Bayern Trips

No experience with them, but plenty of experience planning my own trips in Bavaria. One question the website seems to avoid is how many meals are included with the tour. It looks like breakfast is (it usually is in Germany), lunches, no. Doesn't really say whether dinners are.

My own trips, everything on the ground (lodging, all meals, transportation, admissions), has usually been less than 70€ ($90 today) single. My only recent trip with someone else, last year, was about 120€ ($150) for both of us. That's per "day" (24 hour period). My trips have been mostly in smaller towns; Munich is a bit more expensive.

This tour is for 8 "days" (7 days + 2 half days). That's $262/day single, $350 for two, so you are paying a lot of money to have someone plan the trip for you and lead it. If you can plan it yourself, you can save plenty.

Hello Ray,
We have traveled on ten Rick Steves tours and do a lot of independent travel on our own. I was looking for a similar option for German Christmas Markets. We did not want to do a river cruise, but wanted to have a small group and similar structure to a Rick Steves tour, which also allows time on your own. We traveled with Scott and Vonia Stephens in December of 2011. We also did a little on our own prior to joining the tour. We were very pleased with our experience. In fact we met up with them again for a private tour in summer of 2012 and also went back for Christmas market tour in December of 2012. We have visited with them numerous times since and this past summer/fall actually spent a couple of different trips with them around our independent travel and our Rick Steves tour. We, along with four of our friends enjoyed their Best of Bavaria tour in late September. It included Octoberfest which was on our bucket list! My husband and I recommend Bayern Trips and think you would enjoy the knowledge Scott has to offer. They are very willing to answer any questions you may have.