Help with Munich trip

I haven't been to Linderhof, but Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau are worth seeing. They are different and more unusual than Nymphenburg. However, it would take pretty much of a day to see them, and if you are also taking a day trip to Berchtesgaden (definitely a good trip!) I might skip them and see Nymphenburg which would take much less time. My favorite part of Nymphenburg is walking around the gardens.

kapke,

i have 3 full days planned in Munich but dont plan on going any further out than Dachau/Nymphenburg Palace on this trip. what i found to do will more than fill up my 3 days there.

On my return trip, i will do some of the other sights you list and try to get in an Octoberfest either in Munich or Rosenheim.

happy trails.

Given a choice between Linderhof and the other 2 Neuschwanstein & Hohenschwangau I would hands down choose Linderhof. Not only is the palace beautiful it has extensive grounds with gardens, fountains, grottoes and nice food places dotted around.

I hope you're already aware that the night train runs from Munich to Paris, arriving at Est station, then you walk a few blocks to Nord station for the Eurostar train to London (30-minute minimum advance check-in required). Train tickets to Paris (not London) start at about 70 euros, if you buy them when the cheapest rates go on sale in a day or two from now through DB. Prices go up from there, and the Paris-London ticket is easily the same price again. I would also look at flights at www.skyscanner.com. I remember enjoying Linderhof more than Hohenschwangau, if you have time.

I also think Linderhof is the best of the castles you mention. While you can certainly visit the places you mentioned by train (and other posters here can give you better advice on that than I can) my personal choice would be to rent a car for a day or two. For us, the additional cost of renting a car is far outweighed by the flexibility of going where you want when you want. We also enjoy the 'places in between', if you will, as much as or more than the destination its self. If you rent a car at the main train station (Hauptbahnhof), it is relatively easy to drive in and out of the city, especially with a GPS. If you were doing a day trip to another city, say Nuremburg or Salzburg, I'd stick with the train, though.

If you were to rent a car, you could do one or two day trips - one with the castles being the primary destination and the other with Berchtesgaden being the primary destination - or do two days in a row with an overnight somewhere in the area you decide to visit.

If your partner likes churches, make sure you visit the Asamkirche in Munich. It's a tiny church nestled in the middle of one of the main shopping streets and is overwhelmingly beautiful inside. It's my favourite in Munich.

When I go to Munich, I usually visit Dachau and Nymphenburg or the Englisher Garten in the same day. I visit Dachau in the morning and then because it is such a heavy, powerful experience I like to visit one of these lighter, more relaxing places in the afternoon.

I hope this helps, have a great trip!

Wow thanks for all the informative and interesting replies, have 5 days off from tomorrow and will go through them. I hope to come back in September with my friends for Oktoberfest - not sure how much sightseeing we will get in. I think we will just have to pick some things for this trip and come back next year for another trip, as there are suggestions here that i would love to do as well.

We are travelling by train as my partner does not fly very well at all, plus i have never been on an overnight train, so its part of the experience.

I think a walking tour on our first afternoon to get grounded.

As for Dachau, thats a great suggestion, having been to Auschwitz i remember the effect it had on me, so balancing the day with some light and beauty makes sense.

Thank you all

"Berchtesgaden and Eagle's Nest would be of interest to me, i also read of a mountain you can get a cable car to the top"

If you mean a mountain in the Berchtesgaden area, that would be the Jenner. The cable car, the Jennerbahn station is near Königsee. There are buses from the Berchtesgaden Hbf out to the Jennerbahn.

You can't drive to the Eagle's Nest. You have to go up on special buses on a one way road that is closed to all but authorized vehicles. The bottom station for the special buses is a short bus ride from the Hbf.

As for the castles, your time in Neuschwanstein and in Hohenschwangau is limit to the length of the tour, about 40 min as I recall. So, with time traveling between them, 2½ hours is a realistic visit time. You can spend longer at Linderhof because there is the chateau itself, the grotto, the fountain, other out buildings, but the I found the main building a disappointment. It's very small; just a small apartment for the reclusive Ludwig. And the tour of that building is very short.

Neuschwanstein is such an icon it would be a shame not to see it. As for Linderhof vs Hohenschwangau, Linderhof is probably more interesting, but Hohenschwangau is right there, whereas it is more difficult to get to Linderhof. I would say, if you have limited time, see Neuschwanstein AND Hohenschwangau.

Would it be possible to get from Munich by train -so be arriving midday and ride Jennerbahn cable car, take a trip across Lake Konigssee and see The Eagles nest in one day before returning to Munich by train ? Even if not, this will be one of my definate day trips.

Even if you go up the Jennerbahn, say "Jennerbahn, check", go right back down, take the boat to St. Bartholomä (half way point), say "Königssee, check", go back to Schönau, go to Obersalzberg, take the bus to the Eagles Nest, say "Eagles Nest, check", go back down to return to Munich, it would be a long day and you might not get everything in.

At the base of the Eagles Nest is a museum called the Dokumentation Center, which chronicles the Nazi rise to power and is built over the system of tunnels that once connected the SS HQ in Obersalzberg with the vacation homes of the top Nazis in the area. That is worth visiting. I've spent an entire day at the Eagles Nest and the Dok Center.

Even staying in Berchtesgaden it would be a full day to do both the Eagles Nest AND Königssee. Add to it a 5+ hr round trip.

The earliest train connection leaves Munich Hbf at 6:00 and gets to Berchtesgaden just before 9:00. I would go right to the bus (# 838) to the base of Kehlstein (Eagles Nest mountain). The next bus leaves Berchtesgaden Hbf at 9:15 and gets to the Dok Center stop at 9:27. Do the Eagles Nest tour, then take the bus back to Berchtesgaden Hbf and another bus to Königssee (# 841) and take the lake cruise. Depending on how long you stay at the Eagles Nest, you might have time for a quick bite to eat at the Hbf. If not, there are restaurants at Königsee.

The boat ride to St. Bartholomä takes 35 minutes. There is not much to see at St. Barts - you can peak in the door of the monastery chapel. There is often a line to get on the next boat back to the start (Seelände), you might have to wait for a while. I've always taken the next boat to Salat, at the end of the lake. Even it you don't get off the boat in Salat and walk over to the Obersee (worth doing) St. Bartholomä to Salat to Seelände will take 1h15m.

If there is still time, do the Jennerbahn, because the view from the top of the Jennerbahn can't be much different than the view from the Eagles Nest. The base of the Jennerbahn is close to Seelände. It's one stop on the bus, but the walk from the boat dock to the Jennerbahn is only 200m more than the walk back to the bus stop.

Cheers Lee, i am thinking if i am going to do this trip to Berchtesgaden then i need to stop overnight to do it justice, i think i might be able to juggle my time to manage that as i am now getting the overnight train back to London on 08/08 so it gives me a little bit more wiggle room. I have already decided that i want to come back to Germany next year, so what does not get visited this time can wait until then.

Your birthday would be better spent if you did those activites in reverse. Start in the English Garten at either of the two beer gardens in the middle. I like The Chinesischer Turm, but The Seehaus is fun too. You can actually walk to the Hofbrauhaus from there. It's a bit of a hike, but a beautiful walk! Have a meal and end the night at the Hofbrauhaus when it really picks up!

As far as outdoor beer drinking goes , I would highly recommend Hirschgarten and also Augistiner Keller. Seehaus in Englisher Garten is good too.
For indoor Beer's I would recommend Augistiner Grossgastatte on Neuhauser Strasse ( The Braustuberl ), and also HB Keller.
You can't throw a rock without hitting a good beer drinking place in Munich , but these are some that I always go back to.
Have fun !

I just returned from Europe and was in Munich for 4 full days as well. Here was our itinerary so you can get a feel for activities

Day 1
Arrived at hotel next to train station at 12 noon. Spent some time in Marienplatz and the market then took the S train to the BMW welcome center. My daughter is 16 and just got her license so she wanted to go. I really was a cool place. We didn't go to the museum, we just stayed in the free area. Lots of new and old BMW's to see. I was pleasantly surprised. Afterward, we walked to the Olympic Park

day 2
Took the Dachau Tour with Radius Tours. Very moving. Do not miss. I think the tour left at 10:30am and we were back around 3pm. We decided to take the 4:30pm Bike tour with Mike's Bike Tour. At the start of the tour, my wife and mother-in-law freaked out with the bikes and so it was just me and my daughter. The bike tour was really nice. We saw a lot of the sites that most people walk to and were able to see a lot of the English Garden. The highlight was stopping at the Chinese Beer Garden in the middle of the park for beer and dinner. there had to be 5,000 people there since it was the beginning of the World Cup. the beer and pork knuckle was excellent. Great bonding with my daughter since I let her have her 1st sip of beer. How many of use could say our first sip of beer was in an authentic beer garden. Of course she hated it but it was a great experience.

Day 3
We took a bus tour to Neuschwanstein and Linderhof castles with Grey Line tours. Both were great and do not miss experiences. However, to get it all in, you only have a short period of time. There was a short 30 min stop in Ommeronagou (misspelled). This town was very cute and we would loved to have more time here and at the castles. I would make two recommendations. The first would be to rent a car and leave early in the morning so you could have more time at the palaces and Omm. or do the same but spend the night so you can really have more time without all the tour crowd. The drive once you got out of Munich was very simple and well marked. With a good GPS you should not have any trouble.

Day 4
Since my wife and Mother-in-law didn't see the sights that we saw on the bike tour, we revisited most of them and spent more time visiting the Residence Museum. This didn't take long so we took the s train to Nymphenburg Palace. The palace was ok. If you haven't seen a lot of palaces this it is worth the trip. If you are going to Vienna or Paris, then pass on this and spend your time at the palaces in Vienna and Paris.

If we didn't have to back track some of the same sites that we already saw on day 2, then we could have done a one day trip to Salzburg or Eagle's Nest. Salzburg was very nice and we went there for 2 night after we left Munich. We spoke with a lot a people who did this as a day trip from Munich and they felt it was worth it. It's a easy train ride about 2 - 2.5hrs depending on the train.

With all this being said, I should have told you that we are not museum people, we are more the old building and history people.

I hope this helps. Of course, this would fill up the days which allows plenty of time left for the Beer gardens. The hofbruhaus was great but very touristy. I really enjoyed the Chinese Beer garden in the park. You felt more like a local.

I hope this helps and have great time.
David

Thanks again to you all, i have all the suggestions in mind.

Dave we are arriving on a Sunday and taking Lenny's bike tour.

4th August we are going to Dachau, i may book a tour or go on our own.

5th August my birthday we have booked a tour to Neuschwanstein and Linderhof Castle with Bavarian tours (a small minibus type affair just 4 of us)

On the 6th we are moving onto Berchtesgaden with a tour of the Eagles Nest booked one day and another day free to explore the mountain and lake.

Only skimming the surface but its all we have time for - will have to come back.

Cheers to all of you