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Munich/Bavaria/Vienna - Family with older teens

Posted by (Iowa) on

I’m looking for feedback on our upcoming trip to Munich/Bavaria/Vienna for my family of 4 – this will be the first trip to Europe for my 19 year old son and 16 year old daughter, and my husband and I have never been to Germany or Austria. There have been many iterations of this trip, and I’ve finally been able to arrange for 10 nights. We are looking for a mix of outdoor activities and city explorations. Main interests include day hikes in the mountains, outdoor fun (alpine coaster and bike rides), good food, and a small mix of castles/palaces. Logistically, our dates for arrival/departure are locked in, although we don't have accommodations yet. I will be attending a conference in Brussels prior to this trip, so will meet up with my family in Munich. My main question is how to narrow down our options for the outdoor hikes/exploration of the Bavarian Alps (see below) – I’ve gotten too many amazing ideas from this forum!

Draft itinerary:

Day 1- June 25 (Tues) – arrive in Munich (Family via overnight from US, me from Belgium)

Day 2- June 26 (Wed) – Munich

Day 3- June 27 (Thurs) – Bavaria (either day trip for Munich or new home base)

Day 4- June 28 (Fri)— Bavaria (either day trip for Munich or new home base)

Day 5- June 29 (Sat) Bavaria (either day trip for Munich or new home base)

Day 6- June 30 (Sun) – travel to Vienna

Day 7- July 1 (Mon) – Vienna

Day 8- July 2 (Tues) – Vienna

Day 9- July 3 (Wed) – Day trip to Danube valley: Melk Abbey and bike Melk to Krems (can swap days depending on weather)

Day 10- July 4 (Thurs) – Vienna

Day 11- July 5 (Fri) – fly back to USA

Questions:
1) Should we stay in Munich for day tripping or pick a new home base for days 3-5? Top activities include: Zugspitze, alpine coaster, Neuschwanstein castle, and day hikes. We love hiking the national parks in the US, and everyone is very excited about the mountains and views (we live in Iowa, so mountains are a novelty!). Ideally, we would take cable car up a mountain, day hike to hut for lunch, and seeing some amazing vistas. Locations I’m considering include Tengernsee, Obserdorf, or Berchtesgarden (although this is farther away, and we are not interested in the salt mines). Or should we consider basing out of Austria (Innsbruck, perhaps?) Note that I didn’t include Salzburg because family is not interested in Mozart or SOM, and I feel they will get their fill of art/culture/palaces in Vienna.

2) Another option is adding a day to Munich/Bavaria and arriving in Vienna on Day 7 instead of 6 – this would give more time to exploring the Alpine region. In Vienna, we want to explore Stephansdom Cathedral, coffeehouses, Schonbrunn palace, Prater amusement park in evenings, and the Naschmarket.

3) Debating a car rental for some of the trip. We appreciate the ease of the trains, and would not want/need while in Munich/Vienna, but could be useful if staying at other location.

Posted by
135 posts

Tegernsee is a good option for a daytour from Munich 1hr away

Oberstdorf and Berchtesgaden with 2hrs each are a long drive for a daytour

I would choose one of them as a base for some nights if I want to go there.

Oberstdorf and nearby Kleinwalsertal are good places for hiking
The Kleinwalsertal is an Austrian Valley which can only be reached from Oberstdorf /Germany
We stayed in Hirschegg at the Suitehotel Kleinwalsertal and
in a Holiday Appartment in Mittelberg

Here some info on the Valley Kleinwalsertal

and two videos about Hiking in the Valley

Hirschegg to Wildental

Baad ins Bärgunttal

Its a 2hrs drive from Munich City Center

Posted by
7 posts

Hi - we're a group of 8 (4 adults then 14/12/9/9) going to Munich & Salzburg about the same time as you, with some similar interests mitigated by the age of the kids. Not sure what your plans are for lodging but I'd recommend locking that down pretty quickly for Munich/Bavaria. Euro '24 is happening in Germany while you're there; may be easier as you're likely getting 2 double rooms and we needed places to fit 4.

Assume you're looking for opinions here - given that they will be jet lagged when arriving in Munich they won't get to experience much there before crashing that evening. If the focus is really on the mountains why not just get the travel over with and go ahead to an Alpine base? We looked at Fussen (if Neuchwanstein is a must) then G-P, Mittenwald and Innsbruck before deciding to go to Salzburg because of proximity to Berchtesgaden area for hiking/biking and ease of transportation. It was really a coin flip. Even though the public transportation is amazing, I'd still aim to limit that (so Munich as a base wouldn't work). That would also play into how you're getting to Vienna and how long that will take. I do think people have more patience for transportation time than I do, so take that into consideration.

Also - depending on budget I'd highly recommend looking at the Wellness spa hotels in whatever Alpine location you choose as your base - you can find them that make the hiking/biking easier - and we haven't experienced anything in the US like them. Just be aware of the lack of clothing in the spas, depending on where you choose. A number of them provide basically every meal and the food is likely very good so factor that into the cost.
Not where you're going but the one we've stayed at previously is: https://www.gmachl.at/en/ (no kids on that trip)
And we're staying at https://www.laschensky.at/en/ this trip to give you examples.

Belgium, Germany and Austria are all great (Brussels is meh but everywhere else I've been is great) so enjoy the trip.

Posted by
6653 posts

everyone is very excited about the mountains and views (we live in
Iowa, so mountains are a novelty!). Ideally, we would take cable car
up a mountain, day hike to hut for lunch, and seeing some amazing
vistas.

No, you don't want to stay in Munich for 3-5 days.

Mittenwald is my favorite town for those preferences. There are trains that leave Munich at :32 after the hour and you'll reach Mittenwald in less than 2 hours. The Bayern Ticket day pass covers this journey - €29 for one person + €10 per additional person. Please read about the lifts, river gorges, etc. at the page below:

https://hastingshouse.typepad.com/hastings_house_us/2007/04/mittenwald_germ.html

As the map shows, there are trails you can take once you reach the top of the Karwendelbahn lift:

https://www.gemeindewerke-mittenwald.de/fileadmin/bilder/BZW/Lift/panoramakarte/Panoramakarte.jpg

Mittenwald's location makes an outing to Innsbruck, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, The Zugspitze, Oberamergau, and Linderhof Palace quite easy by public transport:

https://bahnland-bayern.de/files/media/bahnland-bayern/tickets/regio-ticket-bayern/Regio-Ticket%20Werdenfels/beg-gr-gueltigkeitsbereich-regio-ticket-werdenfels-2021-05-ansicht.jpg

Maybe this place near Reutte would suit you too:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g580114-d7372839-Reviews-Highline179-Reutte_Tirol_Austrian_Alps.html

After dropping bags in Mittenwald on the 27th, you might want to backtrack that afternoon to Garmisch-Partenkirchen... not because Mittenwald doesn't have restaurants - it does - but because the Fraundorfer Inn offers a Bavarian evening, and your family still has a valid day pass for riding the trains that day, which gets you to G-P and back to Mittenwald for no additional charge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD8SvqNDZxE

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