Two weeks or so in Munich area

Rob just my opinion. I don't like day trips. You'll be too tired from going out and back each day that the dynamism and urban advantage of staying in Munich won't be of much comfort. It doesn't sound like slow travel to me if you are on the road most days going to and from destinations at which you won't be long enough to see what life looks like there. Munich is a great city, but really, its similar to most other big European cities. I would compare your idea to visiting California, using Sacramento as a home base, and making day trips to Monterey, Napa Valley, Lake Tahoe, and San Francisco.

You can come up with a good compormise itinerary that gives you some variety without moving every day.

Hi Rob,

I have to agree. Traveling back and forth everyday is going to wear on everyone. Slow travel isn't at all about being on the go to and from different day trip destinations. As for Munich, you'll leave in the morning and you'll come back from your day out, eat dinner and sleep.

Paul

2 weeks is a lot of time in any destination. Munich is one of my favorite cities, but 2 weeks just sounds plain old boring.

Hi,

If the day trip is within or less than a 2hour radius, I would do it; It need not be every day, obviously. With full 2 weeks at your disposal in the Munich area, I would factor in at least 3 day trips, I do the same in the Berlin area (lots of places to see and visit for an afternoon at least.) In the Munich area you can see Ulm, Augsburg, Rosenheim, Regensburg, Ingolstadt, Salzburg (depending on any border crossing time waste), Innsbruck, Füssen, etc...all.very feasible.

Two weeks in Munich seems like a bit much, and I too find constant day trips exhausting. (I had one friend who put me through that, and I said never again!) I've been to Munich twice, and I might return this fall but am wondering what's left to do ... I think you could do Munich in a week and then maybe head on over to Vienna. That seems to be a popular twosome, and they're only 4 hours or so apart by train.

If you stick to your day trip idea, Salzburg and Neuschwanstein seems to be popular choices. I've only done Salzburg and had a nice time. I haven't been to Hallstatt, but I also hear good things about that destination.

We're heading back to this area for two weeks in June. We love Munich and its surroundings and have already spent several weeks there over several trips. We won't actually be visiting Munich on this trip. Instead, we will be spending 1 week in Berchtesgaden and one week in Garmisch-Partenkirchen - both areas where we have spent at least a week before - and we are not concerned about finding enough to keep us busy.

If you are truly traveling slow, you should find Munich a great place to base for two weeks. If you are hoping to visit new 'sights' in the city every day you may find two weeks is too much. As for day trips, I've visited most of the places you mention both as day trips and as places where I actually stayed. I don't think one is better than another, they are just different ways of experiencing a place.

We also like to stay in one place for several nights. One unpacking, the bed starts to feel familiar, you get to know the hotel neighborhood. We find it relaxing to return to a travel "home" after a full day of fun. We hate moving around with luggage and it is so nice to hop on a train with just our little day bags. Of course we also accomplish this through the economy of a rail pass. Current promotions for a German rail
pass are excellent, and they are including more border towns in the pass. ( I realize that is not a popular position on this forum. )
Each to his own. You have plenty of time to plan. Blessing and a curse right?

TM is right: Today's German Rail Pass is enormously more attractive than it used to be! "Border towns" aren't the only perks... Zagreb, Ljubljana, Venice, Copenhagen, London, Antwerp, and several other foreign cities are now part of the GRP offer. With all this on the table, it's foolish not to give this pass a very serious look.

However, if you're confining a trip to Bavaria, day trips with day passes from strategically-positioned base towns are probably the best choice; they're especially cheap with 1 or more travel companions. You often get similar flexibility and inner-city transport, and you don't have to commit to a multi-day pass since you only have to purchase a day at a time. And you also get border-area travel (Salzburg, and the Außerfernbahn through Austria, for example.)

If you plan to spend that long in Munich, definately plan a visit to Erding. Not for the town itself, which is very pleasent but unremarkable, but for Therme Erding, which I rank as Germany's best bathing resort.