Please sign in to post.

Bavaria-Tyrol-Innsbruck (12 days)

Hello all - need route advice from fellow members

Q1. Planning a 12 day trip to see the beauty of Bavaria region (Alps, Romantic Road specifically), Black Forest (can this be included too?), Tyrol region (esp. Val Di Funes and Dolomites) and Innsbruck. What route would experienced travellers suggest?

We will be flying in and out of Munich. Itinerary is completely flexible right now, as I have just begun my research. We have a month to go.

Q2. Is it easier to do this region by public transport (preferably train) or is renting a car better?

Posted by
19242 posts

I've spent more than 4 month cumulatively traveling in the Black Forest, Bavaria, and the Tirol, entirely by public transportation.. The major sites are tied together by rail; getting to smaller areas might require a bus, but the buses were comfortable, modern coaches.

Black Forest: The Schwarzwald is basically served by a single north-south rail line running down the middle of the area, but it links major venues like Freudenstadt, Hausach (Open-air museum), and Triberg, plus some lateral rail lines to Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Baden-Baden, Offenburg, Freiburg, and Bodensee. There is also an extensive network of buses to lesser places. If you stay in the Forest itself, you'll get a Konus Karte pass that gives you cost-less access to all of the trains and buses.

Romantic Road: The Road itself is not the attraction.. It's just an ordinary country road with lots of automobile, bus, truck, and farm equipment traffic. It's the towns themselves that are the attraction, and most of the significant ones are tied together by rail. There are a couple of stretches, namely Füssen to Landsberg and Nördlingen to Weikersheim where the only access (except to Rothenburg) is by bus, but I've traveled both of those stretches without difficulty. The only major venue not accessible by train is Dinkelsbühl, and it is a 40-45 minute bus ride from Nördlingen.

Bavaria: The train lines in Bavaria mostly radiate out from Munich, but there are some cross-links in the foothills of the Alps, like the Außerfernbahn through the Tirol and the Bayerische Oberlandbahn in the Tegernsee-Schliersee region. The region south of Munich is well connected by an extensive network of buses run by the Regionalverkehr Oberbayern (RVO).

There is a rail line running over Brenner Pass from Innsburck to Verona. I've only been on it as far south as Fortezza, but a few years ago I was planning on visiting the Dolomite area. There were buses from Brixen and Bolzen to Val Gardena. I imagine you would find them to Val di Funes as well.

Posted by
10 posts

Consider 3 nights or so in each spot. Munich, Salzburg, Innsbruck are all good spots with plenty to do and easy train connections of ~2h travel time between them. You can use the Deutsche Bahn Bayern Ticket between Munich and Salzburg and buy point-to-point tickets to Innsbruck on www.OEBB.at. All are great cities, but consider spending some time outside of a major city for a breath of fresh air, especially in/around Innsbruck or Salzburg.

As for the Black Forest, I’m not as experienced there, as I’ve only been to Stuttgart. Which is fantastic, if you’re into Mercedes or Porsche.

Posted by
9 posts

^ Have already been to Salzburg and Hallstatt, hence did not include in my query.
Forgot to mention, I am not a city guy. I would prefer the countryside and quaint villages any day.