More nights in Mittenwald or Berchtesgaden?

Hi Panj- looking at what you want to do while staying at Mittenwald (Zugspitze, Oberammergau, and a luge ride)
you would be better served staying in Garmisch. Staying in Mittenwald means you will have to backtrack through Garmisch (about 1/2 hour each way) to do all of those things. And you could add Ettal and Schloss Linderhof to your agenda since they are both between Garmisch and Oberammergau. Just a thought..

I have never spent an overnight in Fussen so I can't comment on the Fussen/Berchtesgaden tradeoff. Having spent a few nights in Berchtesgaden I would say 4 nights may be one to many. Spend the extra night in Munich, there are many things to do there and you can ditch the car as quick as you get to your hotel since the public transportation system is wonderful in Munich.

Have a great trip!!

I think there's a lot of duplication in your plans. There are a lot of similarities with 8 days/nights and with Oberammergau, Berchtesgaden, Mittenwald, AND Füssen on your plate.

And these particular places (along with Rothenburg) see heavy tourist swarms in summer. These "small towns" can become as congested as the big cities you're avoiding.

For a broader look at Germany I would encourage you to look into some different small-town destinations. There are some good places that have escaped the Rick Steves crowds and the international tourists.

Bad Windsheim (near Rothenburg) might be worth some time. Excellent open-air museum there where you can experience how locals have lived over the last 5 centuries.

Bacharach is nice and the Rhine cruise is too. But there is much more to see and do in the surrounding area. Have you set aside time for touring Marksburg Castle (just a stone's throw downstream from Bacharach) and/or Burg Eltz? Unlike "the castles" near Füssen, these are true medieval structures that have stood for several centuries. Sounds like you're interested in WW II... The Rhine was very important in the war - more important than Hitler's Eagle's Nest was to Hitler... and in the smaller Rhine town of Remagen you can tour the "Bridge at Remagen" museum which tells the story (there's a George Segal movie by the same name worth watching that was filmed there.) The Rhine is a wonderful place for hiking too. Try the Rhine Castle Trail on the west bank (Bacharach is a stop on this trail.) Hiking in this area is not just scenic but there's a bit of gastronomic fun involved as well with nice stops like this one outside Boppard and this one outside Oberwesel

There are places to visit between Bacharach and Rothenburg as well, of course. Mainz is just one example - a university town on the Rhine near FRA airport with lots to see and do, including a nice market square, handsome old town zone, some good museums and cathedrals. So much of Mainz has been turned into a pedestrian zone that you don't really feel like you're in a city.

So I think I'm lobbying for maybe 4 nights altogether in the Alps - probably just your Mittenwald/Garmisch stop + perhaps your night in Füssen - and enhanced time in/near your previous destinations. (With an Oberammergau base, you could day trip to "the castles" near Füssen as well as to Mittenwald more easily.) Salzburg, if it's a must, can be visited on a day trip from Munich nearly as easily as on a day trip from Berchtesgaden. A round-trip ticket by train takes you from station to station in about 1.75 hours with nice scenery on the way. Cost: Bayern ticket day pass to Salzburg and back = €31 total for your family.

Thank you! We arrive in Frankfurt in the morning and go straight to Bacharach for 3 nights- the plan is one day to go to Berg Eltz and maybe lunch at Cochem, and the other day to bike/boat party of the Rhine and see a couple more castles. My husband and I did this 18 years ago on our honeymoon around Europe and Berg Eltz was our favorite castle of all... we like castles. I can't remember which two we visited, I will be researching the boat/bike thing again since alot can change in 18 years!

We won't have a car in this part of the trip. We plan on leaving early for Rothenburg, where we have planned 2 nights. We will do the Nightwatchman's Tour, and I would like to get to the Open Air Museum... Maybe I take a day away from Berchtesgaden and add a day to Rothenburg.

We are pretty set on getting to Salzburg, we are interested in the music festival and SOM bike tour. I think a day trip will be enough though. Salt mines and Eagle Nest or a hike could be done on the same day maybe, so 3 nights could do.

Definitely food for thought about Garmisch vs. Mittenwald. I like the idea of staying in the smaller town... But maybe we just stop there on our way to Berchtesgaden.

Thank you all!

Russ, may I pick your brain a bit more?

I'm considering adding a day to either Bacharach or Rothenburg. We are trying to avoid any 1 night stays with the kids, so we won't be staying overnight anywhere new, but I do agree that our time in the south does have a lot of duplications.

We currently have 3 nights in Bacharach, the first being the day we arrive in Germany - I'm sure we will be a bit Jet Lagged. While there we will have a day trip to see Berg Eltz and Cochem, and the next day we plan on taking a boat down (or up?) the Rhine and biking back, stopping at a couple castles. If we added an additional night we could see more castles and/or check out some of the other towns along the Rhine, maybe hiking/eating in Boppard or Oberweisel like your beautiful pictures.

In Rothenburg, we have 2 nights. We plan a day trip to Bad Windsheim and the Open Air Museum. This would leave us only the arrival day and whatever is left in the afternoon after returning from Bad Windsheim to actually explore Rothenburg itself. Would a third night be worth it here? It might allow us to be less rushed to get there on the first day and enjoy a leisurely morning in Bacharach and possibly a stop at Mainz.

If you had to chose one area for an extra day that is only loosely planned, would it be exploring from Bacharach or Rothenburg?

There is so much I want to say about your itinerary.

First, I have spent months, total, in this area without ever needing a car. Public trainsportation (Bus & Bahn) in southern Bavaria is excellent. I really think you can do this trip without a car, and for a lot less money. There might be time or two when you can save a few minutes with a car, but so many of your days a car will go unused or under used that it will not pay for itself. For most trips on you itinerary, a 31€, 2 person Bayern-Ticket will sufice. Your children will ride free on full fare and regional tickets and regional passes.

Mittenwald: I've been two times to Mittenwald, once overnight, once for an afternoon. It's a charming town, but I don't think it is worth 3 nights unless it is used as a base for other places. It's only 25 minutes by train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a little over an hour to Oberammergau by train and bus.

Oberammergau: Same as Mittenwald. I've spent 3 nights in Mittenwald on two trips. Again, it would be good as a base, but not as a venue by itself. It's 40 minutes to Garmisch-Partenkirchen by bus.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen: Much as I dislike GaPa for it's size and touristism, it's at the base of the Zugspitze, and you want to go up the mountain early to avoid the clouds that often shroud the summit later in the day.

Of the three, I might pick Oberammergau. It's close (1½ hr) to Füssen. After visiting the castle in the morning, you could catch the 4:10 PM bus from Füssen and be in Oberammergau just after 5:30 PM. Use an RVO Familien-Tagesticket for 24€ for the 4 of you. The next morning you could catch an early bus to GaPa, go up the Zugspitze, then go on to Mittenwald in the afternoon. The folowing day you could take in Linderhof (about 35 min by bus from O'gau). I'd skip Ettal; the main attraction is just another over-the-top Rococo church of which there are so many in Bavaria. For each of the two days in the Oberammergau/Garmisch-Partenkirchen/Mittenwald area, use a Regio-Ticket Werdenfels for 22€ for the four of you.

For Oberammergau to Berchtesgaden, a car could be two hours faster than the train, but you have time. With a train, you wouldn't have to worry about traffic jams on the Autobahn. With a Bayern-Ticket (again, 31€ for all of you), you can use any regional train. You could stop for an hour at the Munich Hbf and have lunch at the food court there.

Once you get to Berchtesgaden, your accommodations should give you a guest card good for any bus transportation in the Berchtesgaden area. You can use it to go out to Köigssee or up to the place where the buses leave to the Eagles Nest. Regardless, if you go to the Eagles Nest, you will have to pay extra for the bus up the private road. The Dokumentation Center is right there at the startup to the Eagles Nest.

If you plan to spend a day in Salzburg, you will need another RVO Familien-Tagesticket for 24€. I would definitely spend three nights in Berchtesgaden. One for the Salzburg trip, one for the Eagles Nest/Dok Center, and one for Königssee.

For the trip back to Munich, use another Bayern-Ticket. It covers the train to Munich Ost and the S-Bahn from there to the airport.

"I'm considering adding a day to either Bacharach or Rothenburg..."

Extra time in both areas would be good IMO. Some ideas...

Rothenburg: I'm guessing you'll arrive in Rothenburg around 2 pm, leaving you quite a bit if time... You could see R'burg that afternoon, that evening and the next morning as well. It's only 45 minutes to Bad Windsheim by train (change in Steinach) - leave on Day 2 just after lunch at 13:09 and you'll still have 4 hours at the Freilandmuseum before closing time (if you want that many... the walk from + back to the station plus the walk from mini-village to mini-village is lovely but might be long for kids.) There are at least 4 food establishments on the grounds (some with Biergartens and local beer.) The Brauhaus Döbler in town is a popular old-school brewery/restaurant. Trains at :01 after every hour return you to Rothenburg - last two at 20:01 and 22:01.

If you stay longer in Rothenburg... I would not recommend more time in town (which you by now have no doubt already seen thoroughly) but instead take a day trip somewhere else. For me, a "saturation point" comes quickly in R'burg... too many tourists + too much hokey tourist stuff = theme park experience. One option might be a train trip Würzburg, possibly with a stop in Marktbreit in between on the way there or back (you passed through both towns previously when you came to Rothenburg) - or perhaps just in Marktbreit if you want a slower day. Page down on this flyer (in German) to see the local rail lines and some area photos. Nuremberg is also a good day trip option by train:
https://tourismus.nuernberg.de/index.php?id=37&L=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU7qmhO5uwM

Bacharach: Since you arrive there in the morning and may be jet-lagged - and probably cannot yet check in - a cruise on Day 1 is a terrific low-energy way to see the river. After you drop bags at your inn... it's 20+ minutes by train to Bingen, where you can board a cruise boat for St. Goar (1.5 hour cruise through the best part of the Rhine.) Maybe you have a meal in St. Goar and enjoy the view - then return by train to Bacharach (10 minutes.)

Then 2 days (3 nights) in Bacharach: One day for a Burg Eltz + Cochem day trip by train; a second day for a Marksburg Castle + 1-2 additional towns (Boppard? Rüdesheim? - both have lifts + views - Oberwesel?) by train.

With 3 days (4 nights) in Bacharach: The previous 2 days + 1 day for seeing additional towns and sights (see my previous post?) + maybe a couple of hours of biking: The part SOUTH of Bacharach, where there's a dedicated path, might be worth your time. Biking north of Bacharach is possible (where you'd be after your cruise) but it means too much proximity to car traffic. Not sure what your plan was for combining boat and bike travel but it sounds very iffy on the surface.

Here's a guide for sightseeing in Mittenwald, written by Earl Steinbicker, one of my favorite resources for Germany. The Karwendelbahn might be more convenient than the Zugspitze if you're staying in Mittenwald:

http://hastingshouse.typepad.com/hastings_house_us/travel_in_europe/

It would be very easy for me to spend a full week in any of the places you mentioned without running out of things to do and see (I always drive, so far). Bacharach is a splendid little place. As well as the castles mentioned, there is the wonderful ruin of Burg Rheinfels in Sankt Goar.
Based in Iphofen last year, we made two day trips to Rothenburg. Our third time back, love the place, spent some time hiking in the woods on the west side of the wall. We returned to Bad Windshem and found it a little drab and run down from what I remembered before, the open air museum is a good for a stretch of the legs but I would not visit again. My time would be better spent in Dinkelsbuhl or Nordlingen.

If you are renting a car for sure, pick up near Rothenburg and drive to Oberammergau and base there for your first leg in the alps. Depending on which route you take, you can pop into Memmingen or Kempten, both have pleasant inner cores, with a detour to Ottobeuren Monastery ( I don't know where your children's interests lie). A nice gorge just south of Mittenwald, Mittenwald itself, two gorges in Garmische, Innsbruck (zoo, castle, museums, old town), Fussen and it's 'castles', Linderhof, Ettal Abbey, the pleasant and rarely visited town of Murnau with it's pretty, easy moor walks, Zugspitze, Landsberg is very attractive., as are Walchensee, Kochelsee and Ammersee, many chair lifts See, you've run out of time already. Google the Oberammergau tourism site for many hiking suggestions.

Oberammergau to Berchtesgaden itself offers a few options. Benediktbeuern and Bad Tolz OR Chiemsee and it's islands one route, to name a couple. Too much time doing the Austria route. Regarding Berchtesgaden itself, I would prefer to stay in Ruhpolding or Ramsau. Plenty of excellent hiking around, Konigssee boat (view from top of Jenner far superior to that of Zugspitze), Salzburg, Werfen castle and caves, a couple of fun salt mine tours close by, Eagle's Nest, Burghausen is a treasure not enough people make the effort to reach. You have to make a return trip already.

Thank you!

We were definitely planning Mittenwald and Berchtesgaden as home bases, not as destinations. With the kids, we don't want to hop around as much as we do when traveling on our own, so we were hoping for a base to explore both of those areas. Maybe there's another village in the area that is less accessible by public transportation where we could take advantage of having a car. We have also considered a farm-stay in the area, but I haven't looked into it at all yet.

I thought that having a car would allow us to be less restricted by train bus schedules in the area and allow us to stop in out of the way, smaller towns. My husband gets motion sick if he's not driving and the idea of bussing around doesn't appeal to him. :-) We hoped to train on the longer stretches.

I'm definitely seeing the redundancy that we have planned. I really appreciate all the advice and am excited to re-work our itinerary!