Traveling with teen boy, Southern Germany/Northern Austria

Your kid is lucky to have a parent willing to accommodate his interests while sneaking in some of yours!

I don't have any specific advice, but I think a 15 year old is old enough to check out guide books at the library as well as doing some online research and finding sights and activities that appeal to him. And that will give him a real opportunity to take ownership of his experience. Maybe let him plan out one entire day (with a guideline like including at least one parent activity)?

Have a great trip!

Thanks for the encouragement but I have to admit that I have spent a good amount of time viewing churches and historical sites in Europe, and did so as a teen too, so I am good with keeping that on the smaller side of our time. I can find a lot of interesting museums that he might like but then again, that covers mostly 2 hours at best and possibly much shorter, per museum. This is an easier trip to plan than usual since his brother and my husband can't make it with us so I only need to make 2 people happy this time. It is far harder with 4 people who have very diverse interests from each other. Packing and unpacking will also be far easier. I don't feel the need to schedule every minute as sometimes, letting a place unfold is good but I am afraid that the second part of our trip is a little too empty at the moment. I know we will probably rent bikes at some point and go out on a lake at some point, but again, those are not full day activities either.
I have the guide books and they have been unread by him for months. I have been reading them and got ideas but a lot of their advice is geared to adults. He will be accompanying me to a bier hall or 2 but I don't want wine tasting or anything very alcohol related for us to do. He is not into art but does love music, although not classical. He plays guitar and several other instruments so seeing some live music would be good, especially if it is contemporary or classic rock.

look up Hanger 7 at Salzburg airport - everything that Red Bull flies, drives or squirrel suits (or ever has, including teams that they have bought like Benetton), and some really cool stuff. Makes the factory museums jealous. Might make a car mad 15 year old boy v happy.

Free, too

I know you said you know what things you like to do in Munich but I just wanted to see if you have planned or already have been to the Deutches Museum. Sounds like a good fit for your son.

For ziplining activities there was a thread on here last summer about kletterwald/treetop experiences in Germany. There are some good ones in Bavaria.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/climbing-structure-in-a-town-outside-munich

Agree with Nigel on Hanger 7

If you haven't gone before, how about Garmisch-Partenkirchen? It offers an Olympic Stadium and ski jump, a Sommerrodelbahn, Partnachklamm, and the Zugspitze. If going to Parnachklamm, hike through the gorge on the lower path by the water and then, at the end of the gorge, ascend to hike back by the upper path that takes you over the gorge, including over a few bridges. It's great fun.

Rockhouse Salzburg in (obviously) Salzburg and Keller Klub in Stuttgart are places that might offer a concert that would appeal to a 15-year-old. Look at their calendars with your son to see who will be playing while you are there and then watch videos of the groups on YouTube. Perhaps you'll find something of interest...

In Munich it's an easy ride on the U-Bahn to Verkehrszentrum, which is the branch campus of Deutsches Museum devoted to all manner of surface transport -- automobiles, motorcycles, railways, urban transit and marine vessels. Well worthwhile, as is Flugwerft Schleißheim on the north side of town, the Museum's branch dealing with aviation, and located on a historic airfield that dates back to WW1.

Note that during the extensive, years-long renovation project now going on at the main Deutsches Museum facility on Museuminsel, the wonderful collection of aircraft usually displayed there has been moved to Flugwerft Schleißheim.

Flugwerft is just a short stroll from the colorful Schleißheim Palaces.

A couple of years ago I took my 14-y/o grandson to Rome and then to Bavaria. I had given him guidebooks and Rick Steves videos before the trip, and he took an active part in planning the itinerary. From Munich we made day trips to Nuremberg and to the Ammersee region. There was never a loss for things to do. His reaction to Bavaria? "I could live here!" Photos here: https://goo.gl/photos/PHEE9LdegHPyq6BN6

Thank you everyone for the tips! I have shown them to my son and we will incorporate as many as possible. It is a little more than 2 weeks until we go and I am feeling like I finally have a handle on our itinerary. I outlined the different parts of the trip for him and he was interested in all of it. He is a hardworking kid in some ways but lazy in others so I needed to take the bull by the horns with the planning. We seem to be on the same page so that is a great start. I aimed for some balance of cultural flavor, historic tours - with different time periods, outdoor, and active parts to the whole trip while also having unplanned down time. Our trip is mostly in Munich, Salzburg, several points all along the Southern border with Germany and Austria and we will head north to Stuttgart, Rothenburg & Nuremberg for a couple of days before returning to Munich again and heading home. I am familiar with Southern Germany and Austria but heading up from the border area will be new for me. I will see some old favorites but also have new places to check out so the trip works for me as well.

How long will you stay down around the border? I am in love with Bodensee... Meersburg is the oldest intact/"inhabited" castle in Germany, and has great typical-boy history. (It pains me to write that... but my son is most excited about Meetsburg and my daughter about the "flower island" Mainau.) Bodensee also has some great watersport options!

If you will be passing through the black forest, he'll love a rodelbahn! And you, too, probably. :-) They're these downhill coasters... some are like toboggans and some are on rails. They're SUPER fun and definitely adventurous! Maybe they're in other places, too, but I've only been on them in the black forest. But that was in 1993, when I was the teen... Looking online, they've proliferated since then. :-)

Hi, We will be staying in Bregenz, Austria on the Bodensee. We are definitely going to go out onto the water. We have a rodelbahn planned as well as a zip line course in the days before. We will do walking tours, bike tours and a splash down tour that is part on the water after being a bus tour (Salzburg). We are going to the salt caves and the Sound of Music Tour too. I have some attraction planned every day while we will also be winging it some of the time, I feel good knowing that each day has at least one destination. I would have loved to add a Segway tour but you need a valid driver's license and he is still far from having one (a permit will not do either). I plan on a lot of walking/hiking each day as well so we can burn off all the calories. There is no way I want to be restricting our intake once over there.... I think we have a nice mix of action, learning and relaxing.

If your son is interested in Third Reich-era history of Munich, the city's website offers free downloadable maps and audioguides for thematic history walks.

English-language page here:
https://www.muenchen.de/rathaus/Stadtverwaltung/Kulturreferat/Stadtgeschichte/ThemenGeschichtsPfade/National-Socialism.html

Look at the Altmuhl valley. Canoeing, fossil hunting

Given that Stuttgart is home to a US military garrison, there's a LOT of English-language info online on what to do with kids/teens in this region, that will probably give you some good suggestions.

Don't kill me but...what about Europapark theme park? If that's a little too....you know, for you, there's the Freiheitzeit Park Rutesheim seems to be a big hit in the area. Hohenzollern and LIchtenstein castles in the Swabian Alb to the south of Stuttgart are beautiful even if they are romantic recreations of the original castles on that spot. Here's some more ideas: http://militaryingermany.com/family-fun-activities-stuttgart-area

Also consider what local events are going on, as it's summer and the big cities seem to have multiple fests going on at once on weekends in particular and smaller cities have a lot happening, too. I don't know your exact dates, otherwise I could tell you specifically what's happening in Stuttgart.