Munich area

For small towns near Munich I like both Landshut (50 minutes by Regional Express RE train) and Freising (30 minutes by RE).

For good beer and food in Landshut I would recommend Augustiner an der St. Martins Kirche.

https://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/Christmas-Markets-2009/Landshut-2009/i-RxL55tx/A

For good beer and food in Freising I would recommend Wirthaus Weißbräu Huber

http://www.weissbraeu-huber.de/en/

Lots of good places in Munich but if you are going to spend the night in a small town, both these places have excellent brews, food and atmosphere. The Huber in Freising I believe is family run.

Landshut also has the most attractive collection of Baroque facade houses that I have seen in Germany and a castle to boot.

https://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/Other-2/April-2014-Landshut/

Gary

Landshut also has the most attractive collection of Baroque facade houses that I have seen in Germany

He's not kidding. I visited Salzburg for the first time shortly after seeing Landshut. I found Salzburg rather monochromatic and somewhat disappointing in comparison... but Salzburg at least has an Alpine backdrop. BTW, does anyone know the name of that distinctive style of building that you see in southern Bavaria and Austria? Thick-walled, usually painted very colorfully?

I also like Burghausen. The Altstadt has that same style of building, although it isn't nearly as large as Landshut's. The castle, however, is claimed to be Europe's largest, depending on how exactly you define the word "castle".

I believe the term for these painted houses is " Luftmalerei "

Need to know towns that can be accessed by train from Munich.

There are something like a thousand rail stations in Bavaria. In other words, there are a lot of small towns that can be accessed by train from Munich. I'm sure almost anyplace you can find to go is accessible.

Use the German Rail schedule website to find connections.

I believe the term for these painted houses is " Luftmalerei "

Thanks, but I think that term refers more specifically to the murals you sometimes see on the stucco surfaces of the buildings. I meant the name for this specific building style, which you find mostly in southern Bavaria and Austria. As opposed to:

Fachwerk

Jungenstil

Bauhaus

Plattenbau

Chalet

Tom , it was your comment about the painting that led me to luftmalerei . I'm intrigued ,and have been doing some hunting this morning . The first thing that came to mind seeing the picture you posted of Landshut , was a style common in the canal houses of Amsterdam , and some of the medieval Hanseatic style buildings in Tallinn . The stepped gable configuration is common in Dutch Renaissance buildings . I am unclear as to how this style wound up in Southern Bavaria , but it is very interesting ,. With my curiosity aroused I'll keep looking !

BTW, does anyone know the name of that distinctive style of building that you see in southern Bavaria and Austria? Thick-walled, usually painted very colorfully?

That's the so-called "Inn-Salzach"-Style (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inn-Salzach-Bauweise). Despite it's name, it spreads all over southern Bavaria (i.e. the territory of the historical Herzogtum Bayern and the ecclesiastical territories included by it). The northernmost town build in that style is Eichstätt, a baroque diocesian town, which was, like all other bishoprics in southern bavaria, subject to the archbishop of Salzburg. That dependency explains the spreading of the Inn-Salzach style over the todays territories of Tyrol, Salzburg and Southern Bavaria (Ober- and Niederbayern).

BTW "Lüftlmalerei" is a non-aristocratic, middle class style of façade decoration, which arose in the second half of the 18th century only, i.e. in the aftermath of the Golden Age of baroque bulidng.

OK, mystery solved, it's the "Inn-Salzach style". Now I finally have a name for it! Thanks for the help from the boondocks of central Bavaria!

Perhaps the gables were a bit of a distraction in the picture I linked. It's more the overall building structure that's unique to the region... as noted before, very thick walls, deeply recessed windows panes, and smooth, often very brightly painted exterior surfaces.

I meant the name for this specific building style,

Ah - ok, what you are showing on that photo is something completly different from the Inn-Salzach-Style (and much older): The two leftmost houses are Renaissance gabled roof houses, which are common all over central and western Europe; the next (the red one) is a brutally cannibalized (probably in the fitfties) version of number one and two, the central (the yellow one) is a nice specimen of a gothic crow-stepped gable in a variant typical for central Bavaria (with little tiled roofs), and the rightmost was apparently »modernized« in the 19th century. So the most valuable piece, from the viewpoint of the history of arts, will be the yellow one. There are much better examples of Renaissance houses elsewhere, e.g. the beautiful patrician Fembohaus in Nürnberg.

For smaller towns easily accessible by rail from Munich, 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. Dießen is a popular destination for German weekenders, but it's not on the international tourist grid at all. 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 Dießen, Herrsching and Andechs here.

This is one of the reasons I read the postings here - Since I will be back in Munich this Autumn , A day in Landshut is now firmly on my agenda , looks like intriguing architecture . I had already carved out a day for Nurnberg ( Sla - thanks for the information on Fembohaus .

Thanks to all of for the valuable information.
Linda