We are heading to Edelweiss Christmas week. We will be there Sunday to Sunday. We plan on renting a car and doing most of the sights on our own versus through the resort. I would love to hear from those who have done the same and any tips you may have. What sights to see, how much time is needed and so on. I'm also seeing there is more than just the Neuschwanstein Castle that we can reserve tickets for and visit. Should we visit any of these other ones? We have 2 older teens traveling with us. Thanks!
Posted by
The Heartland USA
8975 posts
Janette
Many of the posters here may not recognize that you are referring to the Edelweiss recreation facility in Garmisch run by the US military for military and DoD personnel. Even I am assuming thats what you mean.
We took the tour from there that included visit to a dairy operation, a monastery in the mountains that brewed beer, and stopped at the White Church near Oberammergau. The dairy was especially interesting, with samples of cheese, yogurt and milk. I don't remember if this was separate from the Neuschwanstein tour or all the same day. I would suggest looking over all the tour brochures when you get there, to decide what's worth doing.
Posted by
NYC area
2981 posts
Hi Jeanette,
In the area is Ludwig's Linderhof Palace, Ettal Monestary, the Zugspitze trip (to Germany's highest peak), Mittenwald, Neuschwanstein AND Hohenschwangau (I'd visit both), the old town of Fuessen (maybe 10 minutes from Neuschwanstein) and even Innsbruck, which is only about an hour away. The Wieskirche is also well worth seeing. If there's snow, you can probably do some sledding/tobogganing in the area.
http://zugspitze.de/en/winter/mountain/garmisch-classic/rodeln
http://www.sonnenbichl-mittenwald.de/en/winter-rodeln.php
You can also look into these:
http://www.gapa.de/Garmisch-Partenkirchen_Sights_Historic_Bobsleigh_run
http://www.olympiaworld.at/en/sport_aktiv/eissport/bob_rodeln_skeleton.php
Paul
Posted by
back in the Americas
723 posts
Your kids will enjoy walking through the frozen Partnach Gorge, right there in G-P. We took the train one day to Mittenwald and another day down to Innsbruck, Austria and enjoyed both. There will be lots of Christmas markets to explore. We took the resort sponsored tour to Linderhof Palace and Oberammergau. I would like to return there to explore further. I would have liked to have had more time in the town of Oberammergau but you control your schedule if you are on your own. If you have a rental car you have all kinds of possible destinations. Spend time walking around Garmisch and Partenkirchen exploring the towns. There are all kinds of hiking trails in the area. Will your family ski? Do you plan on going up the Zugspitze? Have you been to Munich? The young rec employees there can give you good information about what is available locally and relatively nearby. Check out this website http://www.gapa.de. It has lots of great information. It also has several livecams so you can actually see the mountains, the ski jump, and a town plaza. It gives valuable info on sights, excursions and events. Enjoy your trip. I hope you have snow. It will be beautiful.
Posted by
Oberpfalz, Germany
1389 posts
The last day for most Christmas markets will be 23 December, so you may want to focus on that the first few days. A Car will give you many options, just depends how far you want to drive for day trips. Maybe Oberammergau, the Wieskirche, Tegernsee, Bad-Tölz, Achensee in Austria (Rofan). A little long but into Tyrol, and the Austria Alps, Sölden Ötztal valley or towards St. Anton am Arlberg Region. In winter you may need snow chains with heavy snow in the higher elevations in the Alps, and if you are not skiing, unless you have clear blue skies maybe not too much to see but sports shops, cafes, churches and small old town centers. You might ask the Edelweiss folks if there is a local concert, or Weihnachtliche Musik im Stodl ( traditional music in a barn setting) or a Church concert or play.