Munich and (maybe?) Berlin trip

These options are all described at https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/germany-rail-passes:

• How old are the teenagers? Kids under 15 travel free when named on one train ticket with parents or grandparents. The age threshold is lower for passes - up to two kids under age 12 travel free with each passholder; additional kids pay the youth pass rate.

• A Germany Rail Pass for paired-up travelers costs $182 per person for 4 travel days to spread over a month, or $728 total, if nobody's under 12. Seat assignments or separate tickets not required.

• If you can commit soon to the travel dates and times to/from Berlin, then you might pay as low as €104 - 150 each way for the group of 4, if nobody's under 15. Those discounted rates will sell out and full, last-minute fare goes as high as €612 one way for four adults.

• If you're choosing separate tickets instead of a rail pass, then the regional Bayern Ticket, valid on slower trains, provides a good value for groups on your two shorter train travel days. Munich to Salzburg takes 1h 47 m each way on the regional Meridian train, not really much slower than the "fast" RailJets on this route. It's a pretty common day-trip destination for those who don't have time to stay overnight at both.

Since you are first time in Munich (and Europe) I would say that you will miss Munich completely. If you deduct day trips and Berlin you will actually be in Munich only 2 days. You need at least 4-5 days just for main attractions of Munich (and BMW Welt is not among the first 30).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlBmIkdH5v0
Trip to Salzburg and back in one day is probably doable but too short to see anything. I would rather recommend castle Linderhof and Oberammergau much closer to Munich (maybe 1 1/2 hour drive). The same goes to Berlin. 2 days (if you deduct airports) is not enough. For me 4 days of Munich and 4 days of Berlin sounds more reasonable without any day trips. Or, Munich with day trips but without Berlin this time.

If you haven't booked airfare already, I'd recommend an open-jaw or "multi-city" itinerary - fly into Munich, out of Berlin - no need to go all the way back to where you started.

Your agenda so far (with some comments):

Jul 12 Arr Munich 8 am (after flying all night) - settle in and orient to Munich ....

Jul 13 Explore Munich (maybe Dachau?) - Dachau is a simple S bahn ride to the western suburbs. But don't expect to be cheerful afterwards for the rest of the day.

Jul 14 Day trip to Salzberg - 2 hours there and 2 hours back.... doable but short.....

Jul 15 Day trip to Bavaria/Tirol - ?Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Zugspitze is 90 minutes south of Munich. (classic small German town and the highest peak in Germany with a great cog railway).?

Jul 16 Travel early am to Berlin - settle in and explore Berlin - fast train to Berlin takes 5 hours - effectively most of the day.

Jul 17 Explore Berlin

Jul 18 Explore Berlin and return late in the day to Munich - Another 5 hours.

Jul 19 Munich, BMW tour

Jul 20 Travel home

I agree with other commenters that you may have bitten off more than you will enjoy. Munich to Berlin air travel will not save you much time either with getting to the airport, checking in, travel, getting to the next city center....,

Maybe instead consider an overnight or two in Salzburg for Mozart, or Garmisch-Partenkirchen for the Alps.

You can get to many Bavarian castles by tours out of Munich.

https://www.schloesser.bayern.de/englisch/aboutus/index.htm

You can get to Nuremberg with its medieval and WW II history (both rebuilt but so is most of Munich) within roughly an hour by train for either a day trip or an overnight.

https://museums.nuernberg.de/nuremberg-municipal-museums/

And there are lots of smaller places worth visiting including Andechs Cloister, etc.

https://andechs.de/en/

RS has a very good discussion of transportation options:

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation

This is great time to introduce your family to Europe. Have a great trip!

Are the trips to Salzberg and Bavaria/Tirol truly day trips? Could we expect to travel there from Munich and return back in the same day for each?

For Salzburg, absolutely this is an easy day trip especially if you plan on going by train. There are trains every hour and you can use the Bayern Ticket for the entire trip (plus any Munich transport to get to the correct station). Others might say you need more time to see Salsburg "properly" but I've known lots of people who had a great time doing it as a day trip from Munich. Regarding a "Bavaria/Tirol" day trip, where exactly did you have in mind as these are two, large regions? If you were thinking more of the Alps, then I would recommend doing a day trip to the lake areas south of Munich either by S-Bahn or by BOB train. One that I usually recommend is taking a day trip to Tegernsee or Schliersee - Very convenient from Munich by BOB train. Good combination of lakes, mountains and villages. This thread has more suggestions.

• Is the trip to Berlin reasonable, given the short time frame or is there a better alternative that is closer and would provide an equally-interesting experience in a more reasonable time frame?

I'd say it is not unless you have an open jaw flight into Munich and out of Berlin. You really only have 7 nights if you keep Munich as a base you will find plenty to do for 7 days if you just add in a few more day trips. Just search on this forum for tons of ideas.

• If we travel to Berlin, I have struggled with finding lodging to meet our family's needs. We are moderate travelers. We don't need five-star but enjoy some amenities and comfort. My biggest issue with lodging is the physical size of my family. My husband is 6'2 and my boys are 6'4 and 6'5. So many hotels and AirBnBs offer double beds with a pull-out couch as an option. My veritable man-giants simply do not fit in small beds. Open to recommendations on any and all lodging solutions! Because of our short time frame, something either near or easily-accessible to the top tourist attractions one could expect to see in this short time would be appreciated.

My go to hotel in Germany these days is Motel One, it is a local German chain with modern styling, good rates and tons of locations. The beds are 2m long (~79inches so 1inch shy of extra long twin or queen) and they do not have foot boards so you feet can go over the edge if needed. All the rooms are doubles so you'd have to book two rooms.

• Rail Travel: I have combed through many, many threads to try to sort out the rail travel information, but would appreciate your recommendations given our planned agenda. I'm having trouble sorting out what rail passes we'll need and what we should book ahead of time and which ones are best purchased on-site.

With only one long distance train should not need a rail pass at all. Most of you Munich/Bavaria/Salzburg travel can be done with either local Munich transport tickets or a Bayern Ticket. Both of these can be bought same day of travel. Any long distance train travel (Munich to Berlin) can be bought several months ahead of time using a Saver Fare.

DJ

I’d skip Berlin, stay 2-3 nights in Salzburg. Forget looking at AirBnB. For Germany look at town websites - usually www.TOWN NAME.de that will usually list all the places to stay.

in Austria, it is usually .at. If that doesn’t work, the wikipedia listing usually has the website listed.

We typically stay in apartments that will have one room with two beds put together and be room with 2 single beds of decent length.

Comapred to user stephen I would skip Salzburg for Berlin :-)

Q1: Possible but you will waste time with double ways. Do round trip from / to Munich 3-4days, e.g. by car via German Alpine Road.

Q2: In whole Europe you will find no "equally-interesting experience" to Berlin. It is really unique - especially if you are interested in history and culture (art, music, ...). Do it but with more days, e.g. by skipping way back to Munich.

Q3: Look at apart hotels like Adina. They provide beds to stay for a while. Also Schulz Hotel is built young generations which include a lot of large guys. Guaranteed experience with large guys has Vienna House Andel’s Berlin. They are partner of local basketball team Alba Berlin and hosted 5 of 6 teams during European Championships in 2015. Also Nowitzki and Co. were sleeping there.

Q4: The offers page of Deutsche Bahn is your best place of information.

There is NOTHING like Berlin. I would skip most of Munich and Bavaria to spend more time in Berlin.

You might want to find apts. to accommodate those tall guys in your family. Look under Ferien Wohnung. Similar to AirB&B, but a bit different. Otherwise, get 2 hotel rooms, but specify 2 single beds for your sons. I like using www.hrs.com to find hotels.

Thanks so much for all of your very helpful advice! I was concerned that I had been a bit over-ambitious with this schedule and you all confirmed that. I have already booked air travel in and out of Munich. It sounds we need to decide: “to BE(rlin) or not to BE(rlin)!”

Appreciate your polite and helpful comments!

Exactly for that question we have a website: be Berlin. Even if campaign "be Berlin" is until 2018 but a lot of content is still matching.

So, welcome to Berlin :-)