7 nights in Munich/Salzburg/Berchtesgaden

Hi,

Your plan has 8 nights. Munich 3, Salzburg area 4 and 1 before returning home.

Neuschwanstein isn’t on the way from Munich to Berchtesgaden or Salzburg. Huge detour and way out of the way. Better to stop at Mad Ming Ludwig’s Herrenchiemsee Palace, direct and midway between Munich and Berchtesgaden and Salzburg.

https://www.herrenchiemsee.de/englisch/n_palace/index.htm

With a car, we LOVED our 7 stays in Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden, especially our most recent in Dec. 2024 here…

https://www.urlaub-ramsau-bayern.de/

Quiet location. Very pretty and comfortable rooms, breakfast is very good and the owner/host is helpful and charming. The views from the rooms, the balcony, well, you feel you can reach out and simply touch the alps. This is a few minutes drive to Ramsau village and about 15 minutes to Berchtesgaden. Another 30 minute drive puts you in Salzburg. We’ve done a day trip from here to Hallstatt, had dinner in Salzburg before returning for the night.

Don’t miss seeing the village of Ramsau and St. Sebastian Church.

https://www.ramsau.de/en/attractions/our-village.html?rinfolayout=7

Don’t miss driving the Rossfeld Panorama Road.

https://www.rossfeldpanoramastrasse.de/en/

We can recommend the Park Hotel and the old town of Erding as a last night before flying home from Munich. Easy walk from the hotel into the charming old town.

https://www.bestwestern.de/en/hotels/Erding/Best-Western-Plus-Parkhotel-Erding/hotel?lang=English

Hi there, since you're going to have to be back near MUC for departure, why don't you pick up the car and head out of town immediately, that way you can end your trip in Munich & drop off the car at the airport? No need for a car in Munich. OR don't pick up the car until you leave Munich, if you prefer your plan. Public transport is amazing in and around Munich. Hope you have a great trip!! PS, Freising has the oldest continuously operated brewery in Germany - "Weihenstephan Bavarian State Brewery—the oldest continually operating brewery in the world—and stroll through the vibrant university show gardens."

Agree with the suggestions to go with public transportation within Munich and Salzburg. You are going to park your car at your hotel in both of those cities and not use it until you leave. Zero tolerance for drinking and driving. And there are some subtle differences between German and Austrian driving rules, permits, etc.

museum (focus on one) and beer

My top museum in Munich is the Alte Pinakothek.

Regarding beer, there are six major breweries in Munich. My top three spots are Augustiner-Keller and Biergarten, which is just past the Hbf; Paulaner am Nockherberg, has an excellent indoor restaurant; and Pschorr at the Viktualienmarkt. I also like Spaten, but tend to only drink it at Oktoberfest. I skip Lowenbrau and Hofbrau when in Munich.

There is also good beer in Salzburg. There, my top spot is Stiegl-Keller. With Augustiner Bräustübl and Die Weisse tied for second. Stiegl-Keller has the best food. Augstiner has a classic beer hall and garden. Die Weisse is noted for its wheat beer.

Have a great trip.

Weihenstephan Bavarian State Brewery-- Great idea for a beer geek. It's not far from the Munich airport. If you have an early flight out of Munich, you could do what we do. On your last full day in Munich, take the train to Neufahrn bei Freising, walk 50 yards to the Gasthof Maisberger. Check-in or leave your luggage at the desk, and then take the train on to Freising. From the train station, take a bus to the Weihenstephen Brewery. You do need to make an advance reservation for an English speaking tour. I think it was 15 Euros. After that, have a very nice meal at the Braustuberl restaurant. You'll do a lot of tasting at the end of the tour.

From Neufahrn, the next morning, walk 50 yards to the station, then the train to the second stop, the airport terminal.

In Munich, there's a Deutsches Museum, it's gigantic, would take a long time to see it all. A bit south of the Marienplatz is the Jewish Museum, maybe take an hour there. Or, take the U-Bahn north to Siegestor and see the White Rose Museum about students against Adolph Hitler (maybe an hour). From there you could walk to the Englisher Garten and have lunch.

You'll have awesome birthdays!

I was going to say pick up the car and head out of town and save Munich as the last stop, BUT many here don’t advise driving after an overnight flight. Me personally, I’ve picked up the rental car at Munich airport many times and driven 2 to 3 hours with no troubles.

IF you live in the U.S. I highly recommend reserving and renting the car through www.gemut.com

Before driving in Austria, buy a highway toll sticker (Vignette) at any gas station while in Germany. Cost is about $10 for a sticker valid for 10 consecutive days. This allows you to drive on highways in Austria without getting a big fine, ticket. Even if you don’t PLAN on using highways, it’s cheap “insurance” against a large fine, in case you do wind up on one.

Also, get an IDP (International Driving Permit) from AAA. Cost is about $25.

We just returned from our trip and well I’m not sure about a tour. I will say that the Eagles nest aside from astoundingly beautiful physical location was a bit of a letdown.
Very expensive and time consuming for what it was. The building itself is just a restaurant more or less not a museum. Only very small finite locations with historical information in the fireplace that’s about it. Personally, I would skip it if given the opportunity again. Unless of course you’re very excited about the beautiful scenery, which we were just difficult to enjoy with a lot of tourist crowds being herded in and out of the small space.
In Salzburg, we loved the Mozart concert. We stayed in Hallein and absolutely loved it delightful Town with art shops and genuinely friendly hospitality. We would go again and just stay for longer in that town.

We stayed at the salt townhouse in Hallein and would 100% stay there again highlight of our trip.
https://www.thesalt-hallein.com/en/townhouse-boutiquehotel-hallein

We also loved Hallstatt consider staying overnight, which will allow you to peacefully explore the beautiful town without The heavy crowds in the evening. Highly recommend taking a boat out on the lake. The swans are absolutely enchanting in the scenery is just breath taking!

Similar to the Eagles nest however, personally I would skip the salt mine itself had a very tourist trap Disney ride vibe to it.

Enjoy your trip!
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As an alternative to the Eagles nest, consider this incredible spot definitely a highlight of our trip!

https://www.derdachstein.at/de/dachstein-gletscherwelt/gletscher-erlebnis/sky-walk

We took the gondola up to the mountain, ate in the very delicious restaurant and then did the skywalk and the ice art. You could spend a day there doing hiking on the mountain as well we loved it!

We did the Eagles Nest as well as many other Alpine sites when we lived in Augsburg for four years.
I thought it was awesome, don't skip it.
Of course, as others pointed out Fussen, Garmish and the Zugspitze are some distance from Salzburg area.
If you try to do the Fussen area, you need more days for your trip.

My wife and I are planning... a trip to Bavaria. We would fly in and out of Munich and have a rental car for the duration of the trip

"our first trip to Europe"

That's obvious. It's a common misconception amongst Americans that Europe is just like the US, except smaller. Here, public transportation sucks, and we have to rent cars to get anywhere, so it must be the same in Europe, right? No, it's not the same, certainly not in Germany and Austria, where you're planning to go. Public transportation here, particularly by train, is excellent. For me, one of the great things about traveling in Germany is experiencing great public transportation, that's so much better than over here. At least for me, traveling in Germany by train is about the most relaxing way to travel.

I've spent about 170 days traveling in Europe since 2000, mostly in Germany, and never needed to rent a car. And it's not just big cities; eighty-five percent of the towns I've stayed in have less than 20,000 people, and I've never needed a rental car to get to them. You won't need a car to get to any of the places to which you are planning to go. After every recent trip, I've looked at how much I spent on rail and bus tickets and compared it to the cost of a car rental, and a rental car has always been much more expensive than the way I did it.

(I have a lot more to say, but I need some time to look up information, so I'll keep updating this post.)

Added: I think you should get a Deutschland-ticket for your travel in June. They cost 63€ ($73) for each person for a calendar month and would cover all regional trains and local trains (S- and U-Bahn, trams, and buses in Munich), including by regional train from/to Munich to/from Salzburg or Berchtesgaden. For the last days in May, you're probably best of just using local tickets in Munich. The Deutschland-Ticket should cover all your transportation, at least in Germany after May 31.

On day 1, when you arrive at MUC, you take the S-Bahn into Munich downtown for 15,10€ per person. This would be a good day to explore Marienplatz, maybe visit the Frauenkirche, maybe have dinner at the Hofbräuhaus, all within walking distance of Marienplatz. If you need public transportation to get to Marienplatz, get a Group Day Pass (Gruppe Tageskarte), for 32,60€. That's only 2, 40€ more and adds use of MVV transport for fany and all travel that day in most of the MVV area.

The next day, maybe, you go out to Dachau. Take the S-2 from anywhere on the S-Bahn trunk line down the center of town to Dachau station and take the bus, #726, from in front of the station to the Memorial. That and back is best done with a Gruppen Tageskarte (Group day ticket) for 21,20€. After that, the day ticket will cover any additional local transport the rest of the day, after you get back from Dachau.

More:

So, that's 32,60 plus 21,20, less than 54€ for the first two days. Then the D-ticket kicks in. You paid 126€ for it. That's a total of 180€ for you trip, which will cover every thing except some local trans in Salzburg and a day trip to Hallstatt, which I don't recommend (I think a day trip is far too short for Hallstatt. At least do it overnight or don't bother.)

I doubt that you can rent a car, and pay for fuel and parking for that time for less than 180€.

As you know, Lee, I'm a strong advocate of public transport in Germany as well. I decided not to provide feedback on this thread since the OP is already convinced that visiting these tourist-approved destinations by car will be a relaxing way to get to know Germany and Europe for the first time. Rarely does advice to the contrary make a mark, I've concluded. Kudos to you for detailing the case for a non-driving experience. I would only add the following.

The Deutschland Ticket and the other ticketing strategies you mention make getting around spontaneous and ultra-flexible. Hop on, hop off. No reservations needed, no tickets to validate, etc., none of the sticky formalities that Americans expect to come with train travel.

With public transport, you don't have to pick up and drop off your train or bus at the airport rental facility. You don't have to sign contracts or worry about insurance liabilities or door dings or reading signage you do not understand or vignettes or finding parking or paying parking fees or unfamiliar navigation devices or traffic jams or tickets issued by radar equipment. Your "job" as a passenger is only to enjoy the ride and the views.

You don't leave much time after Munich for your itinerary. Four nights. Salzburg would be first. I think you would have to chose between Hallstatt or Füssen. Have you mapped this out? You need to prepare your driving itinerary for a car Navigation imput, Google, Tomtom, Et al. You need to plan for parking. Outside of Munich I would search for a nice 3 star Gasthaus/Hotel with balcony and breakfast. Of course parking. The tourist office in the local you choose can help. Maybe something near Werfen, Austria and use Park and Ride for Salzburg. Years ago in old videos Rick stayed in this area. If you choose Füssen you have a wide choice of Gasthaus/Hotel outside the city in the surrounding area.

Just to add I think this is where Rick was in the old video. I've never been... https://www.kendlhof.com/de

We did a similar holiday a few years ago, and had a wonderful time. We had four days in Munich, including a half day visit to Dachau and a day trip to Neuschwanstein and surrounding area, which was a private tour in a van (we were a group of five). Then we took the train to Salzburg (which is pretty short- something like two hours) for four more days. For two of those days we hired a car, one day to drive to Eagle's Nest and the other to Hallstatt, including a visit to the salt mine. At the Eagle's Nest we did a tour with this company, which I really highly recommend: https://www.discover-eagles-nest.com/

It sounds very close to what you are planning, with the exception of the Sound of Music tour and cooking class. We also really enjoyed the Mozart concert at the fortress- very atmospheric setting.

All that is to say, I think the timings seem appropriate, but I don't think you need a car the whole time. You might want it for a day or two like we did. Good luck with your planning!

(cont'd)
Now, as for the SOM tour in Salzburg. This is something I am adamant about. I'm a big fan of SOM. I have three copies of the movie. The last one, a DVD, has a movie long running commentary by director Robt.
Wise, where he talks about the making of the movie, where scenes were shot. Understanding all of this, I would never take any SOM tour that I've seen. They are, in my opinion, the epitome of a tourist trap, something devised for the sole purpose of separating tourists from their money. Most of the things they "show" you have nothing to do with the movie, or not in the way they pretend.

Case in point: Leopoldskron never appeared in the movie. It was being used at the time as a school, and they didn't want the disturbance, so they built a temporary set elsewhere on the pond and used it for the patio scenes (the dumping of the boat, argument between Maria and the Captain, Etc.). It no longer exists to be seen on any tour. Anyway, Leopoldskron is only viewed from a distance, from across the pond on any tour I've seen.

The gazebo is a joke. The little one at Hellbrunn palace was only used for a few distance shots. The actual singing and dancing scenes were filmed in a much larger set in a sound stage in Hollywood. (Did you think that the rain just happened to start at the end of "16, going on 17"?)

The fountains at Hellbrunn might be of some interest, but never had anything to do with the movie.

The cemetery, is at St. Peter's church in the old town, not at Nonnberg Abbey, and the actually scenes were shot in a sound stage in Hollywood.

There are some sites of some actual scenes from the movie, like Mozartstieg (pedestrian bridge), Mirabell palace (Do-re-mi) steps, the Residenz Platz, the Dom and the Dom Platz, the outside of the Nonnberg or Frohnburg, that are authentic, but they are all viewable for free for anyone just walking around in Salzburg. I did all of those things on my own, except the Frohnburg, in 2002, without a tour.

The only thing I see that cannot be seen just walking around Salzburg is the Felsenreitschule. But you can make arrangements to tour it on you own. I think it costs, in dollars, about $8.

Except for that, these tours are more "padded" than most HS senior's term papers.

cover every thing except some local trans in Salzburg

The state of Salzburg (includes the city and surrounding area) charges a transit fee to overnight guests and provides a Mobility ticket for free use of public transit as a benefit. You get it from your hotel. https://www.salzburg.info/en/travel-info/arrival-traffic/guest_mobility_ticket