Upper Bavaria by public transport

Ga-Pa will offer much more access to rail transportation than Berchtesgaden. Mittenwald, the Zugspitze, Oberammergau, Innsbruck and other nice places are accessible by train, with numerous other destinations accessible by bus.

See map: https://bahnland-bayern.de/files/media/bahnland-bayern/tickets/regio-ticket-bayern/Regio-Ticket%20Werdenfels/2026/beg-gr-gueltigkeitsbereich-regio-ticket-werdenfels-2026-01-ew3.jpg

there are two ways to avoid Munich but they take longer (unless it's one of those days this summer when trains around Munich are affected by engineering work).

But first, you ask a good question about whether the two towns are signficantly different. I ought to be careful here because this is an american forum but the big thing they have in common is the attention they get from americans! Ga-Pa is understandable, for over 50 years it had a big US army base, now a NATO centre and there is still a US military rest resort for forces in europe and veterans. Not sure why Berchtesgaden is quite so famous, possibly a certain guide book.

But shift your sights slightly and look at Murnau and Bad Reichenhall. For a start they've both got good lakes and mountains and both are a little closer to Munich for the airport. Murnau has all the reachable stuff that Russ listed for Ga-Pa and if you look on his linked map it has more transport options.

Now ask if you can get from Murnau to Bad Reichenhall without going via Munich. Yes! The new Express AlpenBus https://www.mvv-muenchen.de/en/vernetzte-mobilitaet/alpenbus/

Take the X990 from Murnau to Bad Tölz and change there to the X380 to Rosenheim, where you can get the train to Freilassing and then Bad Reichenhall.

There's even a second route, train to Innsbruck and then to Saalfelden (or possibly Zell am See) and then Austrian Postbus over the Lofer Pass straight to Bad Reichenhall. But austrian travel is more expensive.

But it has to be said they only real reason to stay in both places in just one week is to use one of these connecting routes, which are too long to do as a round trip in one day!

I understand your aversion to renting a car (and driving) in Germany. I've spent almost 160 nights in Germany since 2000 on 11 trips (that's 170 "tour" days), and I've never rented a car. In fact, after every recent trip, I've compared what I actually spent for transportation (mostly all regional passes, individual regional tickets, and a very few adv. purchase long distance train tickets) vs what it would have cost me for a rail pass or a car rental, and I've always find I saved a lot of money my way.

I guess I'm not your prototypical American traveler. I eschew big cities. I've spent most of my life in or near major metropolitan areas, and for me, a vacation has always been somewhere out of town - Yosemite, the California redwoods, Olympic Peninsula, Mesa Verde, etc. Eighty-five percent of my nights in Germany have been in towns smaller than 20,000 population. I've spent enough time in Germany to feel completely comfortable traveling there, and I speak enough German not to panic if nobody speaks English.

So, to answer your question, GaPa is not the same as Berchtesgaden, and IMO, it's nowhere near as desirable a destination. First, Kehlsteinhaus (The Eagles Nest) is totally unique. There is no feeling that can match standing in the octagonal room at the end and realizing that Hitler and other Nazis, and Mussolini, were once there in that very room where you are standing. And a cruise on Königssee is beautiful; be sure to go all the way up to Salat and walk over the bar to Obersee. It's beautiful (Beautiful, big and beautiful, I'm beginning to sound like Trump!)

In 2000, I stayed in Freilassing and commuted two days to Berchtesgaden. I thought that would be less expensive than staying in a resort area. No, Freilassing was more expensive due to it's proximity to Salzburg. Since then (three trips, eight days), I've always stayed in Berchtesgaden. In 2012, I spent a 2 nights in Berchtesgaden before starting on my trip on the Alpenstraße.

As for GaPa, in 1988 I made a day trip from Munich to GaPa. I went up the Zugspitze, but for someone from Colorado, it was not impressive. The top of the Zugspitze is lower than the parking lot at the ski area (Loveland) where I often skied at home. The top of Pike's Peak, at 14,410, where I've been, is more impressive.

I think you should do Berchtesgaden, and three nights would be a minimum. Four nights in GaPa, IMO, might be a little overkill. Going from GaPa to Berchtesgaden does usually mean going through Munich, but there is another route I think you should consider. It probably takes two days, but it's interesting. It's not as fast as going through Munich, but it is scenic, and interesting, and has some historic significance. @me.crewe alluded to it in his post about a route through Murnau, but this route goes through GaPa, not Murnau. It's called the Alpenstraße.

As I understand, Hitler actually "designed" the Alpenstraße as a road to show off the Alps (or maybe it was Lugwig I, but Hitler had something to do with it). It's entire route goes from Lindau, on Bodensee to Berchtesgaden. Over 17 years, I've actually traveled almost the entire route, either by bus on the road, or on the train route paralleling the road.

Berchtesgaden is on one end of the Alpenstraße. GaPa is about in the middle. In 2013, my late partner and I went from Oberammergau to Berchtesgaden, mostly on the Alpenstraße. The entire trip took us two days, but it was worth it. We started in Oberammergau. We took the bus from O'gau to GaPa to start the trip. The bus route from GaPa Hbf to Bad Tölz is spectacular. The scenery along Walchensee is gorgeous, and going down the switchbacks into Kochelsee is impressive. Instead of following the road from Bad Tölz to Shliersee, we saved time by taking the train through Holzkirchen. That part, from GaPa to Schliersee/Bayrischzell took most of the first day. We spent the night in a Privatzimmer in Osterhofen, but most people might prefer Schliersee or Bayrischzell.

From Bayrischzell over the ridge to the Inn valley is on a highway called "Tatzelwurmstr". The Tatzelwurm is a legendary Alpine creature with the body of a snake and the head of a cat.

We took the Tatzelwurm highway from Bayrischzell to Brannenburg via Oberaudorf. At that point, the Alpenstraße goes across the river and goes cross-country to Chiemsee. Instead we took the train via Rosenheim and met the Alpenstraße at Bernau a. Chiemsee. From there we went by bus down to Reit am Winkel, then to Inzell. From Inzell to Berchtesgaden, there was a no-bus gap, so we went on to Bad Reichenhall, then by train to Berchtesgaden.

It's unfortunate, I think (?), that there is not an Alpenstraße bus like there is on the Romantic Road. Planning a trip on the Alpenstraße requires a lot of time on the Bahn and RVO websites, looking for connecting buses and finding schedules, but I think, in the end, it would be worth it (it was for me), if only to be able to say you've traveled the Alpenstraße.

In 2007, I traveled the Romantic Road. I think the best part of the Romantic Road is not the road; it's just an ordinary country road clogged with cars, buses, lorries. The best part of the Romantic Road is the towns along it, like Harburg, Nördlingen, Dinkesbühl, and Rothenburg. On the Alpenstraße, it is the road, the scenery along it. Other than Lindau, Füssen, Reit, or Berchtesgaden, I'm not sure there is a town I'd want to stay long in.

There are some variations you can do. In 2009, I was coming down the Inn valley and wanted to go to Mittenwald. I decided to go the Bayerische Oberland Bahn route, via Schliersee, Holzkirchen, Bad Tölz, and Kochelsee, but instead of taking the Tatzelwurm route, I took the Zahnradbahn (cog rail) train from Brannenburg to the top of the Wendelstein, then came down the cable car on the other side of the ridge to Osterhofen, near Bayrischzell and went on to Schliersee, etc. That was a fun alternative to the Tatzelwurm route. At 6000 ft, the Wendelstein dominates the Bavarian Alps. It's fun looking out over the tops of the surrounding peaks, but it's lower than most passes in Colorado. With a car it would be difficult to do the cog train - cable car route because you'd have to take the Tatzelwurm bus back to your starting point to retrieve your car.

Thank you, Russ, me.crewe and Lee! Apologies for the delay in responding. Got caught up and vacation research had to take a back seat!