we only have 5 days to fly into Munich, do some touring, finish in Tubingen, and then back to Munich. Where would be a good place for a 3 night stay as a "hub"? We would like to see the Alps, and enjoy the countryside, Zugspitze etc. Not that interested in the crowded touristy stuff, Just want to enjoy the beauty of Germany.
ANy suggestions would be helpful…especially a nice quaint hotel with great views and hiking/walking trails.
thank you,
Lu
Are you traveling by car or train? That will make a big difference in suggestions.
DJ
We are traveling by car…renting from Munich airport.
I that case Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a good hub that would not be too crowded in the summer with great Alpine views and hiking/walking. Easy to get to from Munich and close to many sites near the Austrian border (castles near Füßen, Linderhof). There is a lot of good recommendations for staying in the Garmisch area on this forum.
Getting to Tübingen you could stop in Ulm, The old city center with the Ulmer-Münster (main church) is worth a visit even if it's just a few hours over lunch.
DJ
"We are traveling by car"
Was your decision to travel by car an informed decision or made just because you don't understand public transportation in Germany? How did you decide it would be best by car when you hadn't even decided where you were going? Germany has the best rail system in Europe, especially in Bavaria, and it is particularly well augmented by buses in the south, by the Alps.
My suggestion would be to spend the bulk of your time in the Oberallgäu, in Oberstdorf. You can get there from Munich airport by S-Bahn and ALX train in about 3¼-3½ hrs using a 28€ (for two) Bayern-Ticket. Once there you can go by bus up into the Kleinwalsertal, a beautiful alpine valley with plenty of hiking. You can take a day trip by bus to Hohenschwangau and see Neuschwanstein. That bus mostly follows the Alpenstrasse, including a spectacular climb up switchbacks coming out of Bad Hindelang up to Oberjoch. Another day you can go by train to the island city of Lindau, again with a Bayern-Ticket for two.
When you are ready to go to Tübingen, the trip using an IC would take about 4 hours, and an advance purchase ticket would cost as low as 38€.
will take that into consideration and look further into the the rail system and bus…. any further info or suggestion would be appreciated
You could also base in Oberammergau. From there you could come into Garmisch-Partenkirchen by bus in the morning to see the Zugspitze, then go on to Mittenwald and return to Oberammergau for the night. From Oberammergau, you could also make day trips by bus to Linderhof or to Hohenschwangau (Neuschwanstein).
Lu,
Here is the track network for Bavaria. Virtually all of these routes have regional trains, mostly one every hour. With a Bayern-Ticket, you get unlimited travel on regional trains in Bavaria and to a few border stations outside Bavaria (Ulm, Salzburg, Kufstein) as well as a couple of "loops" outside Bavaria. Plus you get use of all the conveyance (S/U-Bahnof, streetcars, and buses) of the local metro districts in Munich, Regensburg, Nürnberg, and Würzburg. The Bayern-Ticket is valid from midnight weekend days or 9 AM workdays, until 3 AM the next morning. Costs 23€ for person one, 5€ each additional persons up to 5, total and is always available for that price from ticket automats in stations, 2€ extra from a manned counter.
In addition, the Bayern-Ticket give you unlimited use of the buses of the extensive RVO (Regionalverkehr Oberbayern) bus line (map here), in Bavaria south of Munich and east of Füssen. West of Füssen, buses of the RVA (Regionalverkehr Allgäu) as also included.
Tried to take the rail system in Germany.....only to find that the entire rail station in Fussen is under construction....no Train service!!!
We had planned to take the train from Fussen thru Austria and into Garmisch. Had we realized this was the case, we would not have made Fussen our "base" to stay and travel to the nearby towns we wanted to see.
That's a shame, Lu.
For anybody following Lee's link just above with the map of Bavarian trains, it is gone....
"Die Seite existiert leider nicht"
"Unfortunately, the page doesn't exist."
OK, I don't know why they changed the URL, but I found a schematic of the Bavarian track system here. I'm pretty sure it's the same map I linked to before.
As for the train to Füssen, they are working on that line somewhere. The Bahn schedule website shows it. For now, until October 30, there is a SEV (Schienen Ersatz Verkehr), replacement bus, from Marktoberdorf to Füssen. Marktoberdorf is normally the last station before Füssen on that lline. The bus should be waiting next to the station. People will get off the train and head to it The scheduled time between the train arriving in Marktoverdorf and the bus leaving is four minutes, but if you are trying to get to the bus, I'm sure they won't leave without you. Just don't stop for a coffee in the station when you get there.
"We had planned to take the train from Fussen thru Austria and into Garmisch."
The construction work at Füssen Bahnhof should not have mattered. There is not a direct rail connection from Füssen to Austria anyway, but there are numerous bus connections. The shortest connection (27 min) would be a bus from Füssen to Reutte (which is in Austria). There might be more bus connections to Pfronten, Germany, which is also on the Außerfernbahn rail line to Garmisch-Partenkirchen (via Reutte). Finally, there are direct and one-change, albiet longer, bus connections from Füssen to Garmisch-Partenkirchen via Oberammergau.
