The Tyrolean hat (also Bavarian hat or Alpine hat) is a type of headwear that originally came from the Tyrol in the Alps, in what is now part of Austria and Italy. A typical Tyrolean hat originally had a crown tapering to a point and was made of green felt with a brim roughly the width of a hand.  There are various forms of Tyrolean hat. Frequently the hats are decorated with a coloured, corded hatband and a spray of flowers, feathers or "brush" at the side of the crown. The traditional "brush" is made of the tail of the chamois goat. It takes a variety of forms, and may often be combined with feathers.

In the 19th and 20th centuries the Tyrolean hat became the image bearer of "Tyrolean culture" as a tourist symbol, influenced also by folk music bands who wore fanciful "local" costumes. Today, many people have Bavarian hats made of loden cloth (a thick, water resistant woollen material with a short pile, first produced by peasants in Austria), trimmed with cord and decorated with various accessories, like hat pins, feathers, a tuft of chamois hair, and pins commemorating their travels and exploits.

The villages of Garmisch and Partenkirchen were joined together for the 1936 winter Olympics to form a small town, which over the years has become Germany’s top winter sports resort and a popular year-round holiday destination. Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a traditional Bavarian town with quaint cobblestone streets and half-timbered buildings. It lies in a convenient location just over an hour’s easy motorway drive from Munich to the north and just under an hour’s drive from the Austrian city of Innsbruck to the south.