Seeking small towns as bases in Salzburg and Garmisch areas

Our favorites outside of Salzburg, near Berchtesgaden:

www.mayringerlehen.de

www.friedwiese.de/enska/isl.htm

Both are excellent and less than a 30 min. drive from Salzburg. We stayed at thePension Mayringerlehen in 10/06, 10/07 and 9/09. During our next 2 trips in late Nov., 2010 and 2013, they were closed (sometimes close for Nov.) so we stayed at the Guesthouse Friedwiese. Absolutely love both places and the people at both. Believe it or not, next trip, we will stay at each for 2 nights, even though they are 15 min. from one another. Too hard for us to have to choose between them.

www.flickr.com/photos/pjbassplyr/sets

Paul

Why not just stay in GaP, rather than base yourself somewhere that does not have as many lodging or dining options? Although I wouldn't call GaP a small town, it certainly isn't a city.

You could also consider Mittenwald, Ehrwald, Lermoos or Oberammergau, but if your interest is in GaP, just stay there.

Thanks for the tips. I will check out these places and hope for some more suggestions, but that may be too much to ask.

Re Garmisch-P, actually my interest is not there, yet I may end of staying there, again. As I said, it is on the western edge of the areas I want to explore this time. We had a good time in GP a few years ago, when we visited west of there. But we came nowhere near covering everything.

But, there is a lot of country on both sides of the Alps, between GP and Salzburg we want to visit. Actually, I am interested in towns like Murnau north of GP and the lakes south of Munich but I have not found many people who have spent time there.

One big thing in favor of the larger towns like GP is that my wife's knees can no longer take climbing two or more sets of stairs at the small b&b's and two-star hotels we prefer; so now we need either a place with elevator or rooms on the ground or 1st floor. A lot of small towns just do not have much to choose from in that regard.

Something I am not sure about is: Is it better to stay in a non-touristy place and day-trip to a touristy place, like Mittenwald, where you can get out of town during the day and return when the crowds clear out, or stay in a less touristy place and join the daytrippers, traffic jams and all, in visiting these places. Which works better?

If you're not there during the ski season, then don't worry about crowds or traffic jams. These towns are primarily winter destinations. The summer sees an uptick in visitors, but nothing like the ski season.

Maybe around the Tegernsee (Rottach-Egern, rich Munich playground) or in Austria by Achensee (Pertisau, my favorite)? How about around the Konigsee and Nationalpark Berchtesgaden (Schönau am Königssee, will always go back to the fantastic nature park). All places I have visited and stayed more than twice. Beautiful country, mountains and lakes with plenty of cafes and restaurants. Cable cars or chair lifts to the surrounding mountan tops and boats on the lakes for trips to surrounding towns or sights.

I want to add Reit am Winkl too (visited three overnights). Nice small town and a trip to the Winklmoosalm is nice too. There is a shuttle to the Hindenburghuette that could be fun for a visit http://www.hindenburghuette.de/

I would second the Tegernsee area if you are dead-set against GaP. Lots of tourist infrastructure like hotels and spas, restaurants, good walks along the lake and in the surrounding hills, ferries on the lake to take you from town to town and good ground transportation in the area (most hotels offer a card to use the local buses for free).

I would recommend Bad Wiessee if you want a reasonably priced small hotel. Hotel am Kureck is a good value and location and looked recently renovated (at least in the last 10 years) last time I was there.

DJ

Thanks to all. I am checking out these locations and reconsidering my approach. Instead of going east around Munich and then backtracking, I am looking at going counterclockwise and staying somewhere around Oberammergau before moving on to the Berchtesgaden area. Both will enable me to visit some of the other areas you suggest.