Activity ideas with 3 year old for Bavaria/western Austria in December?

At Xmas time daylight time is short and temperatures may be freezing, it looks to me that your program requires a lot of traveling around if done in summer; but in winter it will be too much traveling, and on the excessive side if done with a toddler. For example I do not know if I would take a cruise on the Wolfgangsee in winter, or travel all the day to see Halstatt - both things seem more appropriate to summer, in any case I would do only one.

Day 8 would be difficult enough with a car, but impossible on rail travel: Salzburg to Innsbruck is 2 hours, Innsbruck to Füssen is 5 hours by train (you have to backtrack to Munich). Füssen is linked by train only to Munich, you cannot sleep in Füssen and visit Tirol by train. Innsbruck is nice in winter and probably you would find more things to do there than in Füssen. (Visit to Neuschwanstein involves a walk in the woods or a sleigh ride, I suppose it would be nice with snow but again it could be quite freezing).

I suggest the toy museum in Salzburg and maybe the folk museum in Innsbruck that has a big collection of nativity scenes. (If you like nativity scene an huge collection is in Munich National Museum).

This itinerary would be stressfull without a three-year-old nearby to manage and to entertain. You have much too many lengthy rides on the road, which can be tedious especially in winter. You have already cut it down to four sleepover locations which is good, but you certainly aren't informed how many hours you have to drive e.g from Rothenburg o.d.T to Nuremberg (hint: it's 1.5 hours minimum one direction on the autobahn, in summer). Use e.g. the Google route planner and muliply times by 1.5 to get realistic winter results. But you don't want to go on the autobahn but see some landscape I think, so it's even more. Does your toddler appreciate? Maybe one day. But not 12 in a row.

Hi John,

Plan looks pretty good. Instead of staying in Salzburg with a car, look to stay in the area, but close by. We always stay (5 times) in the Berchtesgaden area. Salzburg is 30 min. away, Wolfgangsee an hour and Hallstatt under 2 hours. You can also look at the Salzkammergut to stay (St. Gilgen). The cruise on the Wolfgangsee is wonderful. We did this in Dec. 2013. We love Innsbruck at this time of year. Fuessen may or may not have a market going on during your stay.

If you come from Munich Airport, I would advise you not to go on the romatic road directly, it takes just too much time to drive it and only a few towns are really "romantic". Take the autobahn to Nuremberg instead, visit the Christmas market there so you have this off your list. Then go to Rothenburg through A6 or A3 autobahn (both equally horribly congested) and relax at the hotel. Next day Rothenburg until your toddler is tired.
Day three, visit Feuchtwangen and Dinkelsbühl. It's a nice ride even using back roads and you can cut Dinkelsbühl or return to base using the A7 as soon your toddler is too tired. Both are towns on the romantic road so you have this off your list, too. Day 4, go to Füssen. (Why? Because Füssen is at the A7 autobahn as Rothenburg, in winter about a 3.5 hours ride. Berchtesgaden in contrary is behind Munich, at least 6 hours and a lot of traffic jams around Munich away.) On your way to Füssen, make a stop in Ulm and visit the old city centre and go on top of the minster tower.

I bet you are going to Füssen because you want to visit the Neuschwanstein castle? Please be aware it's mostly a hull because as soon Ludwig II. died, work on it stopped for budget reasons. And it's not necessarily toddler-friendly, given the long lines of tourists waiting there. Anyway, Füssen and the Lech gorge are worth a visit. I advise not to take Füssen as a base for Tyrol. Going through the passes in winter can be a tedious drive. Instead, have only one sleepover in Füssen, then go to Innsbruck and have your home base there. Visit Innsbruck and Hall in Tirol. Go sledding somewhere there. Maybe you want to put your son on skis for the first time? There are sure toddler ski schools in Tyrol.

Go through back roads to Salzburg. The route through Zell am Ziller, Zell am See, Saalfelden, Bischofshofen is quite scenic (but then, all the back roads in the alps are.) Stop at Zell am See, it's a picturesque small town. Between Bischofhofen and Salzburg, you can visit Festung Hohenwerfen, which was a set for various films.

Hohenwerfen Fortress is closed in December. Zell am See and Zell am Ziller will probably be very quiet. I'd skip them. You don't "need" to drive "back roads" to see majestic, beautiful scenery. For instance, some terrific views can be seen from the A12 near Innsbruck. The scenery from the A22/A13 from Italy into the Innsbruck area are spectacular.

I just looked the itinerary over again and would switch the Fuessen stays with the Salzburg stays. Make Salzburg/area your last stop before Munich. This is the ideal order for your stays.

Paul

Hi once again,

I see that you say overnight/sleeping locations are finalized. I'd suggest asking if they can be switched, as the Rothernburg to Salzburg drive is about 5.5 hours. Rothenburg to Fuessen is about 3 hours. Then another 3.5 hours from Fuessen to Salzburg. You're "kind of" passing by Fuessen on the way from Rothenburg to Salzburg and then backtracking to go to Fuessen. I'd ask to switch the dates in Salzburg and Fuessen. Worst case scenario you're back to this itinerary.

Paul

Paul, you are right. Forget to check that one, it closes on Nov 6. Bummer. I recommended Zell am See because it's really picturesque. But maybe Hall in Tirol in sufficient. At least you are able to stop nearly anywhere you like on a back road. Not on the autobahn.

lachera, thank you for the suggestions of the Salzburg toy museum, folk museum in Innsbruck, and Munich National Museum. All sound like things our son would enjoy.

jjj, I like your ideas for reordering our time in Rothenburg/Nuremburg, I am just somewhat concerned about having an activity (in this case visiting Nuremburg) on the day we arrive.

Paul, we have an apartment rental with free parking on the outskirts of Salzburg, so we will not be driving in the old town.

Paul/jjj, it appears I have made a mistake by going Rothenburg->Salzburg->Füssen instead of switching Salzburg and Füssen. Unfortunately I am unable to change our Salzburg reservations so we will have to do best with what we have. I believe our current plan lines up with Christmas market schedules better, so it at least has that going for it. I do wish we had more time for Innsbruck/Hall but there is only so much of it. May have to consider going there for a full day instead of just stopping on the way through.

Taking our son sledding in Tirol will certainly be on the to-do list.

One question for anyone who may know- does the Night Watchman walk in Rothenburg have content that is inappropriate for a young child?

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions.

No,

The Nightwatchman is suitable for all ages.

If you cannot change the Salzburg accomodation, maybe you can do the tour backwards? Meaning, first Munich, then Berchtesgaden and Salzburg, Innsbruck, Füssen, Rothenburg, Nürnberg. Going from Rothenburg to Berchtesgaden in winter will take about 6 hours on the autobahn. Without traffic jams and breaks. That means, one day of just autobahn travel because it's winter and the sun sets at about 16:30.

Note you don't have to attend the Nürnberg Christmas market. There are equally fine Christmas markets in any German and Austrian town.

I've found children enjoy the smaller Christmas markets more than the big. main ones (which are more geared to selling trinkets to adults). In Munich the Medieval Christmas market on Wittelsbacherplatz is worth a visit with kids. http://www.mittelaltermarkt-muenchen.de/mittelaltermarkt_html/seiten/start_en.html lots of people dressed up in period costumes, performing acts, etc. The night we went they had falconers walking through the crowd with their birds of prey and jugglers. That and the food is way better than the main market on Marienplatz.

A good souvenir for a three year old (if you are religious) is to purchase a block wood creche from the creche market. It should be no problem to find a handmade one at one of the markets. Ours is still a favorite with my kids at Christmastime (mainly because we let them play with it).

DJ

jjj,

Why would a drive take longer in winter? We've done many drives in Germany and Austria in winter. Unless there's a snow storm, the drive times are the same as our trips at other times of the year.

Paul

jjj, I like your idea for switching Munich and Rothenburg but I'd like to keep Munich at the end so that we don't have to worry about potentially driving to the airport in bad weather to catch our flight. I think we are just going to have to deal with the inefficiency of the drive from Rothenburg to Salzburg. Hopefully our hotel in Rothenburg serves breakfast on the earlier side so that we can get on the road. I do really appreciate your help in trying to optimize the itinerary though.

DJ, thank you so much for your suggestions! The medieval market sounds perfect and I suspect we will come back with a creche.

Why would a drive take longer in winter? Unless there's a snow storm,

Heavy rain is sufficient. You don't go constantly 100kph as assumed e.g. by google maps in heavy rain. And it's not you who decides what heavy rain is but the people in the car in front of you. And speed limits of course.

(fun fact: years ago, I wanted to attend a festivity in Tübingen, at normal weather a 6 hour drive from here. But it was a bit of snow in some hilly regions inbetween and some Ukrainian trucks got stuck at the slopes because of their bad tires. Got stuck 2 hours in the first traffic jam and 4 in the second. Seems they don't have snow in Ukraine, eh? Maybe I'm a bit cautious with winter weather because of that. It makes the idiots on the road identifiy themselves very quick.)

John, I think then you have to live with that long drive. You could make it less awkward by planning stops in Ulm (as written above) and/or Augsburg. Visit the Fuggerei there, its old-german style socialism at its best. That will make you arrive later in Berchtesgaden but at least it's not a drive-only day then. Oh, and for your son, the Augsburger Puppenkiste museum should be interesting. It's the guys who made a puppet film series of the Jim Knopf books.

I get it jjj. But heavy rain days and snow days aren't the norm, but the exception. We encountered a few days with some snow in 2010 and 2013 and it really didn't slow our plans down. Not looking to argue.