Must Visit Spots in Bavaria

So much of traveling is suiting ones' interests. I would be the last person to ask about what is appropriate for a "girl's trip."

But, this is a good starting place:

https://www.schloesser.bayern.de/englisch/palace/index.htm

From Munich: Bamberg (N), Nuremberg (N), Regensburg (NE), Augsburg (W) and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (S) (with a train ride up the Zugspitze) are all pretty easy train travel. Berchtesgaden repeats a lot of the Salzburg region, but is beautiful on its own.

Every town, of course, has its own website to find adventures.

For Bavaria, I usually travel for beer, that might not interest you. Hard to say, of course time of year would be helpful, Summer vs Winter swings the ideas pretty far.

As a low key option, I really liked spending a few days in Tegernsee. Cable car into the alps, good hiking, the scenery and lake are wonderful, an excellent sauna by the lake with swimming in the lake (be warned, textile free), a good brewery, and decent dining options. All that could be a dud or fantastic.

Bamberg I loved...but it is the beer capital of Germany, though the old town is top notch.

If you do end up in Berchtesgaden- which I recommend as we loved it - for a girls trip you should plan to side trip up to Bad Reichenhall one day to hit up their therme. It was very nice.

rupertustherme.de

Trying our best to keep the per person total cost under $3000 as well, so tips for that would be great too.

Your train/bus/tram/subway transportation is completely covered if your travel days are within one calendar month and you each get the "Deutschland-Ticket." All details are here:

https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-germany.htm#Deutschlandticket

I'd like to know anybody's favorites...

Favorite Bavarian alpine town: Mittenwald

https://www.travelinglifestyle.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Mittenwald-Germany.jpg

The Karwendelbahn lift and the river gorges in Mittenwald add a little outdoor adventure to the small-village experience. Spend a night in town if you can.

Favorite venue with Bavarian food + music/dancing: The Fraundorfer Inn's Bavarian Evening in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (near Mittenwald.)

Favorite guidebook on Amazon for seeing Bavaria: the dated but still very competent "Daytrips Bavaria" by Earl Steinbicker

Favorite base town for traveling to Bamberg, Regensburg, Würzburg and Rothenburg: Nuremberg - all 4 towns that you named are easily reached from here.

Consider Füssen. I enjoyed it and would return again. You could definitely walk/hike over to Schwangau - or take the bus. Investigate public transit to Garmisch, Mittenwald, Oberammergau, Zugspitze, Wieskirche, Linderhof, Reutte.

Not sure what time of year you are targeting, but perhaps you could investigate come Almabtrieb/Cow Parade events in September? Dates won't be posted just yet, but closer to summer you could google Almabtrieb or Viehscheid and Allgäu, for instance, and come up with some possibilities.

All reachable from Munich. You may enjoy the Youtube channel Near from Home which features slow travel destinations around Bavaria. They have certainly visited places I never considered or knew about - fun!

You have some great suggestions already. I love the Fraundorfer hotel and restaurant in Garmish.

Many great places in Bavaria.
Munich-of course need at least 2 full days there, 3 if you do Dachau.
Berchtesgaden to see the Eagle's Nest.
Garmish/Fussen to go up to the top of Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze. Also, see the two King Ludwig castles.
Augsburg- the city is over 2000 years old and worth a day to tour. The Rathhaus is amazing and the Fuggeri (400 year old mini-city for the poor).
Bamberg, Nuremberg are worth visiting.
Regensburg is good, but it is a bit out of the way.
Another great tour is to rent a car and do The Romantic Road from Fussen to Wurzburg. It goes through Oberammergau (passion play), Augsburg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber and other medieval walled towns.

https://www.romanticroadgermany.com

It's not too hard to see the reason for the popularity - despite the modern roots of the idea, the tour combines the historic cities of Würzburg and Augsburg with the three medieval walled towns of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen, and then finishes off with the tourist highlights of Neuschwanstein Castle and the Alps.

Honestly girls trips are hard because while I love beer and visiting brewery most female friends hate the taste. I loved Munich and could spend a week walking through the neighborhoods chic shopping centers and museums. There also is Freising which is a university town and has a cute aldstadt along with a beerhall restaurant near the University. You can visit the top of the highest mountain in Bavaria as well as hike.

I would actually google what your group is interested in in Bayern Bavaria and then look at the options.

I spent three years living in Bavaria, between Ansbach and Bad Windsheim, and I usually spend 2-3 long weekends over there annually. In 10 days I'll be in Neustadt on the Donau, visiting the huge castle, with day trips to Ingolstadt for the Audi Museum and to Eichstätt for another castle and the Jura (Paleontology) Museum.

Places I love:

Nuremberg - still one of the best towns to walk around, city walls, Durer Haus, the castle, the food, and open market, walking the Pegnitz at night.

Amberg - beautiful old town and no tourists.

Regensburg, Bayreuth, and Wurzburg - high on my list as places to spend a weekend.

Bad Windsheim - the open air museum (in summer).

Ansbach - a transportation hub with a very under-appreciated old town. Drive 13 from there to Ingolstadt; beautiful.

Nordlingen - My preference over RodT.

The drive along the river from Regensburg to Passau.

Chiemsee. Garmish, Bad Tolz, Mittenwald, Ettal. Starnberg.

Probably more, but that's just off the top of my head. There's just so much to do in Bayern.

Hard to disagree with your ideas and the thoughtful responses so far. From my travels in Bavaria I consider Regensburg to be a bit overrated and Augsburg to be underrated. This is doubly so if you are more fans of wine rather than beer. And a little secret regarding Bavarian ladies, many drink Radlers, which is a combination of beer and a soft drink, thus ha!f as much alcohol.

You didn't say or I missed when you plan to go. Many Bavarian towns have summer or autumn festivals that can be a great reason to visit for a day or two.

Regarding cost, hostels can be a great way to save money on lodging. Most modern hostels now have rooms that can be rented by just you and the girls you are with. No sharing the room with strangers. Some also have female only floors or wings to add an additional sense of security.

Have fun...I'm planning my next Bavarian trip for autumn 2027.

Trying our best to keep the per person total cost under $3000 as well,
so tips for that would be great too.

$3000 for ten days is $300/day. Is that just the expenses on the ground or does than include air fare to get there? I've traveled extensively in German, mostly Bavaria, and I've never spent more than $100/day single occupancy for all my expenses on the ground after I got there. In fact, on my last trip in 2017, we spent about $140/day for two of us. You can do it.

First, since you are staying within a small area, don't use a rail pass. Use local passes like the Bayern-Ticket. You're not going that far, you don't need to use expensive high $peed train$.

Don't use hotel websites, like Booking.com. Use town website to find accommodations. On my last trip to Germany, I stayed in a small town in a Ferienwohnung (vacation apartment) that I found on the town website. After the trip, I analyzed the accommodations, and I found that there were 13 places in town offering rooms. The four or five places that were shown on Booking were way more expensive than the others.

I don't spend much time in big cities in big chain hotels. Over 80% of my nights have been spent in towns under 20,000 population. You get a much better experience staying in small place, and it costs less.

For Russ’ recommendation of Mittenwald, look at www.alpenwelt-karwendel.de/en

Lee and I spend about the same ( Maybe it’s a Colorado thing ! ). It’s easy to keep costs down by staying in smaller accomodations and gives a more authentic experience

Bavaria is a big state. The area north of Nuremberg has many interesting towns

Folks, I'm going to tell you that comparing prices with 5 years ago vs. today is not realistic. And 10 years ago, seriously? Just like in the States, prices have risen dramatically. The hotel I like to use in Salzburg is 3 times what it cost 10 years ago. Likewise one of my favorite places in Prague. The pension I used to use all the time in Munich is now (ironically) a bank. It's difficult to find a reasonable hotel anywhere for $100/night in the off season. Can you spend 10 days in Bavaria for $300/day? Yes, but it's not going to be as easy as you might think.

Actually, my expenses in 2023 were less than 2019