Questions on Germany trip- Munich, Bavaria, Berlin in Mar/April

Not a bad itinerary.

Renting a car at the airport in Munich and driving into Munich will encounter lots of traffic. Driving in Munich is not as bad as other large European cities, but traffic you will encounter.

You plan to go to Nymphenburg Palace, which, I recall did have parking. Does your hotel have parking (what is the cost?).
You plan to go to Berchtesgaden the same day you visit Nymphenbuerg? Also, you plan to visit Salzburg on Sunday on a day trip. Why not combine your Berchtesdagen visit with Salzburg and spend the night in one or the other.

Dachau will not take up your entire day. You may have more time in Munich to see that city, which I don't see much on your itinerary.
The Hoffbrauhaus in a great place to visit and enjoy a meal.

Glad you included Rothenburg, it is not to be missed. Since you will take the Romantic Road through Augsburg, Dinkelsbuhl and Donauwurth, you could stop and visit those cities (the Rathhaus in Augsburg is worth a short visit). However, you would not be able to do that in one day. Do you plan to visit Nurenburg at all. The old city is interesting, but there is lots to see like where the Nuremberg trials were held and the rally site for NAZIs.

Check to see if the Pergamum Museum is open. If it is, it is great. We last visited Berlin in 1991 and the wall was gone. I think there was a very small section that was preserved, but it is not in the city center.

Parking will be your big issue wherever you go. Make sure your hotels provide parking and if a charge, how much.

The option is to take tours from Munich and or Berlin when there.

Your first day is very busy, are you sure you can manage it after your flight. Berchtesgaden is not in Munich, it's a different town quite a distance away. Did you mean something else?

What a fun trip - but you're being unrealistic about timing and distance. I think you'll have to cut some things. Here's how I would plan a very busy trip for myself, as someone who knows how to get around Germany very well.

Day 1: Pretending that jet lag doesn't exist, you wouldn't want a car to get to Nyphenburg or Hofbrauhaus so no car rental this day. Take the S-bahn from the airport to your centrally located Munich hotel, drop off your bags, and get on the tram to Nymphenburg. Upon returning to the city center, walk around a little, enjoy the Hofbrauhaus and dinner at Andechser am Dom or Augustiner Keller.

Day 2: Dachau and Munich sights you may have missed

Day 3: Hard choices. On this trip, to really enjoy yourself, I would either choose Salzburg/Berchesdgaden OR Fussen/Castles. You don't have time to enjoy both, IMO, without rushing around and spending too much time in transit. For your trip, I'd pick up rental car, go to Oberammergau or Fussen to base, and spend 2-3 nights there enjoying that area.

For the record, I did Salzburg/Berchesdgaden as a daytrip from Munich. I wouldn't recommend it because I didn't feel like I had time enough to enjoy either.

If you REALLY wanted to not make the choice, I'd drive on Day 3 to Salzburg early and spend a dreaded one-night stay there (you want to minimize one night stays!) and then Days 4-5 in Oberammergau.

Day 6: Drive to Nordlingen in the morning, then to Nurnberg (see, now we have 2 one night stays, but this one is more justifiable to me)

And the rest looks good.

Thanks so much for the info!

We have not booked any hotels yet - just looking to figure out the itinerary before I start to book hotels.

I agree on the car, maybe we could just rent the car as we are leaving Munich, not for the stay in Munich..

Also, I had Berchtesgaden on my list at first, but forgot that was the Eagle's Nest over near Salzburg, but Eagle's Nest is closed until May I believe so we'd probably skip that to have more time in Salzburg or do a guided day trip to Salzburg out of Munich.

I do feel like maybe Rothenburg and Nuremeburg is a bit much for this itinerary. I wonder if it would just be best to do a guided day tour out of Munich to Rothenburg? like this one?
https://www.viator.com/tours/Munich/Romantic-Road-Rothenburg-and-Harburg-Day-Tour-from-Munich/d487-285010
Then we could stay an extra night and take the train from Munich direct to Berlin, and possibly get off the train for part of the day in Nuremburg on the way to Berlin?

Thanks!
Scott

Hi Sarah, thanks for the info, we posted at the same moment.

As for Salzburg, I was thinking we could possibly do a guided day tour out of Munich? Something like:
https://www.viator.com/tours/Munich/Salzburg-Small-Group-Day-Tour-from-Munich/d487-2666MUSIC
Also, as Phillip also mentioned, I accidentally listed Berchesdgaden forgetting what it was - we'd skip this since Eagles Nest is closed until May anyway. Don't want the entire trip to be a guided tour, but one or two days of guided tours isn't bad since you don't have to worry about figuring out the transportation and can read a book or chat with some of the other guests.

I totally agree with avoiding the 1 night stays. In fact, I was considering that we should just cut out the night in Nuremburg and add an extra night in Munich and do a day tour of Rothenburg/Harburg, something like this: https://www.viator.com/tours/Munich/Romantic-Road-Rothenburg-and-Harburg-Day-Tour-from-Munich/d487-285010

Which would give us 4 nights in Munich, 2 nights in Fussen, and 3 nights in Berlin. That way we could take the train from Munich to Berlin and get off in Nuremburg to spend a few hours.

Ulrich - I think your new plan is way better! You'll have more time to breathe and relax, and taking tours is a good way to let someone take over.

Salzburg/Eagle's Nest/Berchtesgaden are all right next to each other, so saving them for a return trip with the Eagle's Nest is open makes perfect sense. It would be a good jumping off point to explore other parts of Austria if you like the taste of the alps you get in Fussen.

Nurnberg of course absolutely deserves more than a few hours BUT I have absolutely used it as a half-day stopover before between Munich and Berlin when we had visitors and unless you're dying to do the Germanischesmuseum it's totally fine. Hit the main churches, have a lunch of nurnberger rostbratwurstle, make the hike up to the castle or visit the Duerer House and you've got a nice introduction to the city.

Another recommendation - on your drive from Munich to Fuessen, stop at the Andescher monastery for lunch. It's one of the world's most famous breweries, and there's nothing like having it straight from the source. The monastery itself is lovely, too.

Thanks for the info on Nurenburg - not optimal to give it a few hours, but sometimes have to make some compromises with such a short stay. And thanks for the tip on the Andechs monastery-brewery, looks like a fun stop!

Tinkering with the itinerary again :) Thinking of taking Sarah's advice to save Salzburg for next time and just do a day trip from Munich to see some castles that we have some time to visit Bamberg / Nuremberg area? That way we could do 3 nights in Munich, 3 nights in Bamberg (or Nuremberg), and 3 nights in Berlin.

I think we could get by with just the train and skip the car rental. Would Bamberg or Nuremberg be a better base in that area? I was thinking that Bamberg with 11 breweries might be a fun place to spend the evenings. We could also do a stop in Regensberg the day we travel from Munich to Bamberg. And also stop in Erfurt (or Leipzig or Dresden) the day we travel from Bamberg to Berlin. So it would look something like this:

Thu 1. depart, redeye flight

Fri 2. arrive morning, day in Munich, spend night in Munich

Sat 3. day trip to Castles, evening at Andechs Monastery/Brewery, spend night in Munich

Sun 4. day trip to Dachau, spend night in Munich

Mon 5. morning train to Bamberg, day in Regensberg, spend night in Bamberg

Tue 6. day in Bamberg, spend night in Bamberg

Wed 7. day trip to Nurnberg, spend night in Bamberg

Thu 8. train to Berlin, day in Erfurt or Leipzig, spend night in Berlin

Fri 9. Berlin, spend night in Berlin

Sat 10. Berlin, spend night in Berlin

Sun 11. Fly home