First trip to Germany

Welcome lynn. A couple of points: Munich is pretty far from the scenic mountain areas of Germany, so a few days there including visits to Dachau and Neuschwantstein. Then another base in the mountains with scenery like Garmisch-Partenkirchen, or just stay in Salzburg.

But it would be helpful to read a guidebook like Rick Steves Germany to get an idea of these locations, and transportation You can get around easily by train, avoiding parking issues and the stress of driving. But there's some learning involved in both driving and rail travel, another reason a guidebook would be helpful.

Your questions are pretty general. How long do you have for this trip?

You will want to visit Dachau as an outing from Munich, easy to do by public transport.

To be surrounded by nice scenery, Munich isn't a great base unless you just want to be leaving and coming back all the time. You will probably want to stay there for a couple of days, then move on...

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, south of Munich near the Austrian border, is a good base town for you, only 1.5 hours from Munich's main station by direct train. G-P would put you much closer to wintertime destinations that might interest you.

Try the Bavarian Evening at the Gasthof Fraundorfer in G-P for traditional Bavarian food and entertainment.

From G-P, outings to other nice places won't take forever...

Mittenwald is an especially nice place and only about 20 minutes by direct train.

Innsbruck, Austria is a bit further.

The Zugspitze (Germany's highest mountain peak) is within a stone's throw.

Oberammergau, Linderhof Palace, and the Ettal Monastery are nearby as well.

As the clickable map below indicates, these places are all well connected by public transportation from a G-P base:

https://bahnland-bayern.de/files/media/bahnland-bayern/tickets/regio-ticket-bayern/Regio-Ticket%20Werdenfels/beg-gr-gueltigkeitsbereich-regio-ticket-werdenfels-2021-05-ansicht.jpg

Deutsche Bahn (train journey planner) offer a free-of-cost mobility service (PDF flyer).

For renting a car ensure you have driving permission (not license only) and the rental car needs winter tyres by law. Driving without permission is a crime act and leads to lose of insurance coverage.

You will likely also have to handle German coins or an app with mobile connection for paying public parking.

Thank you! We would probably stay 7 or 8 nights. I am learning a little German with an app on my phone each morning while having my coffee. But I would hope the hotel concierges would help with departure times and getting transportation to rail stations? If we just book our flight and hotel, will we have any trouble getting a train to our next destination the day of? Please let me know how to get the guidebook.

Just found your guidebook. Ordering today.

You will have no trouble booking train travel on the day, but if you can plan ahead long-distance journeys (ICE, IC, EC train types) may be cheaper, although you will be limited to a specific train. If you are staying in Bavaria with maybe a trip to Salzburg you will be able to make all your journeys by regional trains with no need to book in advance.

...I have also read the roads can get icy and we should take trains...Is this trip doable for two old, but adventurous folks...

Trip is definitely doable. Go for it!

Roads can be icy, and the person driving wont be able to enjoy the scenery. Suggest taking the train everywhere.

With your limited amout of time, you might condsider spending half the time in Munich and half in Salzburg. Then simply do day trips from those locations with local tours / guides.

Just to add--for Christmas markets, DEFINITELY check out the trio of Strobl, St. Gilgen, St. Wolfgang on the Wolfgangsee near Salzburg. Strobl was my favorite of the three and probably one of my top all time markets. And it is probably fairly accessible (more so than St. Wolfgang)

@ Howlinmad, Thanks for the info about the strobl Christmas market. We are spending 3 days in Salzburg in December and plan on taking the boat on Wolfgangsee to visit the markets and I was wondering if Strobl was worth the time.

Lynn,

I would suggest when you are looking at train possibilities on the DB website change the transfer time to 10 minutes or more. Just click on transfer time and you can change it. Also - pack light so your bags won't be cumbersome while changing trains. I agree that basing in Munich and then Salzburg would be a good choice. In Munich there are many hotels near the train station - or you can easily take the Ubahn to a hotel closer to Marienplatz where the main Christmas market is. In Salzburg there are also a number of hotels close to the train station and they have a very good bus system going most places in the city - and to St. Gilgen where you can catch the boat on the Wolfgangsee.

What permission does a person need to drive in Germany? That is a very confusing statement. Mark K could you explain?

Don’t drive. Trains are easy. Limit your hotels to Munich and Salzburg. Take an organized day tour to Neuschwanstein, getting one that also visits Linderhof if possible. Christmas markets in Munich and Salzburg. Perhaps a day trip to Regensburg if you feel up to it. No problem getting by with English. Use some of the German you learned.

"What permission does a person need to drive in Germany? That is a very confusing statement. Mark K could you explain?"

So a valid American driver's license is good, but it's best accompanied by an international driver's license. You can easily get that at AAA. It's about somewhere between $15 and $25, and they'll need our take a passport photo for it.

The international drivers license simply translates the info on your license so if you're pulled over, there's some supporting documentation that you're a licensed driver.

We've had the good fortune to travel to Europe a couple of times. We have never been asked for the American OR international license... That said, car rental companies may want to see yours. Also, again, if you get pulled over, the police may want to see it.

I'm a "belt and suspenders" guy for stuff like this. There are people on this forum who say you don't need the IDL. Probably. But as I said, we've never needed it, tho we've had it.

@gbrennan, I think Mark’s definition of permission is different than what we think of it. You don’t specifically need to request permission from the German government to drive there. You do have to comply with the rules that say that if your US license is valid, if you are 18 or older, and if you did not acquire the license while you were a resident of Germany, and a few other more specific rules, then you have permission to drive there using your license. And you DO need an IDP.

@Lynn, I have been to Germany twice, and both times I’ve rented a car, but for a very short periods of time. For example, when I was there for 3 weeks in 2022, I rented a car when I was staying four nights in a village where my ancestors came from. The bus service was sporadic and train service there was very inconvenient to use as the station was a couple of miles out of town, so renting a car for 4 days worked well for me. But otherwise, I went with trains the rent of the trip.

Generally, I would always go with trains in Germany. The train service is not quite as reliable as it used to be, but it’s still pretty darn good and most villages have train stations there to get around. It’s very convenient, and someone above pointed out, the driver doesn’t have to miss seeing the scenery.

And, as noted above, if you are in a place where the train might be a little bit inconvenient, just rent a car for a few days.

What permission does a person need to drive in Germany?

Tourists only need to bring a valid US license. Some other countries, including Austria which the OP plans to visit, require an International Driving Permit (IDP).