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Advice on a Summer 2024 trip?

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My partner and I are planning a 2-week trip for Summer 2024. He's a composer, so his top priorities are music sites (Leipzig & Vienna). My top priorities are hiking and small-town charm. Can you help us create a plan that minimizes "one-night stands" but still allows for diverse experiences? Here are my current ideas:

Idea #1:

Fly to Berlin but go right to Leipzig (2 nights). Backtrack to Berlin (3 nights plus a night train to Vienna). Stay in Vienna (3-4 nights) then rent a car and go to Salzburg for 2 nights (visiting Berchtesgaden and/or Hallstatt), then head to Bavarian Alps (2 nights in Garmisch-Partenkirchen?), then spend the last night in Munich.

Idea #2:

Berlin (4 nights), Leipzig (2), rent car & spend half-day in Bayreuth before sleeping in Bamberg or Nuremberg (1 night), drive to G-P (1-2 nights), check out Mittenwald before driving to Salzburg (1-2 nights) then Vienna (3-4 nights).

Questions for you:

  1. Overall thoughts or feedback?
  2. Should we simplify by cutting something out? E.g., we could hike in Berchtesgaden and skip Bavaria; or cut Berlin and spend more time in small towns like Hallstatt or Rothenburg. We could also move things closer together (e.g., drive to the Harz Mountains near Leipzig instead of the Bavarian Alps).
  3. Some of my goals include hiking a gorge, taking a cable car, and doing an alpine slide/luge. Since several places offer similar sites (e.g, Garmisch-P has the Partnach Gorge while Berchtesgaden has the Almbach Gorge), should I just visit one of these regions?
Posted by
5393 posts

Night train = Gross. Do yourself a favor and just fly from Berlin to Vienna. Cheap and fast.

Take the train from Vienna to Salzburg; do not drive this route is a hellacious freeway. Both Berchtesgaden and Hallstatt can be visited by public transportation.

I would spend more time in Salzburg.

You are honestly going to the places that ALL the tourists go - Hallstatt, G-P, Rothenburg. Maybe look at alternatives like St. Gilgen, Bad Ischl, Bad Gastein, Zell am See? Mittenwald is a good choice. Look at Gosausee. In my opinion, the Austrian Alps are more stunning than the Bavarian Alps.

For hikes in gorges (klamm in German) have a look at the Leutasch Gorge in Mittenwald.

Of the two ideas, I think it is a personal choice.

Posted by
3958 posts

Given your different focuses for this trip I’d skip Berlin. You can fly into Frankfurt and take a train that goes directly to Leipzig from the airport. If you fly into BER you have to go into the city to catch a train that goes to Leipzig. To me the extra hour, FRA to Leipzig, is more desirable than BER to city center to Leipzig on local transportation then a train, 3+h vs 2+h.

Take your 4 “extra” nights and add them to the cities from Idea #2, one each.

End your trip in Vienna and fly home from there. Munich in September can have very expensive hotel costs with Octoberfest going on.

You can reach all of your cities by train so there wouldn’t be need for a car rental, drop off fees between 2 countries, parking, insurance, tolls, Austrian vignette, IDP and gasoline. If you look at distances and costs, use Via Michelin to get a more complete idea of expenses.

We’ve been to all of the cities on your list and you’ve picked some great ones for nature and music!

Posted by
32 posts

Thank you for your help! If I don’t take a car, do you think it’ll still be easy enough to travel through the Bavarian Alps? There are some far-flung sites (like Wieskirche) that seem like a pain via public transit. I also wonder if a car would let us travel more efficiently between sites: trailheads, cable cars, luge rides, etc.?

Posted by
3958 posts

Once you map our an itinerary you can see if it makes sense to rent a car for part of the trip and train between the major cities, renting and returning during your time in the Bavarian Alps if you have a hub. And again renting from a hub in Austria and returning to that hub city before you end by train in Vienna. Once you know the trailheads, etc it might become more clear about transportation. BTW there is a public transportation bus stop at the Weiskirche but most people reach it by tour bus or private car. We’ve done both.

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