My wife & I went to Munich for Oktoberfest with another couple this year, but my wife & I added a 5-day road trip through Bavaria before it after being inspired by a thread here in the Travel Forum. I’d been to Europe before, but I’d never planned it myself, so I learned a lot. I got a lot of help from fellow TexAgers, so I thought I’d return the favor by making my own thread detailing my trip in case anyone else may be searching for information on things to do in Bavaria.

THE TRIP:
We landed in Munich on a Monday morning, rented an automatic diesel BMW 3-series convertible (with built-in navigation system that was truly the savior of our trip) at the airport, and then hopped on the Autobahn and drove a couple of hours to Salzburg. We spent 2 nights in Salzburg (Austria), 1 night in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany), 1 night in Reutte (Austria), and returned to Munich for 3 nights. The car was reserved ahead of time through Hertz and the hotels during our Bavarian road trip were booked through booking.com while the apartment we rented in Munich was booked through AirBnb.com.

SALZBURG:
Salzburg was beautiful, but driving in it was tough due to pedestrians, one-way streets, and streets closed to cars. Because of the closed off streets, getting to our hotel was impossible which we didn’t know about ahead of time. After taking so long to find our hotel and the fact that it was raining cats & dogs, we basically lost half our day in Salzburg. At least the hotel was nice…sleek & modern. Maybe it was the rain, but we only saw 2 street performers and one bratwurst truck…and not one street vendor. And the city completely died by 7pm. I guess you’ve got to get on the outskirts to find any kind of night life.

We went to Maribell Gardens which was featured in The Sound of Music. This was the main thing my wife (a high school theater teacher) wanted to see. If I never hear “A Doe, A Deer, A Female Deer” again as long as I live, it will be a successful life.








You can spend 4 or 5 hours seeing things around the older part of the city south of the river, another 4 hours or so north of the city, and another day visiting the castle & other stuff, and another day seeing museums. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see very much at all. I scheduled most of our time in half-days instead of full days, and that was a mistake. We got to walk around the city and visit the Mozart museum, which were pretty cool I guess, but Salzburg was the weakest part of our trip. But with the weather and everything else I mentioned, it’s probably not Salbzurg’s fault. Regardless, the city is absolutely gorgeous and the river going through the middle is really cool.

We took lots of pics of the city, but the rain made most of our pics look bad. So these below are not ones we took, but they will give you a good idea of what everything looked like.





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The next day, we drove 40 minutes south to Berchtesgaden through some of the most beautiful scenery you can imagine. Still rainy, but that didn’t matter. We took the boat ride across Konigssee and it was freaking amazing. Not exciting but very relaxing and romantic. The lake is basically a fjord in the mountains with dozens of waterfalls that never stop flowing. Steep cliffs, mountains, and forests surround the lake on all sides, and it’s simply breathtaking. We got a late start that morning, so we didn’t get to tour St. Bartheloma Cathedral on the other side of the lake or tour the village of Salet either. Plus, the rain made picture-taking tough, but we got a couple of good ones. The onboard tour guide only speaks in German, but he stopped the boat and played a trumpet to demonstrate the echo in this place which is unlike anything I’ve ever heard. We only had a couple of hours, but you really need 4 hours to truly experience it properly. College kids looking for thrills, fun, and excitement probably should skip this one, but it’s a must for couples. It cost 12 Euros or so per person I think.















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10 minutes up the road from Konigssee is downtown Berchtesgaden where the Eagle’s Nest tour starts. We booked a tour online called “The Eagles Nest Historical Tour” with David & Christine Harper. I usually don’t do tours like this, but they take an educational approach instead of a simple sight-seeing approach. I learned more on the bus ride up the mountain than I did actually seeing the sites. They explained Hitler’s early years and how we went from a high school dropout to a homeless man to an evil dictator. Hitler basically took over the entire mountain & all the property already there, and we got to see it all, or at least what the US didn’t destroy in WWII.

The views from the Eagle's Nest are truly one of a kind. It was snowing up there (7 inches of snow on the picnic tables) and was just about the most beautiful place I've ever seen.

The underground bunker system that runs throughout the mountain was awesome although they wouldn’t let us take pictures. The tour guide came in very handy in the museum since everything is written in German.


This was taken from a viewing platform just a few yards up from the Eagle's Nest.





These are just a couple of the countless majestic views from the Eagle's Nest.








Was this rainbow off the back balcony of the Eagle's Nest God’s way of promising to never allow another Hitler???





This is the the tunnel to the elevator to get up to the Eagle's Nest. It's the only way to get there.








There was a lot of graffiti left behind by the Allied forces who captured (and plundered) the Eagle's Nest in WWII. This was scratched into the main door of the tunnel.




And this is what the Nest looks like from about halfway up the mountain. You can barely see it up there perched on top, and it's typically covered in fog several hours each day...which was part of its defense strategy against bombing raids. Also, if the bombers missed even by a few feet, the bombs would simply slide down the mountain away from the Nest. These strategies proved to be effective considering it was just about the only building on the entire mountain left standing after the Allied air raids in 1945.




This whole experience is truly a “can’t miss” item, and the tour we booked made it that much better. If you come to Germany or Bavaria and don’t see the Eagles Nest, you’ve screwed up. The tour was 50 Euros per person with all entrance fees included (which would’ve been about 30 Euros per person). It was the best 50 Euros I spent the whole trip, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

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We returned to Salzburg after the Eagle's Nest and then headed to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany around lunch time. This 2 hour drive from Salzburg was simply outstanding. We drove past and through so many tiny Bavarian villages that I lost count. These are just a few of the pics we snapped along the way.








We went to Zugspitze (highest peak in Bavaria) to ride the cable cars up. The German side was packed even though it was closed due to the weather so we went over to the Austrian side which was empty. It was closed too, but it’s obviously the side to use. Most of our pics from up close were covered up with fog, but this is one from several miles away.





Our hotel was an old, small, family-owned hotel with about 12 rooms & a traditional Bavarian restaurant down stairs with a polka band. The employees couldn’t have been more nice and accommodating, the waitresses were smoking hot, and the breakfast included with the room was awesome. It felt like staying in a log cabin. Garmische is the quintessential little Bavarian ski town. Every building looks like something out of a movie about a tiny Bavarian village set in 1800. It was easy to drive in and walk around as well, and everyone was as friendly and inviting as possible. We ate at a restaurant called Gasthof Werdenfelfer-hof, and it was my favorite meal of the entire trip. Nearly 100 menu items that include meat, and every one of them looked great. Beer by the liter & waitresses with lots of cleavage. Everyone was singing and having a blast. It was like eating dinner with a few hundred of your best friends. This town was my favorite of all the little towns we visited throughout our trip, and I would move there in a heartbeat if I got the chance.


This is a pic of our hotel.




And this is what you see when you walk out the door of our hotel and turn right. There's a similar view when you turn left.



[This message has been edited by taint98 (edited 10/6/2013 10:14p).]

Before leaving Garmisch, we went to Partnach Gorge in the morning…and it was mind blowing! It’s a canyon cut out by a raging river with 150 foot cliffs on each side but only about 15 or 20 feet wide. It’s almost like a long narrow cave with continuous rapids at the bottom and an open narrow roof throughout most of it. You have to hike quite a way up a little road to get to it. From the bottom of the gorge, we decided to take the cable car to the top of the mountain and hiked down through the forest to the Gorge, which I’d highly recommend.

The 30-minute hike through the gorge along the raging river included dozens of waterfalls & several little caves & tunnels to walk through. You need to wear a poncho and understand that you’ll be soaked from head to toe including your shoes. This is definitely at the top of my favorite things from the trip, behind the Eagles Nest and Oktoberfest. Cost was 3 Euros.


This was taken during our hike up the road that leads to the cable cars and bottom of the gorge.





After riding the cable cars up, we had to hike down this trail to get to the top of the gorge.




And this is just one of the many gorgeous views from the trail.





And these are just a handful of the pictures we snapped as we hiked down through the gorge.




















[This message has been edited by taint98 (edited 10/6/2013 10:28p).]

From Partnach Gorge, we drove about 15 minutes to see the monastery in Ettal. The lavish church was amazing and the Kloster was interesting, especially since there’s some kind of boy’s school there. I’m pretty sure they’re not training to be monks since they weren’t dressed in a uniform, and they smoked & acted like d-bags. I’m pretty sure I saw 2 of them about to fight. It was kind of weird actually. But we did see a couple of monks which was pretty cool. They brew their own schnapps and beer there and got to drink some while eating lunch at one of the restaurants next door. Overall, it was a pretty quick visit and could be skipped if you’re in a hurry, and it certainly isn’t worth a special trip if you’re not already passing through.














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From Ettal Monastery, we drove 10 or 15 minutes to the elegant Linderhof Palace which was built by “The Mad King” Ludwig II. He was an agoraphobic nutjob with some serious social anxiety issues and an inferiority complex that drove him to consistently build castles to outdo his dad. The Linderhof Palace is about as lavish and ornate as you can possibly imagine. I’ve never seen so much gold. He almost never let anyone inside the palace and ate dinner in a small dining room that not even his servants were allowed into. His table was a giant dumbwaiter that was lowered into the kitchen below, loaded with food, and raised back into the dining room on pulleys. After the meal, it’s lowered back down to the kitchen, cleaned off, and raised back to the dining room. There were tons of lavish fountains, water features, gardens, and buildings throughout the property. Be sure to see the Grotto, which is a cave full of water with a boat in it where he’d have servants row him around (like I said, he was a weirdo). The place is unbelievable and definitely a sight to see. You can’t take pictures inside, so the pics below of the inside aren’t ones I took.












They were restoring a building in this pic, but this gives you an idea of the kind of view from the palace.





The Grotto





The Hall of Mirrors





The Audience Room





The Bedroom




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After the Linderhoff Palace, we drove along the majestic Lake Plansee on our way to our next overnight destination. The lake is surrounded by mountains and was one of the most scenic stretches of 10 miles I’ve ever seen. The pictures below do not do this place justice at all. All of these pics were taken from the side of the road, and I could’ve taken a hundred more just as beautiful.











[This message has been edited by taint98 (edited 10/6/2013 10:49p).]

After driving along Plansee, we made it to Ruette, Austria where we stayed that night. I know it seems like we've driven a lot since leaving Garmisch that morning, but the entire trip from Garmisch to Partnach Gorge, to Ettal Monastery, to Linderhof Palace, past Lake Plansee, and to Reutte was only about 30 miles.

Our hotel was a tiny family-owned hotel with only 8 rooms. The owners lived there permanently, and their living room was basically shared by all of us as a place to hang out, almost like a Bed & Breakfast. They were a very sweet family, and it only cost 70-something Euros & came with a warm breakfast.

Late that afternoon/evening, we went and saw the Ehrenburg Ruins. Reutte’s Ehrenburg Castle was built in the 1200’s, but it is now in ruins. These castle ruins were quite the contrast from Linderhof Palace which we’d toured only an hour or two earlier. We made the tough 40 minute hike up the mountain to see the ruins and I thought the overall experience was awesome, but it may not be for everyone. The museum at the bottom of the mountain is supposed to be great if you have kids, but we got there after it closed.


This was taken from the balcony of our hotel (zoomed in as closely as I could get). The ruins can be seen on top of the green mountain in the foreground.





This was snapped along the trail as we approached the ruins.





The front gate





The restored turret can be seen here.





Pics taken through one of the windows and one of the blown out arrow slots.








Views from the ruins







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The next morning, we drove 20 minutes to Neuschwanstein Castle which served as the basis for Walt Disney’s Cinderella’s Castle. It’s another Ludwig II castle designed to outdo his dad’s castle which is next to it. The king died right before it was finished, so he never actually lived in it.

From the outside, it’s freakishly impressive, but it’s not nearly as lavish as his Linderhof Palace on the inside. The opera house inside that’s designed to have him and only him as the lone spectator was interesting though.

Ride the bus up the hill instead of walking…it’s worth the 2 bucks. Like Linderhof, paying for the tour is the only way to see it. It took about 30 minutes, but it took closer to an hour to get to the castle itself from the parking lot. The king had running water in his bedroom’s private sink and a flush toilet hidden in a secret room in the wall of his bedroom with an automatic flusher. Not too shabby for the 1800’s.

They didn't let us take photos inside, so the pics of the rooms are not ones I took.















The Throne Room
There is no throne in it because he died before the throne itself was constructed.





The Bedroom




One of the many majestic views from the castle.




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From Neuschwanstein Castle, we drove through several small villages to see a lavish church located in the middle of a giant farming community called Wiesenkirche. It’s hard to imagine such a decadent church surrounded by nothing but miles of cows and chickens…but that’s what it is. If you’re driving between Neuschwanstein & Munich or if you just have a thing for lavish churches, it’s worth the short little trip. Otherwise, it’s probably not worth your time.












This is what you see as soon as you walk outside the church




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After leaving Wiesenkirche, we drove through several more tiny villages and along the countryside to Andechs Monastery which is located on a mountaintop on the way to Munich. The cathedral was extremely ornate, and we saw a Christening going on while we were there, so we got to see the cathedral in use. However, for this reason, we were not allowed to take any pictures inside the cathedral. So the photo of the inside is not one I took.









There’s a huge beer garden inside the monastery where I ate, drank, and was merry as you can see by the picture below. One guy sneezed and 80 guys yelled Gazuntite in unison which was pretty funny…especially after a liter of the monks’ doppelboch and another liter of dunkelboch along with the leftovers of my wife's helles (light beer). The beer and the food were great, and I highly recommend a trip to the Andech Monastery. In addition to lunch in the beer garden, there’s about 30-60 minutes of stuff to see.




It's hard to tell from the angle I took the picture, but this is a wooden sculpture of a guy sitting on a stump drinking a stein of beer. It's the first thing you see as you walk up the hill to the monastery. Pretty cool for a bunch of monks if you ask me.




[This message has been edited by taint98 (edited 10/7/2013 12:18a).]

After leaving Andechs, we took the Autobahn up to Munich. I hit somewhere between 225 and 230 Km/hr (which is around 140+ miles/hr) before traffic and the obscenities spewing from my sweet wife’s mouth made me slow it down. But the car was still handling like a champ and the pedal wasn’t anywhere near the metal, so I really wanted to go a lot faster

We dropped off our bags at our apartment and dropped off the car immediately. Driving in Munich during Oktoberfest is impossible, so don’t try it.

We rented an apartment through AirBnb. It was located right in between Theresienwiese (park where Oktoberfest is) and Marienplatz (main area of Munich), about 3 or 4 blocks from each. It was kind of the red light district and was overrun with Muslims, but it was the most convenient location in town & was safe. The owner of the apartment was cool, and the experience with AirBnb was excellent.

We met some friends of ours who were also in town for Oktoberfest and walked around the city for a while before having a few beers in the Lowenbrau beer garden and eating in a German restaurant.

We also spent the afternoon of the following day touring the city, drinking in beer gardens, and eating in German restaurants. Overall, if your goal is to visit Munich and see the sites, don't do it during Oktoberfest. Because of all the extra people and the extra festivities, we got to see very little of what Munich has to offer; but to be honest, there really isn’t that much compared to other cities in Europe. Having said that, we enjoyed our time in Munich, and the city was very easy to navigate by foot and mass transit.























[This message has been edited by taint98 (edited 10/7/2013 12:31a).]

We decided to skip the opening day of Oktoberfest and wait until the next day to join the festivities. We instead took the 30-minute train ride up to Dachau and then the 10 minute bus ride to the concentration camp. You can study the Holocaust, read about the camps, and watch movies & documentaries about the subject; but seeing the gas chambers, incinerators, the horrid living conditions, and standing in the same spots where they were enslaved, tortured, and murdered affects you in a completely different way. It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t exciting. But it was one of the most moving experiences I’ve had in years.


The phrase in the iron gate at the front of the camp translates to "Work makes you free"





The memorial paying tribute to the prisoners of the camp





The building housing the gas chamber and the crematorium & incinerators.





The gas chamber





Two of the incinerators used on the bodies





Living quarters inside the barracks. Most barracks didn't have mattresses or even bunks. Most of them just had long wooden platforms that people would lie on to sleep.





Foundations are all that remain from most of the 32 barracks.




This bathroom had to serve 144 inmates (although it's estimated that 3 or 4 times that many were actually living in the barracks this bathroom served by the time the camp was liberated.




[This message has been edited by taint98 (edited 10/7/2013 1:08a).]

We decided to forgo Oktoberfest on opening day due to the crowds, so we went the next morning instead. We were told that we’d have to line up at 5 or 6 am to get in, but that was total crap. We got there around 9am and walked around the park for an hour or so. It’s like a cross between the Texas State Fair, a carnival, and a beer festival. The other couple who met us in Munich for Oktoberfest were dressed in authentic Bavarian garb (a dirndel and lederhosen) but my wife and I weren’t. I’d say over 75% of the women were in dirndels & other Bavarian outfits while around half of the men were in lederhosen. I've never seen so much cleavage in my life.

We chose the Hippodrom tent (owned by Spaten beer) because it looks like a circus from the outside and is supposed to have the best food. My buddy and I wanted a fun tent, but our wives preferred a tame tent. We were told Hippodrom was a good compromise, and that turned out to be true. We waited in line for about an hour with a lot of Germans, some Canadians, a Californian who was there alone, and couple from Seattle, and tons of other people from all over the world.

Everybody ran to a table when they opened the doors. There were hundreds of picnic tables that were packed so tightly, my back was touching the back of the dude behind me the entire time. The Californian guy (25 yrs old) joined our group for the day, and another couple (the man was American but his wife was Filipino) joined us too. The other 3 or 4 seats constantly rotated with other people who’d come eat and drink a beer or two before leaving. Norwegians, Austrians, Australians, Germans, Brits, and Canadians sat at our table at some point during the day. There was a table of Germans behind me, Austrians beside us, and a group of Japanese at the table in front of me…and we were all best friends for about 6 hours. 80% of the people in that 3,200-person tent were completely blasted after about 3 hours, but we all just kept partying and making friends. We sang, we danced, we chanted, and we toasted. While it certainly wasn’t family friendly, the party never got out of hand, and our wives never felt unsafe. No pick pockets, no fights, no problems at all really. Just lots and lots of fun.

The food was awesome. They had huge platters of meat on the menu that would vary in price based on how many people were planning to eat on it. It was literally a giant pile of grilled and smoked meat…sausage, pork loins, ribs, roast, steaks, lamb, burgers, turkey legs, whole chickens…you name it…piled up on a giant piece of wood. I tried to snap a pic of a group of 3 Austrians who ordered it, but I was pretty hammered by then so it didn’t turn out so well…but it’ s posted below anyway. I had ½ a chicken and my buddy had a skillet of a few different types of meat (pic included below).

It was surprisingly cheap. It cost nothing to get into the park, nothing to get into the tent, & nothing for the seat at the table. The food was around 15 Euros/plate on average and the beers were 10 Euros each including tip. Each tent serves only 1 kind of beer, and they sell it only by the liter. Ours was a light Spaten beer, and it was good. We left around 6pm when they were going through a shift change. I don’t remember leaving, but I was told I had a blast. We went back to the apartment, and I slept for 12 hours until the next morning.



























The pile of meat the Austrians ordered





My buddy's meal




[This message has been edited by taint98 (edited 10/7/2013 1:22a).]

OVERALL:
Nearly everyone at every place we went was very nice & accommodating. Germans learn English in school now, so those under 30 speak at least a little English. Those who didn’t were typically still very cool and did their best to work with us. We went way off the beaten path, and we never really had any problems with bad attitudes or language problems that made our experience unpleasant. Overall, I’d say the average Bavarian is as nice as the average Texan. Just be polite & learn to say Hello, Goodbye, Please, Thank You, Your Welcome, Good Morning/Day/Night, Check Please, and Do You Speak English in German…and it’ll be almost as easy as visiting any city in America.

DRIVING:
Driving was easier than expected, but there were some challenges. They drive on the right side of the road but most laws seem more like “suggestions” instead of “laws.” Roads are narrow & lanes are rarely drawn on the road unless you’re in a city or town. Everyone drives much faster there, and 100% of the locals drove well over the limit (which is almost always higher than you’d expect it to be), even on narrow windy country roads in the mountains. I’m pretty sure the speed limits are not limits at all but suggested speeds. I saw maybe 1 cop the entire time, and he didn’t care that everyone was driving like a bat out of hell. Never saw a wreck though. Not one. Driving in Salzburg was a pain because of the pedestrians who never once looked to see if a car was coming. Lots of streets are blocked off for pedestrians only, too, which makes driving kind of suck. Munich was similar. But the rest of the places were easy. I love “round-a-bouts.” I wish America would embrace them. The Autobahn was typically crowded and basically the same as driving our interstates. They were extremely well maintained with wide lanes like America. In fact, most roads were very well-maintained although nearly all of them were narrow (except for the Autobahn).


FUNNY PICS:
These are just some things we found a little funny while we were in Munich.

Deutsche Bahn is the main train system in Munich. Similar to how major airlines offer special lounges and bars in airports for their frequent flyers, Deutsche Bahn offers something similar in the Munich train station. But the sign for it is says “DB Lounge.” We kept seeing that sign in the station, but the only “DB” we could think of was dewsh bag, so we thought it was funny.





There were also several examples of things being lost in translation. This menu from our tent at Oktoberfest was a perfect example. Check out the explanation of Wagyu beef.





And finally, while waiting for a table at a restaurant Saturday night, my wife & I and friends who’d joined us in Munich were waiting at the bar. There was a young European (not sure what country) who was about 20 years old or so sitting near us all by himself. He was so hammered he kept falling off his stool. After seeing his haircut, my wife & my buddy’s wife asked to get a picture taken with him. He agreed and put his arm around them and gave a big smile. When we explained that they wanted to pose with the back of his head instead, he was confused but nevertheless agreed. When we showed him the pic, he lost his freaking mind. HE HAD NO IDEA THAT WAS SHAVED INTO THE BACK OF HIS HEAD!!!!! He launched into a slurred drunken chain of obscenities at the top of his lungs in some language I couldn’t understand. Over the next 15 minutes of so, we were able to gather in between his drunken tirades that he’d spent the morning at Oktoberfest with his buddies. His buddies made fun of his long hair the whole time, so he asked them to give him a haircut when they got back to his hostel…and that was NOT the haircut he’d asked for. They were all staying at different places but had agreed to meet at that restaurant for dinner. He’d been there over an hour and none of them had shown up. We were there for another 15 minutes or so after showing him the picture, and he spent the entire time yelling at his buddies via their voicemails over and over again. He probably left 20 hate-filled voicemails during that time. We saw him later than night in a plaza dancing next to a saxophone-playing street performer. He only vaguely remembered us.




[This message has been edited by taint98 (edited 10/7/2013 1:29a).]

Wow, awesome pics! I've been to England and Ireland a couple times, but have never made it to mainland Europe. Germany/Austria/Switzerland is the next European trip that I'd like to do. Looks like you guys had a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you! I really enjoyed reading through it. Maybe someday....

Awesome trip. I've been to a lot of those same places on my Germany trip as well. Salzburg is an awesome city as far as scenery goes. We stayed at Oberammergau when we were near the Alps.

Did y'all see the trick seats in the courtyard at Linderhoff? At least I think it was there that they showed them, the ones with water pipes under the seats so the king could get his guests all wet.

Wow. I'm jealous of your trip.

I'd love to go to the eagles nest and the concentration camps. Given today's society, it's just hard to fathom that that sort of thing could happen only about 70 years ago.

Brought back some memories, I've been to Salzburg, Eagle's Nest, and Munich. I have GOT to go back one of these days...

Not sure it's a good idea to go during Oktoberfest, though, the gf would not like all the dirndls, and I'd probably get in trouble.

Watchlisted for future reading

[This message has been edited by CDub06 (edited 10/8/2013 10:55p).]

maximus,

you should go during Springfest. It's similar to Oktoberfest but with way fewer people. when we went it was the last weekend in april, a great time to go to the area

Taint, you gave us very impressive "travelog" and entertaining reading. We were about a week behind you, and came from the other direction, but once we ended up in Bavaria, did a lot of the same things. If I can ever get my act together and combine all the pictures we took I will try to put together and post something like you did; with emphasis on our visit to Oktoberfest.
Thanks for posting it!

And a special thanks for all those who contributed their thoughts and advice about Oktoberfest in a different thread; they were very helpful!

agfan - I didn't see the trick seats with the water at Linderhof palace, but there are so many buildings, water features, gardens, and courtyards to see, we could've spent a couple extra hours and still not seen it all.

We ended driving in a big circle around Oberammergau on our trip. It was basically the one town we didn't visit. However, it would've probably made more sense to stay there and make day trips to each of the locations we visited sense it's so centrally located to everything.

The Oktoberfest crowds and festivities definitely cut into our site-seeing time in Munich, so that it is certainly something to consider.

Well if you ever get the chance to go back I'd highly recommend you staying in the town. As you said it's centrally located to a lot of things to see down there. I'd love to go back in a heartbeat and wouldn't mind seeing all of the exact same stuff twice, we were there for 2 weeks and didn't see it all

And I was wrong about the castle, I was thinking of Castle Hellbrunn which is also in that southern region. Apparently the king had a sense of humor.


Here's a picture of what I was talking about:


[This message has been edited by agfan2013 (edited 10/11/2013 9:11p).]

Thanks!

Sounds like a great trip!

Bump. I'm planning a similar trip next year.