Southern Germany+ with 8 year old - Are we trying to fit too much? - itinerary help requested

Garmisch-Partenkirchen (castles)

What castles? G-P and nearby Mittenwald are great places to visit for other reasons. Mittenwald information

You should allot some time for castles when you visit the Rhine - it's the best place in Germany for them, 40 or so in 40 miles of river valley. Rheinfels in St. Goar is great for kids (self-guided.) Marksburg in Braubach is an intact medieval castle with a very good tour. Bacharach's Stahleck Castle is a hostel - book a family room with private bath.

Another cool castle experience - with a falconry show - can be had at Hohenwerfen Castle in Werfen, just outside Salzburg:

http://www.salzburg-burgen.at/en/werfen/erlebnisburg-hohenwerfen/index.htm

In the Black Forest, Gutach (Schwarzwaldbahn) is a good family destination. It's on the Black Forest Railway. You can ride the trains on this scenic route and on ALL the Black Forest train routes with the free "KONUS Card" when you stay in one of 130 or so participating Black Forest towns: http://www.dreisamtal.de/en/service/konus.php?lang=en

I would drop the Czech destinations this time. You are already covering a lot of territory in Germany, Strasbourg, and Salzburg, Austria.

My son wants to see Neuschwanstein, and I was thinking Garmisch-Partenkirchen looked like a good place to visit - guess it's pretty far though! Can you tell I need some planning help?

Garmisch is amazing...our favorite place in Germany. I would definitely plan on spending a few days here. We spent 3 days there and could easily have spent more. We hired Jake from All Things Garmisch for a day to take us to the castles, and we even had time for the longest Alpine coaster in the world on the way back...that would be a lot of fun with an 8 year old. We also went to the top of Zugspitze and went sledding in the glacier...in August! There is also the Olympic ski jump which has a smaller alpine coaster and you can climb up to the top of the ski jump. We didn't even have time to get around to hiking the Gorge.

"My son wants to see Neuschwanstein..."

It's a ways from Garmisch just for a rushed and overcrowded 30-minute tour. The other palaces and castles tend to offer more. N'stein might look like a castle - in fact, Ludwig II and the theatrical set-designer/architect outfitted the exterior to resemble one with a bunch of fake turrets - but it's really just a late 19th-century palace. Explain to him what real castles are and that you're taking him to a real knights-castle on the Rhine from the Middle Ages. Marksburg has a room with a display of armor, btw: http://www.marksburg.de/assets/components/phpthumbof/cache/R_stkammer2.8f9edcba899c40c3c3a5aff37905bf10.jpg

When you visit Marksburg, arrange to arrive for the 1 pm or 4pm tour in English if possible.

(And if he still wants to see a fake, he can check out Sleeping Beauty's castle at one of the Disney parks sometime.)

If it was my eight year o;d - he would not be satisfied with that explanation - we would go to Neuswachstein (you know what i mean).

If you go to Salzburg , there is a castle/mansion with trick water fountains that would be fun for an 8 year old.

Thank you all for your helpful advice. I have used it to change our travel plans. I will post my current travel plans as a separate post. I would appreciate any further advice you can offer!

Gratefully,
Kelly

Hi Kelly -

I'm going to base my answer only on my own experiences. Take my opinion for what it's worth! 😃
We took our 8 year old boy to Neuschwanstein back in 2013. He enjoyed seeing the castles. We were with my parents and my dad had his specific agenda and timeline. As we drove away from Fussen we passed Tegelberg mountain which is next to the castle. We noticed a cable car and a small alpine coaster. But because we were on someone else's timeline, we couldn't stop and explore. (We had a rental car.)

So last year, my husband and I spent a few days in Garmisch and drove over to Fussen one day in our rental car. The drive wasn't that big of a deal in my opinion.

Having already done the castle tours we decided to have a nice lunch in town and then drove out to Tegelberg - the mountain next to Neuschwanstein. We took the cable car up to the top and enjoyed the view and watched the paragliders and hang gliders. It was so interesting to watch them prepare and start gliding. We didn't do the small alpine coaster but guarantee my son would have loved it.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you want to see the castles, go. Doesn't matter if people say that these castles aren't real. Do the trip you want. And based on having been there with an 8 year old boy, he'll enjoy it if it's something he wants to see. Throw in the cable car and alpine coaster and I think you'll give him a memorable day.

One more thing - I think I remember seeing people swim in the lake by the castles. Both my son and daughter wished they had suits and time to swim in those surroundings. Maybe throw in a suit for your son (or a pair of athletic shorts) in case an opportunity arises.

Have a great trip. Safe travels!

By car, Neuschwanstein is about 40 minutes to an hour from Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It's a very easy trip.

You could probably do a day cruise of the Rhine as a day trip from your mom's house.

Visiting the Black Forest might be a bit redundant. Your mom lives very close to the Pfalzerwald and across the river from the Odenwald. Both are similar forested mountain ranges to the more well-known Black Forest, but less well known amongst English language travelers.