2 Days SOMEWHERE in Bavaria?

Berchtesgaden and the area fit the bill to a T.
Stay in either Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden (10 min. from Berchtesgaden) or Schonau am Konigsee, less than 10 min. from Berchtesgaden. Both are maybe 30 minutes from Salzburg.

We stayed here 3 times:
www.mayringerlehen.de

We stayed here twice (Both times in Nov., Mayringerlehen is usually closed for Nov.)
www.friedwiese.de/enska/isl.htm

Slight edge goes to the Mayringerlehen due to the farm and animals and walkable to the Village of Ramsau.

http://www.berchtesgadener-land.com/en/home

Paul

I spent a week at Garmisch-P a few years ago. I could easily have spent more time. Lots of things to interest a family here.

We spent time in Oberammergau (and Fussen area too)--tons of natural beauty and things to do for kids, hikes, castles, etc...my 13, 11, and 8 year olds LOVED this area--Ober. is a very cute German town! If you visit this area and then plan to drive to Salz. from here, be aware that traffic can be heavy on road between Munich and Salz., and once you cross into Austria you must have a toll sticker. Just received my ticket (6 months later) for this error.

I'm partial to the Tegernsee area. The lake has several small villages surrounding it which are joined by bus (free if you are staying in the area), a foot/cycle path and ferries across the lake. It is close enough to Munich using the BOB train (they have a combo BOB-MVV ticket) that you can go into the city have some fun and come back the same day if needed, also public transportation around the lake is usually included with your hotel. Since it is a touristy area there is a lot of good infrastructure for visitors. There is a great Brewery/Restaurant right on the lake, Bräustüberl Tegernsee. If the weather is nice you can take the cable car up Wallberg and hike to a hut in the mountains for nice lunch.

DJ

With only two days, I would think it best to do someplace more or less in between Munich and Salzburg. That would kind of rule out Mittenwald, Oberammergau, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Regensburg, or lake district around Bad Tölz. The first place that comes to mind is the Chiemsee.region, either Prien or Bernau. It's a pretty resort area, and you can take a boat out to an island to see one of Lugwig's palaces, Herrenchiemsee, a knockoff of Versailles.

As mentioned above, Berchtesgaden is very close to Salzburg.

I don't think I would go as far out of my way as Passau, but there are a couple of interesting small towns more or less on your way from the airport to Salzburg, Wasserburg am Inn is a small, picturesque town of about 12,000 inhabitants inside a loop of the Inn river. Waging am See is a resort town on a lake, Waginger See, close to Salzburg. A little out of your way, but not a far as Passau, is Burghausen, with it's intact, thousand year old castle.

You might also consider the mountain resort town of Reit im Winkl. It's only about a half hours drive off the main highway from Munich to Salzburg.

Many thanks! Grateful for all these tips.

Feeling ignorant, but how will I know how to get a "toll sticker" to drive into Austria from Germany??

I just found this: http://www.austria.info/us/basic-facts/getting-there-around/austria-by-car/toll-sticker
(Also planning similar trip and first learned about the sticker via your inquiry and the responses. Thanks!)

Jason, you should check with your rental company to see if your car will have an Austrian sticker for 2017 or if you will be buying a 10 day sticker at the border. The problem is that the sticker has to be entirely attached to your front window, or be fined, so I don't see how rental companies deal with multiple short term stickers (visibility issues).

You can avoid needing to have a sticker IF you stay off the A roads traveling from Munich to Salzburg. You can plot a route avoiding A roads or tolls using www.viamichelin.com.

Jason, you should check with your rental company to see if your car will have an Austrian sticker for 2017 or if you will be buying a 10 day sticker at the border. The problem is that the sticker has to be entirely attached to your front window, or be fined, so I don't see how rental companies deal with multiple short term stickers (visibility issues).

As a rule, if you rent a car in Germany and drive over the border into Austria you will have to provide the vignette yourself. If you rent in Austria it will have a sticker. But renting in Austria is more expensive than in Germany.

Austrian Vignette, or toll sticker, is easy and cheap. Simply stop at a gas station or rest stop after leaving Munich or before you leave Germany. The Austrian Vignette is sold in Germany. Buy it before crossing into Austria. Cost is about 9 Euro for a sticker valid for 10 consecutive days starting on the day you buy it.

Paul