⭐⭐ was only a 10 minute drive away, in Berchtesgaden, which gave us plenty of time to explore the area and get to town early enough to get a good spot for taking photos, and had some amazing view of its own from our balcony!
If you’re interested in visiting Germany and are looking for more information, I highly recommend using the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide! Without these guides, I would be lost! This is my travel Bible!
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Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one and make a purchase, I might make a little extra spending money, at no extra cost to you. As always, all opinions are my own and these products/services have been found useful during our travels and come highly recommended to you from yours truly!
More from this weekend adventure:
Bavaria’s Loveliest Lake: Königssee
A Cable Car Ride Up To The Jenner
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In Switzerland they have similar tradition, but they called it Alpabzug or Alpabfahrt. I’m sorry I’ve missed this year’s event here in Switzerland, but there is always a next year. 🙂
#MondayEscapes
I have never seen this cow tradition before and what an amazing experience to be able to see it first hand. Thanks for linking up with #MondayEscapes
Smashing! ❤️
Bavaria is so beautiful, isn’t it? I have relatives there and I visit this lovely part of Germany once in a while, but I didn’t know about this tradition. It’s lovely and so are your pictures that perfectly catch the atmosphere. Thanks for joining #TheWeeklyPostcard.
Oh thank you! I hope you get to see this tradition one day! It’s very entertaining! 🙂
I saw a comment one time from a cattle rancher in the US that basically said “How in the world do you get the cows to wear these? I can’t get mine to cooperate at all!” I thought it was pretty funny – they must have some docile animals. 🙂 #TheWeeklyPostcard
Hehe that is funny! American cows are quite stubborn but at least we know “Happy cows come from California” 🙂
I really love Bavaria, and have spent quite a bit of time their, mostly as I was growing up. Thanks for the fond memories.
So glad I could take you back down memory lane! 🙂
I didn’t know about Almabtrieb. It would be very interesting to see. #TheWeeklyPostcard
This is a really quaint and lovely story. I’ll share it on my Facebook page also. #theweeklypostcard
Oooh how lovely of you! That’s sweet! So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Oh man, now I want to go here in October too, to see this! I used to raise sheep and goats, and am trying to move so I can raise cows but this… This I need to see also! What a magical travel life you have. I seriously didn’t know any of these charming places existed until I found your blog. And then stalked you on Instagram. But you have given me so many wonderful ideas and dreams. Thank you!
Kate
AKA Auntie Cake from Instagram
Haha oops sorry not sorry to add to your already long bucket list!