Seeking Germany Locations to add to our 2015 Austria Trip

We really enjoyed Passau - and it's an easy trip from there to Munich for departure.

Had you thought about the more western part of Austria? We went skiing near Dornbirn when I was in school and the views of the Bodensee were wonderful. I had friends who recently attended a conference in Lindau earlier this year. The one partner really enjoyed the countryside while the other was in meetings. :) Also, north and a bit west from Dornbirn is the Neckar River valley which is quite lovely and not as well traveled. And not too far are Ulm and Augsburg--both interesting towns/cities to visit. You might also look into Innsbruck.

Pam

We loved Berteshgaden for the beauty, hiking, and lovely town as well as the WW museum. It is about an hour south of Salzburg. We already had stayed in Salzburg for 5 nights because we were there for the music festival, but drove back to Salzburg for one more concert. It was an easy drive from Berteshgaden. We stayed at Alpenhof an can only say good things about it--very peaceful and really nice service and rooms.
Bad Ischl is a town that we found when driving around one day. It is darling and looked like a wonderful place to stay.
We stayed at "The Vienna Guesthouse" and do not recommend it.

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. We really appreciate it!

The Viehscheid or Almabtrieb occurs in September - bringing the cattle home for the winter. Here is a link to Bavarian events for 2014. Each year, the dates seem to crop up online in early summer. I attended a cow parade in Mutters outside of Innsbruck a few years ago. The cows love posing for photos - or so I imagined.

http://www.bavaria.us/almabtrieb-viehscheid-in-bavaria-all-dates.

Google Viehscheid or Almabtrieb and any number of place/region names and you will find similar info: Bavaria, Tyrol, Sudtirol, Switzerland, etc. These are mountain-related events. There are numerous posting of home videos on YouTube, if you want a better idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK00kqwxJgw

Debbie

Hi Jean. We just spent 3 nights in Oberammergau, Germany and really enjoyed it. It's a small place, nested in the mountains of southern Bavaria, with lots of restaurants and places to stay (hotels, gasthaus, apartments, etc). It's known for the Passion Play, it's fabulous frescoed buildings, and marvelous wood-carvings, but it's also close to a number of interesting places and other towns. It's serviced well by the train and bus. It's close to Garmisch and Fussen, so you could base yourself there and tour around. There's lots of hiking in the nearby hills/mountains, Schloss Linderhof (one of King Ludwig II palaces), Kloster Ettal, and lots of other sites I'm sure you'll find.

In Austria, consider visiting Graz (about Graz) and Eisenstadt (about Eisenstadt). Graz is the capital of Styria, about 2.5 hours by train from Vienna. Eisenstadt is the capital of Burgenland, near the Hungarian border about an hour from Vienna. There is lots to do in and around both cities and they have a completely different 'feel' from Vienna. It is probably best to do an overnight trip to Graz; Eisenstadt can easily be done in one day.

Consider Berchtesgaden. We just spent 5 days there and could have stayed longer. Konigsee and the Eagle's Nest get a lot of tourists but there is a lot of alpine beauty to experience (we'd recommend the Almbachklamm and Hintersee) outside of this and a number of small towns in close proximity with plenty of options for places to stay. We even did a day-trip to Hallstatt and St. Wolfgang (1 hour - we drove) while we were there.

While we were there, my husband became fascinated by the Nazi history in the area. Commonly mentioned are the Eagle's Nest and Dokumentation Zentrum (which was fascinating) but Hitler loved this tiny part of Europe and made it is unofficial centre so there are dozens of places with Nazi stories associated with them. If you are interested in Nazi history at all and consider Berchtesgaden as a place to visit check out the website www.thirdreichruins.com. There are lots stories and then-and-now pictures that my husband wished he had known about before we visited.