Munich/Bavaria/Berchtesgaden with kids June 2025

Eaglesnest etc. explore town
You are aware of the bus trip needed to get there, right?

I'd suggest building in some time for the kids at a beach, a playground, etc., if you have not done that.

The mountain scenery around Berchtesgaden and the recreational/sightseeing options nearby are as good as or better than what's offered in Füssen. Neuschwanstein is pretty much a tourist-zoo. It would save your active kids some backseat hours and the driver some hours behind the wheel if you headed straight to B'gaden from Munich instead of doing the Füssen/N'stein detour.

The summer bobsled just outside Salzburg, not far from the Hallein salt mine:
https://www.salzburg.info/en/travel-info/infos/keltenblitz-alpine-slide-in-hallein_az_13369610

Everyone seems to like Lake Chiemsee, also known as the Bavarian Ocean, which lies right in between Munich and Salzburg. Beautiful spot to break up your trip and enjoy the outdoors. One of King Ludwig II's palaces is there on an island in the lake - Herrenchiemsee. There are ferry boats to get you there if you wish to visit.

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.e6845c96c34efd42ccb8aa6b9e4d6cf2?rik=sBlTliDr6mb5TA&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187293-d1901725-Reviews-Chiemsee-Bavaria.html

I always recommend Therme Erding in Munich for kids.

If you think you want to stay down around Fussen you need to make reservations now.

I can't imagine doing Salzburg and Hellbrunn in a day. 4-5 days is more realistic. To me, Salzburg is not a "day trip".

We did a similar trip with our older kids back in 2017. We landed in Munich rented a car and drove to Fussen for one night.
It was a beautiful town quiet and peaceful at night. We then drove to Salzburg for 2 nights which I thought was ample. We stayed
at Bloberger Hof just outside Salzburg with convenient 10 min. bus into city. After leaving Salzburg we went to Hallstatt for the
day on way to Berchtesgaden.....always wished we had stayed overnight there as Hallstatt is one of the most beautiful towns in Europe I believe. My son loved getting water in his water bottle filled from the town fountain/water spigot! We then went on to Berchtesgaden for one night. On this trip we had only 5 days as it was the end of a trip in Italy as well. As you have more days you could add.

We road the funicular up to the salt mine but did not go as it was a good 3hrs underground in the mine I believe. But we did walk around up on top there which was lovely.
In Berchtesgaden we went to the Eagles Nest which my sons loved. On a different trip I went on the boat on the Konigsee which was nice as well. You could do both if time allows. I found Fussen, Berchtesgaden and Hallstatt beautiful. Salzburg nice but Hallstatt and Berchtesgaden beautiful. Been to Berchtesgaden 3 times. Would love to go back to Hallstatt. Have A lovely trip!

You might consider an apartment or Ferienwohnung south/southeast along the Rottach River near the Tegernsee. The lake is within walking distance. Finding one for only one overnight could be a challenge. The Wallbergbahn is nearby. We stayed at Café - Restaurant Angermaier once.

Bad Wiessee at Lake Tegernsee will be nice
There https://www.landhausamstein.de/en/rooms/

Something different not on Lake Tegernsee but...

Another option might be Hotel Gasthaus Keindl in Niederaudorf
2,5 hrs from Füssen 1,5 hrs to Berchtesgaden from there

https://www.hotel-keindl.de/en/

They do have multi bed rooms for families at a reasonable price
A good restaurant and good service

There is a summer toboggan site (right spelt?) at a nearby mountain
https://hocheck.com/

We stay there on our way to Italy (Südtirol/Alto Adige or Lago di Garda) for a night and like it

Do from there a 1,5hrs scenic drive through the Austrian and German Alps to Berchtesgaden

Oberaudorf -Niederndorf-Lake Walchsee-Kössen-Reit im Winkl-Inzell-BadReichenhall-Berchtesgaden

Thanks all for the good suggestions! Appreciate the reminder to build in playground time and the specific hotel suggestions.

Has anyone stayed around Chiemsee?

We stayed in Hotel Fischer am See near Prien am Chiemsee on the Lake

Nice location by the Lake but you need a car to get to Prien where the Boats to the islands in the Lake depart and there is a playground near the pier
Another attraction might be the little Steam Train from the Pier to center of town and train station
There are also Hotels near the pier also but havent stayed there

I really enjoy being at Lake Chiemsee and can highly recommend it. A hotel in Prien would be ideal.

To get around the lake without a car, there's a bus called the 'Chiemsee Ring Line'. There are also plenty of opportunities to go hiking without a car: https://www.chiemsee-chiemgau.info/en/hiking-without-a-car

In case useful…we went to that area with slightly older kids but prioritized kid friendly stuff a lot so maybe the trip report will be helpful for you still. From 2022. Re: playgrounds…I did not see any that looked cool in Munich but there is an adventure one just outside of Berchtesgaden on the north side and Salzburg had one cool looking playground area too. We ended up not doing the playgrounds as we ran out of time but your kids are younger so it may be a bigger priority.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/germany-june-2022-with-2-kids-munich-alps-saltzburg

We’ve decided to overnight in Chiemsee, thank you for the recommendations! Hotel Keindl was even able to give us a room with bunkbeds for the kiddos!

Shawna, thank you so much for chiming in! I relied on your posts heavily while planning this trip and I appreciate your additional thoughts about playgrounds. We will definitely need time to run out some energy wherever we are!

We’ve decided to overnight in Chiemsee, thank you for the recommendations! Hotel Keindl

Is the Hotel Keindl in Oberaudorf? That's in the Chiemgau region, but about 45 minutes from Lake Chiemsee by car.
I'm only mentioning it because you mentioned that you want to stay overnight in Chiemsee.

The Hotels on the Lake Chiemsee are mentioned in my second post

Keindl is definatly not on the Lake although they use pictures of it on their english website version as I see
Takes ca 50min via Autobahn north to Prien on the Lake Chiemsee

Next Lake from Hotel Keindl is Lake Walchsee in Austria (not Walchensee in Germany) 15min east
much smaller

Sorry when caused misunderstandings

So glad to hear they were helpful, Molly! I found this board so useful when I was planning too! :)

@uwe04 - thank you for calling out this discrepancy! At this point, I’m going to keep the Hotel Keindl reservation as this is our budget travel night. Everything on the lakes was either booked, required a multiple night reservation, or was simply out of our price point. We’ll stop at Tegernsee for lunch and get our lake fix.

I have a friend who is a chef in Munich who recommends Mesner Gütl in Tegernsee.

Also a heads up for others looking to book Neuschwanstein - we are almost a month out from our visit and the only tour times I could purchase online for a random Tuesday were 9 am or 5 pm. Book as soon as you can!

If you are going to stop at Tegernsee for lunch and get a lake fix, I would highly recommend Bräustüberl Tegernsee as a back up option to Mesner Gütl. The food and beer are great and there is a nice green park and lakeside promenade.

DJ

Need more time in Salzburg for sure.

One more recommendation if you are going through the Tegernsee-Schliersee area, a stop at the Markus Wasmeier Freilichtmuseum (Folk Museum) is great for kids. From Tegernsee you can get there via Schliersee Str, then after the museum you can continue to your hotel via Bayrischzell on nice mountain roads.

DJ

DJ, thanks for the suggested stop between Tegernsee & Oberaudorf. Looks like a great way to stretch little legs!

Trying to figure out the best "bang for our buck" for a day in Salzburg. Possibly wander around in the morning and take a Bob's Special Tours Sound of Music trip in the afternoon? That tour would also give us a taste of Hellbrunn and we could decide if its worth it to go back for the full Hellbrunn experience.