Bavaria Stay Recommendations

Welcome to the forum.

In the Alps I would plan around weather that is not very conducive to a nice time in the Alps. You shouldn't have much trouble finding accommodations at that time of year, at least.

In northern Bavaria, Nuremberg is accessible from either airport and probably a very good option if you want somewhere with a good variety of things to see and do, historic sites, lots of beer, and a castle.

https://munique-tours.de/private-tour-guide-munich-bavaria/Nuremberg-from-Albrecht-Duerer-House.jpg
https://www.schloesser.bayern.de/englisch/palace/objects/nbg_burg.htm
https://www.europeanbeerguide.net/nurnpubs.htm
https://tourismus.nuernberg.de/en/discover/places-of-interest/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU7qmhO5uwM

We will be flying into either Frankfurt or Munich (both are around the same cost).

Given around the same cost, if I wanted to visit Bavaria, I'd fly to Munich and avoid the costly train trip with jet lag from Frankfurt. (Don't even think of driving from Frankfurt to Munich on the day you arrive with jet lag!)

Exception: Würzburg is an interesting city with a castle (Marienberg fortress) and a palace. It's less than two hour from Frankfurt airport by regional train. You can use a Bayern-Ticket (plus a local RMV ticket) or a Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket and don't have to worry about losing an advance purchase Savings Fare ticket if your flight is late. (You might also be able to get a Rail&Fly ticket and use faster long distance trains without risk.)

From Würzburg, it's a short hop to Rothenburg ob der Tauber for a night on the way to Munich.

By the way, so far we've not talked about anyplace that is not easily accessible by rail. You really don't need to rent a car. One of the neat things about traveling in Germany is using the trains, something we can't effectively do over here. Germany, particularly Bavaria, has a very dense rail system, augmented by a bus network. You can get just about anywhere you want by rail. I've spent months in Bavaria, visited lots of small towns, never rented a car, had a lot of fun, and saved money and stress in the process. Figure out the train system and you'll have a more interesting trip.

I don’t know where you’re from but here in Atlanta Delta has a nonstop to Stuttgart as well which is about the same distance to the castles (Neuschwanstein, etc.) as Munich is. I recently asked a question about where to stay in those areas; the responses I got might help you. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/reutte-austria-innsbruck-austria-or-fussen-germany-for-murren-like-experience

March will be cooler and probably wet in Bavaria, too late to ski and too early to hike much.

Nuremberg is great base from which to visit northern Bavia, especially Bamberg, Augsburg, etc, but it is a bigger small city. Bamberg is a lovely smaller city about a half hour further north so it is easy to get to, and also a good base. You can stop there coming from Frankfurt before heading further south, but it is easy to get to from Munich too.

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/624/

Both G-P and Innsbruck are great. Weather will be variable. In G-P you can probably ski on the glacier at the top of the Zugspitze cog railway though.

https://www.gapa.de/en/GaPa-on-site/Service-current-information/Tourist-Information

https://www.austria.info/us/where-to-go/cities/innsbruck

There are two gorgeous valleys just south of Innsbruck too the Stubai Valley and the Ziller Valley.

https://www.stubai.at/en/

https://www.zillertal.at/en.html

Have a great time!

If you are considering northern Bavaria, I would recommend Bamberg. Its about half the size of Dijon, but still feels like a real city while offering all the small city charms and there are enough things to do there for 2-3 days. I know that Nurenberg is the most popular Northern Bavaria destination, but it is a true big city (over half a million people) and has a somewhat heavy medieval look/feel that is all too common in German cities. Bamberg on other the other hand is lighter and cheerier if it makes sense, while still having historic sites (there is even a castle 30 minute walk outside the city).

Hi! I’m traveling with my two kids (11&13) at the same time! But we are flying into Berlin and out of Vienna. I originally wanted to squeeze in mountain time in Switzerland but settled on southern Bavaria for a few nights to get my mountain fix. Hoping to visit Zugspitze. What did you decide? My husband doesn’t want to rent a car. Tentative itinerary is:
3-Berlin
4-Munich, Garmisch-P, or???
2-Salzburg
3-Vienna

Hi! Ok we decided to start in Paris and end in Munich, so it changed our plans a little.

3 nights Paris
2 nights Reim (via train)
1 night Strasbourg (via train)
2 nights Rothensburg (start road trip with car)
1 night Ulm (car - half way point down Romantic Road)
2 nights Fussen (will return car here)
3 nights Munich (via train)

It's a fair amount of moving around, but we are only bringing 2 backpacks for 4 of us, so we are hoping to be able to move around easily. We will also be adding in Disneyland Paris on one day in Paris. We generally go to Disneyland California each year, but thought it would be amazing to experience it in France this year.