Andechs Abbey
Benedictine priory on the 'Holy Mountain' above the Ammersee, Bavaria's second-largest pilgrimage site, with a Rococo pilgrimage church and a renowned monastery brewery.
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Around the lake
The Holy Mountain of Andechs, the Ammersee, Tutzing and the Ilkahöhe, the Bismarck Tower above the east shore and Bernried with its park and museum.
Starnberg sits at the northern tip of the lake; the most rewarding excursions lie along its shores and on the hills between Lake Starnberg and the Ammersee.
Lake Ammer (Ammersee)
Neighbouring lake about 15 km west of Starnberg (46.6 km², max. depth 81 m), with Herrsching and Dießen at its ends and passenger boats since 1879.
Tutzing
Lakeside village on the west shore, with its castle (home of the Evangelische Akademie), a lake promenade and a railway junction since 1865.
Ilka Heights (Ilkahöhe)
Moraine hill (726 m) above Oberzeismering south of Tutzing, considered the best viewpoint over the lake and the Alps, with the small church of St. Nikolaus and an inn.
Bismarck Tower Assenhausen
About 30 m tower designed by Theodor Fischer and inaugurated on 1 July 1899, with a colonnade and park above the east shore; only the lower part is accessible, free of charge.
Bernried
Former monastery village on the west shore, with the Bernrieder Park of 1855 and the Buchheim Museum.
Around the lake on the map
Map: OpenFreeMap · © OpenStreetMap contributors. Bernried is shown by the Buchheim Museum; Tutzing has no verified map position yet.
Andechs Abbey
Above the Ammersee, the “Holy Mountain” of Andechs is, after Altötting, the second-largest place of pilgrimage in Bavaria; the name dates from the 1420s. Duke Albrecht III turned the house of canons into a Benedictine monastery on 17 March 1455. The late-Gothic church (1423–1427) was redecorated in the Rococo style by Johann Baptist Zimmermann between 1751 and 1755. The composer Carl Orff (died 1982) is buried, at his own wish, in the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Since 1850, when King Ludwig I gave it to the abbey, Andechs has been a priory of St. Boniface’s Abbey in Munich. Its brewery, run without any group investment, brews more than 100,000 hectolitres a year in ten varieties — to taste at the Andechser Bräustüberl.
Lake Ammer (Ammersee)
Lake Starnberg’s western neighbour lies about 15 km from Starnberg: 46.6 km², up to 81 m deep, with Herrsching and Dießen at its ends and passenger boats since 1879. The painter Edward Cucuel lived on its shore, at Holzhausen, from 1914. Near the lake, at Fischen, is the Copper Museum Fischen.
Tutzing
Tutzing, in the district of Starnberg, lies on the west shore of the lake. Johannes Brahms spent the summer of 1873 composing here, and the Brahms Pavilion bears his name. In 1949 the Protestant Church bought the castle and two thirds of its grounds; the Evangelische Akademie Tutzing, which grew out of the meetings held there, is known far beyond the region.
The railway reached Tutzing on 1 July 1865; the station is a junction where the Kochelsee line branches off, served by the S-Bahn and regional trains. In the village: the castle park, the Vetterlhaus (17th century, the oldest building), St. Joseph’s church and the Tutzing Local Museum.
Ilka Heights (Ilkahöhe)
South of Tutzing, the Ilkahöhe (726 m), a moraine hill above Oberzeismering, is considered the finest viewpoint over the lake and the Alps. Next to the small church of St. Nikolaus stands an inn, the Forsthaus Ilkahöhe.
Address Oberzeismering, 82327 TutzingHeight 726 m
Bismarck Tower Assenhausen
Above the east shore, at Assenhausen in the municipality of Berg, the Bismarck Tower — about 30 m high, designed by Theodor Fischer — was inaugurated on 1 July 1899. It stands in a small park with a colonnade; only the lower part is accessible.
Address Dürrbergstraße 19, 82335 Berg (Assenhausen)Entry free · open daily (no times published)
Bernried
Bernried lies on a gentle slope on the west shore, in the neighbouring district of Weilheim-Schongau. Otto and Adelheid von Valley founded a house of Augustinian canons here in 1120; the monastery was dissolved around 1803, later rebuilt as a castle and acquired in 1949 by the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing. The former collegiate church of St. Martin and the Bernrieder Park, laid out by Carl von Effner in 1855 with very old trees, are the village’s treasures.
In the Hirschgarten grounds at Höhenried stands the ship-shaped “Museum of Fantasy” of Lothar-Günther Buchheim, opened in 2001: Buchheim Museum.
Sources: Wikipedia (Kloster Andechs) · Wikipedia (Ammersee) · Wikipedia (Edward Cucuel) · Wikipedia (Tutzing) · StarnbergAmmersee.de (Ilkahöhe) · StarnbergAmmersee.de (Bismarckturm) · Wikipedia (Bernried). Checked 8 October 2026.