Bavaria/Salzburg itinerary

This will be wonderful…and your kids will love it! Been everywhere but your “day 3” places. It is very busy itinerary! Not sure if you have travelled to Europe before? Your drive to Salzburg a safety concern on your arrival day. We find we are always jet lagged esp. that first day….rather rough and hard to stay awake. We prefer to sleep that first night where we land. You will find many on this forum would agree. Better safe and more rested when driving!

Do you have a reservation yet for your stay in Salzburg? It might be a pain to drive/park your car in the city. Perhaps consider taking the train from Munich to Salzburg, then picking up your car in Freilassing, Germany (just a few minutes from Salzburg) when you are ready to head to Berchtesgaden.

Overall it sounds like a great trip! Check out the Berchtesgaden salt mines; your kids might really enjoy this (as well as you!). It might be a bit much with everything else you have planned on route to Fussen, but you can reach it by bus from Salzburg as a day trip.

You could fly into Munich and out of Frankfurt, with a multi-city, open jaw ticket. Have you considered this?
And I agree, no driving after flying internationally, and the train to Munich to Salzburg is so easy.
IMHO the palaces at Fussen are highly overrated and a tourist trap. You are moving around a lot. Unless the kids are demanding this, I would skip it. Berchtesgaden needs a whole day, it's so beautiful, perhaps another night in Salzburg.
Have a great trip. Safe travels.

Den has the right idea…taking the train. The train is what we did Munich to Salzburg…vise-versa…and more doable when jet lagged. We have only used trains everywhere…even when traveling with our family. You could get the car later as Den suggested?

By the way….our family and kids loved the Sound of Music tour!!

Fairly good plan, but

1) While in Salzburg, make sure you visit the Cathedral, Mozart's House and the Castle on the hill (not sure you have enough time allowed for that.
2) Day 3 you plan to drive from Berchtesgaden, see the Eagles Nest, then on to the Zugspitze in Garmish, staying in Fussen. Did you plan to take the cable car or cog train up to the top of the Zugspitze. It would be a shame to miss that. Also, consider staying in Garmish at the Fraunforder Gasthaus.
3( Doing the Romantic Road is great, but you only have one day driving between Fussen and Rothenburg. You have several cities and towns to visit. Augsburg should be one and you will need 2-3 hours there to see the Rathaus and Fuggeri. Then you have Dinkelsbuhl, Dounawurth and more.
4) Not a lot of time in Munich, what do you plan to see there except for Dachau. By the way, I wold NOT take young kids (under 16) to see Dachau.

Any suggestions, things your would change, things we should be aware
of?

You've received some good tips already... I notice you use the word "explore" several times. Looking at the whole itinerary package, however, it really does feel very "pre-packaged," a bit like you've lined up at the In-N-Out Burger drive-thru with the rest of your fellow countrymen who are torn between exploration and the reassuring comfort of the well-trodden path.

Your posting history shows previous travel in the Swiss Alps. I question whether visiting Berchtesgaden AND the Zugspitze AND Füssen will add much if anything to what you've alread experienced... Bavaria (and Germany for that matter) is much more than just the Disneyesque, cutesy, and Nazi-era cliches that figure heavily on the pages of our mutual travel guru. Maybe you can fit in a place or two where you could explore personal interests and activities or some other historical period or cultural aspect of Germany...
Before your plans get set in stone, I suggest you look at an additional guidebook or two and at some of the links below - all focus on Bavaria.

https://www.stmwk.bayern.de/art-and-culture/unesco-cultural-heritage/world-heritage-sites-in-bavaria.html

https://www.visit-burghausen.com/en

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g198421-d284746-Reviews-Frankonian_Open_Air_Museum-Bad_Windsheim_Middle_Franconia_Franconia_Bavaria.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187303-d1193285-Reviews-Veste_Coburg_mit_Kunstsammlungen-Coburg_Upper_Franconia_Franconia_Bavaria.html

I agree with several other people the train might be a good alternative for at least some of the trip. We took the train from Munich to Salzburg in July and it was so easy! No need to worry about parking a car just get off the train and you are in the heart of the city. Also make sure you get the Neuschwanstein tickets early! They sell out and then you have no alternative as you can only see the castle on a guided tour.

Thank you everyone for sharing, this is such helpful information! I have a few more questions based on responses...

We will switch to take the train into Salzburg and pick up the car later. Is it a hassle/expense in Germany to rent a car in one city and return it to another?

Pat you mentioned Berchtesgaden needs a whole day- what other things do you recommend there? Also, to those that have visited Eagle's Nest, is it worth it to go up to the top?

Is Fussen a good place to stay to enjoy Bavaria or is there a better home base?

We took our family last summer to Switzerland and visited Schilthorn. Would it still be worth it to go up Zugspitze or would it possibly be redundant as Russ mentioned (I had wondered this myself).

What is the best way to do Romantic Road? Is one full day sufficient to drive and stop in places along the way or do we need more time. Is Rothenburg a good place to stay at the end of that day or should we look at other locations?

Do others agree Dachau is too disturbing for 12 and 15 year old kids?

Thank you so much for following up-any other suggestions places to stay/see are so appreciated!

Regarding Berchtesgaden , it depends on how beautiful lake and mountains affect you. I can't get enough, and feel so alive. There's an electric boat ride on the serene lake, that takes you out to beautiful hiking.
On the way from Salzburg, there are the salt mines, which the kids should love! (Book in advance).
Have a great trip.

Is Fussen a good place to stay to enjoy Bavaria or is there a better
home base?

There is no single place that serves as a good base for Bavaria, which is much larger than you are imagining, I think. Berchtesgaden, Füssen, Dachau, Munich, Rothenburg, the Romantic Road... all of these are destinations are Bavarian destinations.

You can see how big Bavaria is on this map - which also shows the numerous train lines that connect places in Bavaria... which should in turn explain why so many have suggested train travel for your family.

https://www.bayern-fahrplan.de/media/files/beg_streckennetz.pdf

I've spent a lot of time in Bavaria - traveling by train and by car - and I find no reason to recommend the car as a rule unless you are unable to locate accommodations for your family of 5 that are near the local train station. Day passes can cover your family's train journeys very economically.

• Regarding Dachau: you have to carefully consider what you know about your kids. My son had the privilege of taking an outstanding class about the Holocaust when in middle school, including a visit with a Holocaust survivor. Even with this background there is no way I would have taken him to a camp at that age-visiting a place where such horrors actually occurred would have been very disturbing for him. Just something for you to consider. (Dachau's official website says "We advise that children under the age of 12 do not visit the museum exhibitions, memorial site grounds or the former crematorium as some of the display material could disturb them.")
• Regarding the "Romantic Road": Stop off at Nordlingen en route from Fuessen to Rothenburg. Great Altstadt for walking and food, city wall walk (2.6 km), rickety church tower to climb for incredible views! Watch the original "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" before you go- the views from the Great Glass Elevator were filmed in Nordlingen.

Two more things...

• The lake mentioned by Pat is the Konigsee. Once across the lake there's a peaceful biergarten, as well as many hiking trails.
• Regarding a car-there may be a small fee for returning in another German city; we did this in fall of '22 and it wasn't an amount that stands out to me. You would save way more than this fee by not paying for parking in Salzburg!

Car is the best way to do the Romantic Road. 2 days at a minimum. One night in Rothenburg

When i was a kid, I felt it was traumatically frustrating when i detected that my parents or any adults were withholding information from me, or refusing to admit something (about any topic). I can't see any benefit to trying to block kids from finding out how people have mistreated other people throughout history. If I had kids and if I was taking your trip, I would keep the Dachau camp on my itinerary. I would answer most or all questions in complete graphic detail in a banal way until my kids found out enough to be good on information for now. In general I don't necessarily believe in the idea that you can be damaged by finding out about bad stuff more if you are below a certain age. I am 40 now. I have no kids.

I took my 11 year old to Dachau in it was a bit much for him. I wouldn't say he was traumatized, but it was a bit much for him to handle. (He kept claiming to be bored and wanting to leave which was very out of character for him). In hindsight I wished I hadn't taken him. Fast forward 2 years and we took him to Matthausen as a 13 year old and he was fine. Part of that may be that it wasn't his first experience, but really it depends on the child and how sensitive they are.

We’ve used the Salzburg Monchsberg underground lot so many times and never thought it was very expensive. It costs more for us to use the Lincoln Tunnel or GWB here at home.

https://www.salzburg.info/en/travel-info/infos/underground-car-park-altstadtgaragen_az_5199

“The lake mentioned by Pat is the Konigsee. Once across the lake there's a peaceful biergarten, as well as many hiking trails.”

This was the most beautiful thing we saw while doing the Munich/saltzberg/Berchtesgaden route. It was really just jaw dropping beautiful. Particularly if you decide to keep the concentration camp I would skip the Eagles Nest stop and do this instead.

Piggybacking on Shawna's post...

Königssee... Take an electric boat across the lake, get off at the Salet stop, take the 15-minutes walk to Obersee, admire the Instagram-perfect view (go early to avoid having Instagrammers cluttering the view!), hike around the left-side of the lake, admire the view from the opposite side of the lake, ascend toward Röthbach Wasserfall (the tallest waterfall in Germany) to find a gorgeous alpine meadow surrounded by granite peaks, and then continue on to the foot of the waterfall to feel the cool breeze coming off the water. Watch your step! Cows live here during summer. Head back the way you come and stop at the snack shack on Obersee -- you can sample fresh-collected raw milk from the cows or get more traditional snack shack fare.

Also, to those that have visited Eagle's Nest, is it worth it to go up
to the top?

On a clear day.

Would it still be worth it to go up Zugspitze or would it possibly be
redundant as Russ mentioned (I had wondered this myself).

Given what you've done in Switzerland, I think making a stop for the Zugspitze is probably not critical, but that is your decsion. I will add that Eagle's Nest gives nice mountain top views. If you go to Königssee, you can also take the Jennerbahn to a mountain top for nice views. Especially if you do one of those, I think you can skip the Zugspitze and use that time for something more varied than mountain top views.

Do others agree Dachau is too disturbing for 12 and 15 year old kids?

I think it depends on the maturity of the kids. My two cents: You are going to introduce a day of depression to your trip -- it's hard to visit a Nazi camp and not walk away shaken by humanity's tendency toward depravity, especially if you connect that to current-day conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

There are a lot of comments so I’m sorry if someone has already suggested this…

I suggest the Salt Mine Berchtesgaden tour if you have time. This was a great tour and I think the kids will also enjoy it!

Your itinerary looks great! I’ve been to many of these places, and you will love it! Enjoy your trip!