Car rental in Bavarian Alps

Have you figured in parking costs for the car? I'm wondering why you're quoting bus prices and not train prices to certain areas- just curious.
You are going to some beautiful places. One of my best photos ever was leaving Hallstatt on the ferry to the train station, across the lake- I caught the reflection of the town in the boat wake. The best photo opportunities in Hallstatt are 4000 ft about the town where the salt mine in.
Berchtesgaden bus- my recent bus #840 schedule from our April trip shows the last bus back to Salzburg is 18:15, all days of the week. Still wouldn't help a sunset, tho. A car would be easier getting up to the lake and the sights.
Fun to watch how your plans are evolving.

I remember driving to Salzburg once for a day trip, where spent more time looking for a decent parking spot than we had time to spend there. I always think of that when calculating drive time anywhere. Its not just the time on the road.

Thank you so much Pat. I am not. That is a great question, I need to take that into consideration. Sorry, those prices for train, I don't know why I put bus.

That's great to know about Halstatt, I will definitely take those photos from the salt mine. Thanks. I'm very excited about the trip. My 2 anxieties right now is see how well my daughter will fair with the whole thing and weather. Thankfully we'll be in Spain for a week before so that will help with the jetlag

Not sure where you plan to photograph the Eagle's Nest from, but you can only access the Eagle's Nest by bus.

Hallstatt and G-P have TRAIN service. What's with the bus?

A better public transport base for visiting both G-P AND the Füssen area (Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau) is REUTTE, AUSTRIA. From there you can get a quick bus ride directly to Füssen as well as a direct and very scenic train ride to G-P - and access to the Eibsee and Zugspitze too.

I'd also point out that the "castles" you plan to visit are in fact palaces.

When you say "car costs..." that means gas only, right? Are you figuring the round trip? Salzburg > Hallstatt costs about €10 one way but you'd be driving Salzburg > Hallstatt > Salzburg, right?

If it were me, I'd do it all by train and use the bus here and there. But I'd add more time to my visit; yours crams in too much, especially with a family. That said, I am NOT YOU, and you apparently don't have more time, and I don't have a 3-year-old... but if I did and if I were bent on seeing so much in so little time, I'd rent a car for most or all of the trip.

I could see taking the train to Salzburg, starting your rental in Salzburg on the morning of Day 3, leaving Mittenwald until the very end, and dropping the car in Innsbruck or thereabouts right after Mittenwald. That should save you a big foreign drop-off fee. With the car, you can base yourselves in G-P, as you seem to already have planned (and more easily reach a place like Linderhof.) I have to think a car with a trunk will also allow you to transport the sorts of things you'd need to have a long just to tend to your child's needs.) Then I'd take the train back to Munich or to Munich Airport from Innsbruck on your final day. The "Regioticket Werdenfels" day pass would set you back €41 for this train trip.

Thanks Russ. I realize a lot of times I overcram things. One opton would be to drop G-P and give more time to Salzburg with a stopover in Fussen to see the palaces. You're 100% correct. I didn't consider the round trip cost just getting there. I need to adjust that.

I do really like the option of picking up the car in Salzburg and returning in Insbruck and I will definitely take that into consideration. @Russ if you had those 6 days how would you plan your itinerary to not cram to many things?

Several other points to mention.

it's very expensive to rent a car in one country and drop it off in another.
You will need a vignette (to drive on certain Austrian highways. So factor that into your cost. It's not expensive, but you need one.
I would suggest you take the train from Munich to salzburg. Rent your car in Salzburg and drive to your destinations, (GP as your base) and return the car somewhere in Austria- as suggested by another posted- in Innsbruck.

You can take a bus tour from Salzburg to the Eagles Nest. You can't drive up to it.

I would skip Eibsee and do Linderhof, but I guess it's up to you what's more important.
If you are visiting Linderhof, you might also stop at Ettal Abbey for a quick look.

From GaPa, you can take the cogwheel train up to Zugspitse. They have a parking lot, not sure how much it is.

From GaPa, I found it convenient to have a car to visit Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles, Linderhof, ettal abbey and Oberramergau for the Passion Play.

Read up on how to use the parking disc and review the European road signs.

Thank you so much Dereck. Yes, definitely picking up in Salzburg and returning in Insburg makes sense.

You think Eisbee is too similar to Konigssee? I've heard Linderhof is great. I'll look into the monastery as well.

I'm pretty sure the passion play is all sold out, right? How child friendly is it?

@Russ if you had those 6 days how would you plan your itinerary to not cram to many things?

Oct. 2: Day trip - Munich > Mittenwald > Munich by train. Direct 8:13 or 9:13 train takes 1 hr. 40 minutes. Return 18:04 > 19:47? Last train back is at 22:36. With the Regioticket Werdenfels the round-trip is €31 for your family and you can travel at any time you wish.

Day trip guide to Mittenwald: https://hastingshouse.typepad.com/hastings_house_us/travel_in_europe/

Oct. 3-6: Move to Salzburg by train for the day. Stow bags in a locker while you sightsee. Pick up your car in the late afternoon and drive to...? Wherever your apartment outside Salzburg is located. You don't have to stay in pricey Salzburg. Find a rental for 4 nights, one that is not too distant from Salzburg, meets your family's needs, and is logistically convenient to Berchtesgaden, Hallstatt and Werfen (home of Hohenwerfern Castle and falconry show as well as the Sound of Music Trail. We found the town of Golling perfect for us - we had an apartment at the Cafe Maier there - but Werfen itself might also be a good choice. Then you have 3 days to do Hallstatt, B'gaden, the Koenigssee, the Jennerbahn lift, Hohenwerfen (a true medieval castle, btw,) one of the salt mine tours, and whatever else you turn up. Do it at your leisure from your base town with flexibility as to what gets done when so that you are not racing around on a strict schedule.

Oct. 7: Check out. turn the car back in at the Salzburg outlet where you got it. Then catch the train to PRIEN. It's half way between Salzburg and Munich. Put bags in a locker, take the little tourist train to the dock, and board a ferry over to Herreninsel Island. This palace outshines the other palaces of King Ludwig's in my estimation.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g635849-d1420974-Reviews-Schloss_Herrenchiemsee-Herreninsel_Upper_Bavaria_Bavaria.html

The dock area has a nice park and a bevy of restaurants.

I don't know where you want to sleep on this last night. Maybe in Prien? Munich? Munich airport? Freising near Munich airport? These are all good choices.

The above plan takes you to the Alps, to mountain lifts with great views, to M'wald's impressive river gorges, to great castles and palaces, and to your specified destinations of Mittenwald, Hallstatt, Salzburg, and B'gaden. The notion that you might have a bad time just because you didn't also get to Füssen or Linderhof or the Zugspitze ought to be dismissed as nonsense, I think.

Thank you so much @Russ, that sounds like a great itinerary. My wife is very set on seeing N'weisten, I'll see how I can maybe just cram that in there (or convince her not to go there)

I like the idea of the day trip from Munich to M'wald, my only fear is hotel prices in Munich due to Oktoberfest. I might move that to the end before going home? that way I don't pay Oktoberfest prices for the hotel

M'wald as a day trip at the end makes sense to me.

As for the wife, you might toss in the incentive of dinner at the Fraundorfer Inn's "Bavarian Evening" in Garmisch on the way back to Munich from Mittenwald. The train stops inn G-P anyway. Or as a disincentive for N'stein, the facts themselves about the place may be effective. The 40-minute uphill like to the entrance - which takes longer than the tour itself - is not enhanced by the additional time needed walking back down. And the admission price for this overpriced and overcrowded 30-minute tour will pretty much cover dinner AND the cultural experience at the Fraundorfer.

Salzburg -> Bertchesgaden Still would like to stay in the town for sunset, so I definitely need a car for this because the last bust lives early

Not true! Although the last bus back to Salzburg leaves the Berchtesgaden Hbf at 18:15, the trains through Freilassing run much later, until after 10 PM. With a BGL Tagesticket Bus & Bahn, you have all-day (after 9 AM) use of almost all the use of the trains between Salzburg Hbf and Berchtesgaden Hbf plus the buses of the RVO in Berchtesgaden, including RVO 840, Watzmann Express, between Salzburg Hbf and Berchtesgaden Hbf, as well as the town bus to where the special buses go up to the Eagles Nest (but not the special buses that go up the private, bus-only road to the nest).

If I were you, I would take the Watzmann Express to Berchtesgaden, because it is a few minutes faster, but if you want to stay later, come back on the train.

The BGL Tagesticket Bus & Bahn is 14€ (or maybe 15€) per adult and children under 15 are free.

Salzburg -> Hallstatt There are trains to Hallstatt through Attnang-Puchheim in just over 2 hrs, if you want to spring for the RJ, otherwise, with trains where you can use a cheaper Einfach-Raus-Ticket (regional pass) it will take about 3 hours. The trains take you to the station across the lake from Hallstatt, and you come over on a boat. I hear it's a spectacular entrance to the town by boat. If you drive, you'll have to park at the end of the tunnel, in Lahn, and walk the 1 km into town on the lakefront street.

If it were my trip, I would try to spend one night in Hallstatt (don't cheat yourself by trying to do this too fast). Hallstatt is magical in the evening, after all the daytrippers have left. Again, if I were doing this (I did in 2009), I would go by bus through the Salzkammergut to Bad Ischl and take the train to the station across the lake, then spend a night in Hallstatt.

I'm pretty sure the passion play is all sold out, right? How child
friendly is it?

The play is not child friendly. Its 5 hours long in two parts. You take a dinner break between.
It’s in German. So you follow along with an English text.
In some scenes, it’s like listening to German opera, other scenes its a spectacle
Some tickets might be available.
If you are not going to the play this year, then avoid Oberammergau, as it will be crowded and expensive to find a place to stay. IMHO, there’s nothing in Oberammergau that makes it a must see destination, other than the play.

We stayed in Garmisch at the hotel alpina. Close to the pedestrian shopping and restaurant centrum area and the hotel had some free parking spots.

We stayed at the hotel waldmann near the castles. Good free parking. We took the bus the short distance from the hotel to the castle visitors area. It was free if the hotel gives you a pass.

Parking at the castle area is $€6.

FWIW, The cost of my car rental from Munich airport and return to Munich airport for 7 days was €474 and ½ tank of gas was €66. I booked the car 8 months ago, so the cost is probably much higher now. I used Costco travel, which connected me to Sixt. I had no issues with the car rental. I needed an automatic, so booked a VW golf automatic, but they gave me a BMW X1 automatic for the same price..

To make navigation easier, I brought my own cellphone mount and car charger and used my iphone. I used apple maps. I had T-mobile as my data carrier. They include international data with their regular plans, but its slow, so i bought the 5G data for 30 days upgrade plan for $50 and it worked great. I also downloaded google offline maps as a backup plan if there was no cell signal in the Alps. That wasn’t an issue.