I would love some feedback on our itinerary for Munich in late September. The point of our trip is to visit during the festival and celebrate a family member's birthday - it's a surprise for my brother in law, who lives in Austria and will be coming with his wife but doesn't know that 8 of us from the US will be also there. Many of our fellow travelers have visited Munich with my brother in law and always talked about coming back - so his wife thought this would be an ideal surprise for his birthday. He's a long time expat but misses his brother and friends very much.
We have organized the hotel (a little outside the center of the city) and we have some Munich colleagues who are securing tent reservations for us. So it's just a matter of what touristy things to prioritize when the real priority is enjoying the festival and our family and friends.
September 27 - arrival. I'm torn on what to do this day, as we will have been traveling since 1pm east coast time the day before - about 12 hours of total travel. We will of course check into our hotel and we are hosting an arrival dinner for our American friends and family that evening at 7 - at a restaurant near our hotel. I would love to say we would do the Rick Munich walking tour but is that too ambitious? I'm also assuming our hotel won't be ready until about 3pm. So jet lag, no real home base yet - do we store our carry ons at the train station, have some lunch, and hoof it around a bit before heading to our hotel? Or do we head to our hotel, hope we can get into our room, and take a nap? I hate a lost day but I don't want to be cranky!
September 28 - our tent reservations will be in the evening, so we have the morning to explore before popping back to the hotel to change into our trachten (luckily, I already own a dirndl and wear it for our Austrian family's celebrations, my husband is finally breaking down and buying lederhosen). Our hotel is outside the city center and not terribly far from the Nymphenburg, so I thought this might be a nice option for the morning. We could tour, have lunch, change into our trachten, gather our friends, and head to the festival grounds. This is the day we surprise my brother in law!
September 29 - this entire day is free. Part of me really wants to see Dachau, but I honestly can't imagine not seeing Neuschwanstein. And I feel we only have time for one long day trip. So if it is the castles, do we do the Grayline tour, the Radius Tour, public transport, or rent a car? Or am I missing out by not going to Dachau, knowing I will visit Innsbruck sooner than Munich and could get to Neuschwanstein another time? In any event, we will probably have dinner at the Hofbrahasu this night - it's just a must for the group!
September 30 - some of our group is leaving tonight, so the plan is to head to the festival for an early tent reservation. And whatever we are up for after our second visit to the Wiesn!
October 1 - we head to Vienna for two days to spend some time with our nieces. No plans here, as we visit often enough that we only really care about taking the kids to the park and having meals with our family.
So, our time in Munich is short and I feel we are missing so much - the Residenz, a long time to meander in the city center, a tour focusing more on the history of Nazism and the war, the English garden, the largest beer garden at the Hirshgarten - and Olympic Park and BMW, which I personally can live without seeing. Yet our point of being here isn't packing it all in.
Thoughts, comments? Advice?