We are planning a trip that starts in Prague then the train to Munich. We'd like to spend 5 days traveling by car in Bavaria. We realize this not a long time so we want to make the most of our visit. We'd like off the beaten path, small villages plus see the beauty of this area. I am an amateur photographer and would love to shoot some of those breathtaking views. Please suggest a good route, good overnight stops, great views, etc. yes, we will be driving a rental car so we have the freedom to stop along the way. When we leave Munich we are flying on to Istanbul next for 5 days then back to states.
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I know Lee will be along shortly to tell you that you don't need the car and should use mass transit instead, but I'm on the camp that says that if you want to drive in Europe, that's a wonderful place- lovely roads, polite drivers, and with a good GPS map set, it's fun to just point your car in a direction that just looks interesting or make a stop at a roadside stand selling strawberries. Just remember to pick up your Austrian vignette toll sticker at any of the five thousand gas stations advertising it on the way to the border- something like 10 euros for a weeklong one prevents a fine much larger than that.
Also- note that certain times of day and times of year, fog can be a factor for good photography and be ready to flexible around that for photo purposes.
We did that route last summer and here's what we did-
Day 1- LHR-Munich, getting in around 3:00pm, pick up car, enjoy drive to Salzburg
Day 2- Berchtesgaden- drive out to Eagle's Nest area, have some light hiking on the trail that runs behind the documentation center and then have lunch. After that, proceed onward to Königssee, which is as pretty of an alpine lake as you're going to find. We didn't really time it right to do the boats to the St. Bartholomä, so we did some hiking along the lakrshore instead. There's also a cable car (the Jennerbahn) that gets you up some mountain areas that might be interesting.
Day 3- Had been planning on stopping at Chiemsee but spousal unit was still fighting the sinus infection from hell despite getting some good drugs for it from the pharmacy at Munich airport so we just kind of did a short stop at the Salzburg outlet mall and then a leisurely drive to Garmisch from there.
Day 4-- had planned on the Zugspitze but it was fogged in and therefore not worth the 50 euro cost to get up there. Decided to take the Wankbahn cable car (yes, we're all 12 year olds at heart so I took pictures of the name stenciled on the car) on the other side of town instead, and actually got some good pictures of the Zugspitze and the G-P valley from the cable car stop about halfway up Wank Mountain where it wasn't so cloudy. Had lunch on the way out of town, and since we weren't quite ready to just drop the car off in Munich yet, took a few left turns off the autobahn and ended up with an unplanned stop at Linderhof Palace, which has lovely and highly photogenic grounds. Then drop off rental car at Munich train station since there is zero reason to have a car in the city.
Day 5- explore central Munich on foot. Take some architecture pictures.
Day 6- train onward to Paris.