Hello, my family of 4 (2 kids age 12 and 10) have a rental home booked in GP May 30-June 3 as our middle stop on a 2 week trip (first 6 nights Salzkammergut area & last 4 nights in Dolomites) by car. I am still having 2nd thoughts if GP is a good base for Bavaria activities. The family does enjoy slightly busier towns with good shopping, activities & food options. Since we will experience scenic lifts and hikes at the other spots, we will bypass the Zugspitze. Our intentions are to have a day for Linderhof/Oberammergau/Ettal, another day for a train into Munich, and a third as a castle day (Ehrenburg ruins & castles at Fussen, although we won't tour those). We also intend on visiting Partnam Gorge & Mittenwald otw out. I was really struggling between GP, Oberammergau and Zugspitze Arena (Bieberwier) as a base and landed on GP ultimately. Thoughts?
Posted by
9981 posts
Garmish is great for Southern Bavaria.
I highly recommend the Fraundorfer Hotel. It has a great restaurant there as well.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
10130 posts
It would be easy to overthink this. There are several great locations and you could have a great time in almost any of them. That said, G-P is a great spot for a family. Lots to do. Big enough to find something for everyone. Small enough not to feel like you are in a big city.
Posted by
NYC area
3129 posts
I would usually suggest Mittenwald instead of GP, but with your schedule Garmisch makes more sense logistically.
My opinion is Oberammergau isn’t really worth visiting if you’ll be stopping in Mittenwald on the way to the Dolomites.
For “castle day” Neuschwanstein is worth seeing from the outside. You could probably get tickets for the Hohenschwangau castle tour just by walking up and buying them (not nearly as crowded as Neuschwanstein). We’ve done this before. FYI… There’s an Alpine Slide (Sommerrodelbahn) and cable car trip a few minutes from the castles at Tegelberg.
Posted by
OP
43 posts
Thank you all for the responses. I was about 90% sure on GP and I think this all but solidifies it. Just seems to be a solid base for everything we'd like to see. I'd also like to maybe shift some things around (maybe the Oberammergau suggestion) and walk up to the Werdenfels Ruins and Hutte (and/or Eibsee) so we'll stick to GP. Speaking of the Oberammergau/Mittenwald suggestion...is that recommendation because the towns are fairly similar? Mittenwald looks great so I'm not opposed to again shifting and taking the 20 min direct train there to spend some proper time. It just looks to be otw to where we are going and we can spend a nice afternoon there before our drive to Ortisei. Oberammergau seemed to be near Linderhof/Ettal and also looks like there is a coaster near it which is why I'd had it as a stop. For the castles, we much prefer active exploring vs. crowded opulence (with the kids) so Ehrenberg and the Highline 179 appealed much more to us. But we certainly would like to spend an early morning seeing the Ludwig castles and surrounding areas from the exterior. The H'gau tour idea actually is very appealing as well!
Posted by
Oberpfalz, Germany
1628 posts
My vote would be Ehrwald Zugspitze Arena. I drive. A favorite hotel is Hotel Spielmann. Not cheap. Bieberwier has grown, but a little outlying. Old sleepy Fernpass is now full of traffic. Good bus transportation in and around the Arena. I hear what you are saying, but I would visit Innsbruck.