Munich 3 days

Have you checked into renting a care while your in Munich? The places you are mentioning are quite a ways for a day trip. We have been there twice and have priced out car verses public transportation each time and because we too wanted to do lots of exploring it made sense to rent a car both for price and flexibility in travel times. Its about 2 1/2 hours to Rothenburg from Munich and about 1 1/2 hours to Salzburg. Munich is amazing with some really cool stuff to do so Id spend more time there then just 1 day, but thats just me. The other places you want to go are incredible too!!! My vote would be to check into a car.

harpy,

All of your day trips in Munich are easily accessible by public transit. A few thoughts......

1. Day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle - that's easily done by train to Füssen and then a short bus ride to the Castle. You'll have to make the time-specific reservations for the Castle tour. You could also take a day trip with Radius Tours, in which case they will arrange both the transportation and the reservations.
2. My suggestion would be to visit Salzburg. For one thing it's closer, so you won't use as much time in transportation there and back so you'll have more sightseeing time.
3. Suggestions for places to visit in Munich - there are so many, it's hard to know where to begin. I'd suggest having a look at a copy of the RS Germany guidebook, as that has a good description of all the major sights. Some that you might consider....

• Hofbrauhaus - this is the "usual" place to have a few beer. It's a bit of a tourist trap, but worth seeing at least once. There are lots of other places as well, and some have good wheat beer.
• Deutsches Museum - not sure if you'll have time for that with only one day. There are over 16 kM of exhibits, so it takes a while to go through it.
• Walking tours - Radius Tours and other firms offer a variety of tours which cover the history of the city.
• Visit the Viktualien Market and tour Marienplatz

On Day 4, you can use either train or bus. Check the bahn.de website for the specifics and travel times. Your destination station will likely be Praha hl.n station.

There are LOTS of possibilities! The guidebook will be a good place to find the places that most interest you.

For the trips you have listed, I would not get any pass that includes either France or Germany. You might want a Swiss Travel Pass for 4 consecutive days, or a Half-Fare Card, or a Swiss Transfer Ticket (to cover Basel-Muerren and Murren-German border) plus discounted Half-Fare Card. These products and prices are all changing in January and you can't buy them more than 6 months in advance of the trip, so check the details when you get within your purchase window.

The Paris-Basel TGV Lyria train does not use the "Prems" category of cheap tickets that you may see discussed on other France threads, but does have cheap fares for sale from 3 months in advance, limited seats at each price, starting from $52 per person through Rail Europe.

See our German rail page for notes about cheap ticket options in Germany, such as the regional Bayern ticket to buy there (covers day trips to Fuessen or Salzburg on Regional trains), and the Sparpreise/Savings (advance-purchase) fares to buy up to 3 months ahead (good for Munich-Prague).

If you want to see Rothenburg, I would suggest you take one day off of Munich and stay overnight in Rothenburg. It will cost you 28€ for two for a Bayern-Ticket and take about 3 hours to get to Rothenburg. Then, the following day, you can get a Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket (30,50€ for two) in Rothenburg, and the ticket will cover your travel by regional train to Pilsen via Nürnberg. In the Czech Republic, before you get to Pilsen, buy two tickets from Pilsen to Prague from the conductor for about 4€ per person (you might need Czech Koruna to buy them).

For a little more, 29€/per with advance online purchase, you could take the train to Nürnberg and the IC bus to Prague. The tickets at this price are for a specific bus and non-changeable, non-refundable, but you would save a half hour.

Here are some suggestions for great day trips from Munich without throngs of tourists.

My favorite is to take the S8 southwestbound to the end of the line at Herrsching. Walk a couple hundred meters to the lakefront and board one of the stately paddlewheel ships which cross the Ammersee to my favorite untouristed Bavarian village, Dießen am Ammersee. Walk through Dießen up to the baroque-rococo Marienmünster Abbey (1730). Return to Herrsching by ship and take a taxi or bus, or walk three miles up a forested trail, to Kloster Andechs, where Benedictine monks have been brewing great beer since the 15th Century. (Photos of Herrsching, Dießen and Andechs here)

Or take S2 about 20 minutes from Hauptbahnhof to Oberschleißheim, and visit the magnificent, colorful Schleißheim Palaces, summer home of the Bavarian royal family. Aviation history buffs will enjoy Flugwerft Schleißheim (aviation branch of the Deutsches Museum), a short walk from the Schleißheim Palaces.

If you have a free Sunday, go to the spa town of Bad Wörishofen, birthplace of naturopathy. Therme Bad Wörishofen is a wonderful spa/sauna/waterpark complex. Then go to the open-air cafe on the small grass-runway airfield on the north side of town and watch skydivers do their thing, while you wait for your 45-minute ride in a classic 11-seat, Russian-built Antonov An-2 biplane (advance reservation required; photos here).

Tourists have yet to discover Ingolstadt, a charming, friendly town about halfway between Munich and Nürnberg. There are many historic buildings in the old center, including the former Anatomy Building of the University of Ingolstadt, now the German Museum of Medical History. Gardens in the courtyard are made up of medicinal herbs and plants. The building was the setting for Mary Shelley's original 1818 novel Frankenstein. Tours are available of the Audi factory, just outside the old center. Ingolstadt self-guided walking tour available here.

Harpy,

When i was in Munich my #1 was to see Dachau.

the #2 was the Residenz.

As far as travel from Munich to Prague, i choose the train.

Happy trails.

Just curious, is Prague a day trip to/from Munich or are you continuing your travels from Prague to another location? I use this website to check train/bus schedules: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en