Bavaria 5 days Thanksgiving week

Rothenburg-if Night Watchman tour occurs this time of year, boys would enjoy it.

I did that tour years ago & did enjoy it. I was trying to pick places my husband & I haven't been yet. Thank you.

"I prefer smaller towns, ex. we stayed in Haarlem vs Amsterdam."

Haarlem has 150k inhabitants. Bamberg is smaller than that but pretty distant. Suggest you replace Bamberg with Regensburg, 140k, which is also a handsome UNESCO World Heritage city and not too far from MUC.

I think you can meet nearly everyone's needs with the Regensburg swap-out...

Mon: Arrive MUC travel to Regensburg (2 nights, poss. day trip to N'berg)

Wed: Travel to Salzburg (2 nights, poss. day trip to Berchtesgaden or...?)

Fri: Travel to Munich in early a.m. (BMW, 1 night in town or at airport if you depart early on Sat.) I suppose it might be possible to travel there on Thur. evening instead if you really want to do it that way.

This itinerary is possible by train if you wish.

I think you will find that your return date comes prior to the opening of the area's Christmas markets.

Innsbruck Christmas market starts Nov. 15, 2017. Less than 2 hours from Munich. Our favorite for Christmas Markets and atmosphere along with towering snow capped peaks. Take the Nordkettenbahn trip while there. Terrific funicular/cable car trip. It’s likely you’ll encounter lots of snow at the top.

Salzburg’s Christmas markets start on Nov. 23, 2017.

Paul

Thank you for the replies. As we are weighing our options we realize we will actually have 6 days on the ground. My husband would like to split 3 nights one location & 3 nights another location. We will end the week in Munich since we have to catch our flight from there. So that brings me to deciding between Nurnberg & Salzburg for the other 3 nights. I'm leaning more towards Salzburg so the kids could see a castle & the Christmas market. Any thoughts on that?

Nurnberg 3 nights, Munich 3 nights. You can do a day trip to castles from Munich. The Chinisichum Turm is probably too cold - maybe the City Beer garden is better? The Alte Pinotek for the museum. The Treasury in the Residence in Munich is pretty amazing, kind of overwhelming really. Are you gonna allow the 16 YO a beer? The Nazi-time tour of Munich is pretty cool - you see the Beer hall where Hitler staged the Putsch.

I would suggest a train from Munich to Salzburg, but the prices were pretty high - maybe a car would be best for a day trip.

Thanks Paul for your quick reply.

For Munich, I was thinking pretty similarly to you but adding in the BMW museum for my husband & kids. I am also playing with the idea of the trip to Dachau. The 14 y.o. is pretty sensitive so I"m not so sure. The 16 y.o. would love a beer, but mean Mom says nope. :)

Are there any other nearby castles besides Neuschwanstein & the "mad King Ludwig" castle down in Fussen? The boys are somewhat jaded & want to see the real thing, not some fake new thing & I quote.

I am thinking 2 days in Nurenberg is enough & maybe day trip over to Bamberg. Still not sure how I am going to fit Salzburg in. On my other trips, I have always rented a car so I will check the rates on that.

Thanks again for your help.

I was 8 when my parents took us to Dachau, along with siblings of 7, 5, 3, and 1. I was not damaged. I recently found the pictures of parts of the camp. 14 YO is definitely old enough. Preparation is a good idea, however. A short history of WWII would be a good preparation.

Train Munich to Salzburg is about 2 hours each way, and pretty inexpensive if you use a Bayern ticket for the four of you. Great Christmas market, not overwhelming.

Well we finally booked our rooms. 3 nights Munich & 2 nights Salzburg. Is there enough to keep us busy in Salzburg for 2 days? In the winter is there something outdoors nearby we should see? Once we figure this out we'll decide on rental car vs train.

Thanks everyone.

We land in Munich this Sunday & have rented a car to start our trip. Our plan is to drive to Salzburg, we should be there well before lunch. So we have Sunday & Monday in Salzburg. Check out Tuesday morning, have the day to sidetrip & drive to Munich turn in car, spend 3 nights in Munich, fly home Friday.

My problem is my boys really want to see the alps & this itinerary really doesnt permit that. Is there a sidetrip we could squeeze in before heading to Munich? The boys watched a show on Mittenwald & want to go there, they loved the village at the base of the alps. So I am looking for something like that.

My next question is; in reasearching Salzburg & the surrounding area & it seems many things are closed, is it worth it to visit Salzburg this time of year? The nearby castles are closed, the ice caves are closed, the eagle's nest is closed & the Christmas markets arent open yet. We have no desire to do the SOM tour. So these things are making me 2nd guess Salzburg. We had wanted to see castles, alpine villages and take a tram to a mountsin top, while we based in Salzburg. The boys arent as interested in palaces. The only thing still open is the fortress in town and the nearby saltmines, (I am not overly pushed for salt mines.)

So if anyone could help with some itinerary tweaking that would be great. Munich must stay on back end of trip.

Thanks.

"The boys watched a show on Mittenwald & want to go there, they loved the village at the base of the alps. So I am looking for something like that."

I tend to agree about Salzburg in winter.

It's unwise to be driving in unfamiliar territory after an international red-eye flight across several time zones.

Suggest you cancel the car and board the train at MUC airport terminal and travel to Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Mittenwald's big brother.) 2 hours and €26 later you'll be at Garmisch station. The ticket you need is a "Regio-ticket Werdenfels" day pass - buy it at the Munich airport station from a ticket machine. This map shows the train lines covered by your day pass. You can drop bags at your hotel and hop on any train you like to see Mittenwald that same day if you wish (no extra charge since your day pass is valid all day.)

Look into the "Bavarian Evening" (dinner w/ traditional music and dance) at the Fraundorfer Inn (which also has rooms.)

Garmisch information

Free transportation and other goodies around Garmisch with the GAPA card

Mittenwald day trip information

While it's possible to stay in Mittenwald instead, for a couple of nights I think you'll find G-P more engaging overall and you'll have a wider choice of accommodations.

You can return to Munich for your stay there on the same Regio-ticket Werdenfels.

Genuine Castle: Take a day trip by train from Munich to Burghausen to see the castle of the same name. Make a stop in attractive Landshut on the way back (it's on the way.) The Bayern ticket (€31/family) gets you there and back.

Thank you Russ for all these great ideas. We leave today & have decided to keep the car for the flexibility it provides. We have also decided to wing it a little bit when we get there. We are going to spend our first day in Salzburg but the 2nd day is undecided, we may stay in salzburg or we may head to Garmisch for a day or two.

Thanks again.