The Seekirchl chapel on its meadow

The Seekirchl — properly the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche — was built in 1666 on what was then a small lake, drained since. What remains is the reason to come: a single white church with a dome and a slim tower, standing by itself on a rise of open meadow at the western edge of Seefeld, with nothing built between it and the mountains.

That isolation is rare. Most alpine landmarks come with a car park, a souvenir shop and a queue in the frame; here you can walk a full circle around the building and keep a clean background from every angle. From the north the Karwendel closes the view; from the south you get the chapel against the plateau and the Wetterstein beyond.

The façade faces roughly south-west, so it takes the late-afternoon sun straight on and glows for the last hour of light. Early morning puts the building in its own shadow but gives you an empty meadow and mist lying on the grass.

In summer the meadow is cut hay and wildflowers and the chapel is a five-minute walk from the pedestrian centre. From December the cross-country tracks are groomed right past it and the same frame is white ground, blue shadow and the Hohe Munde behind — the single strongest winter picture in Seefeld. The interior is small and open outside services, but the picture is the outside.