My fiance and I are planning our honeymoon in mid May for about 9 days. We plan to fly into Munich and spend a day or two there before traveling south and taking time to hike and relax in a beautiful fairytale Alpine town with picturesque views. We're interested in going to the top of Zugspitze, going to saunas, hiking, and seeing Neuschwanstein. It sounds like Füssen, Garmisch, and Mittenwald (along with Berchtesgaden and Saltzburg, but they are further away) all have unique things to offer. My question is is it better to just pick one place by the Alps and do day trips, or spend full days in each place? We're open to taking the train or renting a car, although the idea of lugging around our suitcases on the train every day if we choose to stay in different places most nights doesn't sound very relaxing.
Another point is that Rosenburg looks incredible, but I don't know if it's worth going out of our way to go there, given the rest of our itinerary. Is it worth it? I appreciate any feedback!
Posted by
West Michigan
583 posts
We love Mittenwald, lots to do, and beautiful scenery. Short walk from train/bus station to center of town.
Posted by
NYC area
3086 posts
Congratulations!
With 6 or 7 days after Munich I’d pick one or two bases. You could go with GP as a base or Berchtesgaden/Salzburg as a base. I wouldn’t try to do both areas in this amount of time. You can’t go wrong with either though.
Posted by
Paradise
7965 posts
There is not a single base town that will work well for visiting all those places.
With your focus on "fairytale" towns, I think Mittenwald is the only one on your list that really comes close. The hiking, the river gorge walks, and the Karwendelbahn lift there are great. Garmisch and the Zugspitze are right nearby; Linderhof Palace, Oberammergau, and the Ettal Monastery might are nearby as well and might interest you. I suggest you plan on maybe 3 nights in this area. Map of area with train and bus lines:
The Alps have lots of attractive Swiss-Alpine-ski-lodge-look buildings, but not the true half-timbered buildings we associate with fairytales. Since this is your honeymoon... I'll make the recommendation that you consider staying in a castle-hotel. And I'll also recommend transferring to a different part of Germany that is more "fairytale" and buildings look like these:
https://admin.viatravelers.com/wp-content/uploads/cafe-zeitgeist-boppard-fachwerkhaus-683x1024.jpg
https://roamingnanny.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/img_5e3b5680b292e.jpg
https://fotos.schloemp.eu/wp-content/gallery/braubach/002Braubach-Bauernschaenke-Eck-Fritz.JPG
https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/traditional-half-timbered-houses-bacharach-traditional-houses-center-bacharach-rhine-valley-germany-259493866.jpg
The Middle Rhine Valley (also called the Romantic Rhine) is a compact area loaded with hiking trails, great views,castles, and numerous nice towns to visit - most of them wine towns with wine venues in town... Bacharach, Oberwesel, Boppard, Braubach, Rüdesheim, and St Goar are all connected by train lines, bike paths, and day-cruise boats. There are maybe 3-5 different castle-hotels in the area, the most significant one being Burghotel auf Schönburg in Oberwesel:
There are also castles that offer tours, like this one in Braubach: https://www.marksburg.de/en/circuit/#/
Clifftop hikes offer great views and rest stops like this one:
https://resc.deskline.net/images/RPT/1/3f19633c-54c7-40c6-8493-cf5ef973059f/99/image.jpg
(One of Germany's most famous legends / fairytales is the tale of the Loreley, the setting for which is the rocky cliff you see in the photo above.)
Wine garden in Boppard: https://www.deutschlandgourmet.info/bilder/gross/5710-Restaurant-Weinhaus-Heilig-Grab-Boppard.jpg
Fun chairift ride to lookout in Boppard: https://fewoboppard.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Sessellift.jpg
Cruise boat stopping in Oberwesel: https://www.weinhaus-weiler.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/DSC_2434_1920.jpg
Stay in one town, visit the others, over 3 days. Then fly home out of nearby FRA airport.