8 day itinerary Bavaria and Austria with children

It would be a little too busy for me. Too many one night stops. You can never depend on favorable weather in the Alps, that's why the usual recommendation is to stay at least three nights in any one Alpine location as a hedge against bad weather. Otherwise, if you only spend one full day, you can lose that entire time to rain and overcast skies, thus killing your reason for visiting.

Also, for a mid-afternoon flight, you would realistically need to be at the airport 2-3 hours in advanced. Traffic between Salzburg and Munich can be horrendous, so I would plan to spend the last night somewhere close to the airport. Therme Erding would be my choice, especially with two boys. It's located 15-20 minutes away from the airport.

I would do the salt mine - i have done Hallein 3 times, Halstatt once - and the ice cave at Werfen ( done it twice )

Tom,
I don't think you read the plan correctly. Nights 1 and 2 in Munich. 3 and 4 Garmisch or area. Nights 5 through 8 somewhere by Salzburg, one place for all 4 nights.

Garmisch makes a good spot for nights 3 and 4.

Doesn't sound bad. I'd rather stay closer to the airport on my final night though. Within an hour or two. If staying in Berchtesgaden area or Salzburg, that would be fine in my oipinion. We've done that a few times when we had 3:20pm flights home from Munich. We stayed by Innsbruck our last night twice and Berchtesgaden twice. We left for the airport around 10:00am.

Paul

If staying in the Berchtesgaden area, all the places you want to see are easily done. We did the same thing a few years back. You can see St. Gilgen on the way to Hallstatt. Easy drive. There's a good luge ride in Berchtesgaden along with cable car trips. Also, a scenic alpine drive, the Rossfeld Panorama Road.

We love staying at the Pension Mayringerlehen and the Guesthouse Friedwiese.

Thank you everyone for the kind gesture.

I guess the real decision to make is whether to stay in Garmisch To see castles and Zugspitze? I see people at most forums recommend against the castles as they take up your whole day for a short visit. Are there any other castles someone could recommend in the Salzburg area? Are there any other viewpoints like zugspitze someone can recommend?

I am thinking 2 nights in Munich. Leave the 3rd after Munich sightseeing to Salzburg/Wolfgang area.

Would it be ok if I leave from Wolfgang at 9am to make a 3.30 flight from Munich? Will need to drop the car and pick up luggage from left luggage. I can try to leave early as well. Dont want to come to Munich the night before as it will be more of a hastle..

You could skip the Garmisch, Neuschwanstein and Zugspitze if you wanted to and replace them with the "Mad" King Ludwig's Herrenchiemsee palace between Munich and Salzburg/Berchtesgaden and the Jennerbahn or other cable car trip in the Berchtesgaden area. I didn't see a problem with your original plan though.

Day 2 If you have time you might go for a walk through Enlisher Garden Park and watch the surfers.

When we took my then 11 y/o on a similar trip we stayed in Pinswang at RS recommended place which my son loved to see the Castles and we did the alipine slide in Fussen.

I think the itinerary sounds great personally!

I will join Paul in endorsing Berchtesgaden. There is much to see/do in the area. The Jennerbahn is closed until Spring 2018 for a major overhaul/rebuilding, but there are other cable cars in the area. The Rossfeld Panorama Road is gorgeous. There is also a great deal of hiking with quite impressive views. David Harper of Eagle's Nest Historic Tours has written an excellent guide book for the area; I relied on it heavily for my visit there, including for guidance on hikes.

Jill offers a great suggestion on going to see the surfers at the English Garden in Munich; your kids will love watching them. Salzburg is great, too; there are many things for kids to do there.

As far as getting back to Munich... There is a lot of construction on the A8 between Berchtesgaden and Munich, and traffic around Munich can be awful. I did Berchtesgaden to MUC on a Sunday morning about a month ago, leaving at 5:30 am for an 11:30 am flight. We arrived at MUC about 3.5 hours before flight departure, but traffic was light due to the time we were traveling.

For Munich, we took a bike tour with Mike's Bike Tours. This could be very appealing to your sons, and you would see several highlights of Munich, including the English Garden (goes by the area where people water surf).

For Day 8, be sure to go on a Salt Mine Tour. Your sons will love the tour on the low-ride vehicle "train" with the highlight of going down the Salt Mine slides.

Day 6: Salzburg. This isn't as high a priority as the fortress & Mozart history, but also look at Hellbrunn Palace and Trick Fountains which your sons might really like. The replica Sound of Music gazebo is in the adjacent relaxing gardens. You can either take the city bus or drive there. salzburg.info/en/sights/top10/hellbrunn-palace-trick-fountains

Just wanted to add to Jean's post - that a great way to get to Hellbrunn is to bike there. We did this with our 11 y/o, but we did get a tandem bike as you do have to be on the road just a bit, and he was not very used to bike riding at the time. You can rent bikes in old town Salzburg.

So here is the final itinerary

Day 1: Munich
Day 2: Bmw museum + English gardens
Day 3: deutsches museum, rent a car, drive to St. Gilgen and stay there for 6 nights
Day 4: Salzburg: fortress, Mozart, fountain
Day 5: Berchtesgaden (eagles nest, boat tour on konigsee)
Day 6: Hallstatt (town town, dachstein)
Day 7: werfen (salt mine, fort)
Day 8: st. Gilgen (boat on wolfgangsee, cable car/train to mountain, toboggan)

Are there good hikes (short, easy, downhill) in this itinary

Can I do halstadtt and dachstein in one day?

Anything I am missing?

What should I do in Salzburg in one day with children?

We love shopping. Any thing in specific I should buy and where?

In Salzburg, take the kids to Hellbrunn and then tour the fortress.

Be aware Austrian autobahns are toll roads, you need a sticker (Vignette) for the windscreen and german rentals won't have one. The obvious option on this itinery is to avoid them! There are 2 around Salzburg, A1 from the border (continuation of the german A8) around the northern edge of the city and A10 from a junction with A1 near the airport heading south beyond Werfen. However a 10 day sticker is only €8,90 and the alternative route across Salzburg is somewhat complicated. You can buy them at most fuel stations, including those in Bavaria on the A8 or others roads near the border.

I agree 100 percent with Emily on Salzburg. The Mozart houses would be pretty boring to a 7- and a 10-year-old. Be prepared to get wet at Hellbrunn.

For me, the real beauty at Königssee is the far side of the lake where there are no souvenir shops. To get there, buy a boat ticket to the Salet Obersee stop (instead of getting off at St. Bartholomä, like everyone else). It's a 55-minute ride one-way. There is a wide, level path that takes you to Obersee, a smaller lake surrounded by cliffs on three sides; look hard at the cliff far in the distance across the lake and you will see Röthbach waterfall. The hike to Obersee is 15 minutes one-way. If you have time, I would recommend taking the trail that follows the right side of the lake (it's a little steep and slippery in places but numerous 7- to 10-year-old German kids seemed to be managing it fine) to a nice mountain pasture on the far side of Obersee and the hut Fischunkelalm, which serves refreshments. The view back across the lake is gorgeous, with the mountains reflecting in the crystal-clear water of Obersee. That path is about 30 minutes one-way. If you push a little harder, following the initially steep, but then level trail to Röthbach waterfall, you will pass through an idyllic alpine meadow and pass the occasional cow who calls the meadow home during the summer. That would be an adventure for a 7- and 10-year-old! Just have them... uhh... watch their step. Here is a pdf of the summer boat schedule at Königssee.

I would swap the museums on day 2 and 3. For "Deutsches Museum" a full day is not enough, and the "Englischer Garten" is just a nice park, not so interesting for the kids.

If you are in St. Gilgen over a weekend - your itinerary does not give the weekdays - you might consider going to Gmunden at the "Traunsee" (Lake Traun) for a boat ride. On Sundays Austria's oldest passenger ship, a paddle steamer built 1871, makes a tour.

Also noteworthy is the train line to the top of the "Schafberg", departing from St. Wolfgang. It is the steepest cog railway in Austria, built 1893. On Sundays in July/August it is powered by the original steam engines dating from that time.

@david
That's exactly the kind of hiking trips I was looking for. Thanks

@wmt1
I had it that way originally. However, the BMW museum is closed on mondays

Is the BMW welt and museum worth visiting? Is one better than the other?

Personally I would skip the Eagles Nest and opt for the Königssee and go further to the Obersee and the Fischunkelalm weather permitting. Boats, outdoors, hiking trail with some minor climbing, cows etc. This would take the better part of a day.

I would rate the "Deutsches Museum" much higher than the "BMW Museum", because of its wealth of different fields of science and technology, not only automotive mobility.