This Way to Old Europe

FLY: United Airlines hops direct daily between Dulles International Airport and Munich, with recent sale fares as low as $400 round-trip (united.com).

RIDE: Take the train from Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen; it’s just 80 minutes and $18 each way (bahn.de).

STAY: With the GAP Ski Classic card (from $148; garmisch-partenkirchen.de), you can stay three nights at the chalet-style Sonneschein guesthouse in the town of Garmisch and load up on breakfast strudels before skiing Hausberg, Kreuzeck, and Alpspitze. When you’re done, soak in the Alpspitz-Wellenbad pool or sign up for a skier’s massage at the Dorint Sporthotel (dorint.de), one of the area’s many sports spas.

SKI: With 73 miles of pistes, including the Kandahar World Cup downhill run, and a location straddling the Loisach River at the base of the 9,718-foot Zugspitze (Germany’s highest mountain), Garmisch is the Bavarian Alps at its best. Plus, the après scene is perpetual Oktoberfest.

THE TOTAL: $584

DECEMBER 2005