Would love some feedback on our two week trip to Bavaria!

Not Germany, but nearby: Salzburg. I would spend your extra days there before heading to Rothenburg. We spent a week outside of Salzburg on our first trip to Europe. Spectacular scenery, beautiful mountains and lakes, castles everywhere. We drove the “Romantic Road” to Rothenburg and were disappointed. It was a let down after Austria.

First, note that Easter is April 20, 2025. Europe will be on holiday, so places are more crowded the week before and after. Avoid these dates if possible.
I'd also recommend spending more days in Salzburg, which I find magical.
Also, add another day to Rothenburg-
about this time one usually gets a bit tired, has a cold, needs to do laundry, etc. , and Rothenburg is the perfect place to slow down and sleep in. The mornings and evening are serene, especially in the Castle Gardens, one of my favorite places. And - you'll want do the Night Watchman's Tour.
It's easier to plan an itinerary by nights, not days. Is day one a flying day?
You could fly into Munich and out of Frankfurt, on an open jaw, multi-city ticket.
Have a great trip, enjoy planning, and come back with more questions.
Safe travels!

Another vote for Salzburg.

This is amazing feedback, thank you. We will definitely avoid Easter so this would put us in Early May. I think these are great insights and I’ve made a few changes.

Night 1-2 - arrive in Munich, enjoy the city, rent car
Night 3-6- stay around Berchtesgaden - visit Konigsee, salzburg, explore more of Austria
Night 7-10 - stay around Garmisch-Partenkirchen- see Zugspitze, Lake Eibsee, Linderhof, Neuschwanstein, Oberammergau, Garmisch Sommerrodelbahn;
Night 11- 12 stay in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, see Wurzburg or Bamberg if possible
Night 13 - 14 stay in Nuremberg or Lake chiemsee areas
Day 15 - flight home leaving from Munich

What time is your departure flight? These are usually before noon, so you should be in Munich the night before. Great to see how your plans are progressing!

Here's my $0.02 worth, based on a few years worth of time spent in the area.

Stay in Salzburg, visit Berchtesgaden. I like Boutiquehotel am Dom. There's more to do in the evenings, and especially if it's raining, which it can do April/May.

Stay in Mittenwald or Prien. You can easily visit G-P and the surrounding areas with a car. And this is when you should visit Chiemsee, not after going up into Frankonia.

Don't stay in Rothenburg, stay at Burg Colmburg (about 20 minutes away). https://burg-colmberg.de/

Don't just visit RodT, add this to your experience: https://freilandmuseum.de/topbar/sprachen/en

Wurzburg, Bamberg, Nuremberg, & Regensburg are places where you need to plan on 2-3 days each. You should pick one enroute to your return to Munich.

"We went to Switzerland this summer and loved the Alpine atmosphere, so I figured this would be a similar vibe, only more castles!"

Sounds like castles are a must-do, but which ones will you see? Note that Linderhof and Neuschwanstein are residential palaces built after the American Civil War - not castles.

Burg Colmberg, which KGC suggests, is a castle/hotel and might be a fun place for you to overnight.

Bamberg and Nuremberg, which KGC suggests, both have castles.

https://www.tourism.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Altenburg-Castle.jpg
https://www.meine-

https://www.meine-ferienregion.de/sites/default/files/styles/195x195/public/photos/nuernbergkaiserburg_shutterstock_1152165452_dan-race_kl.jpg?itok=K3dVtF_b

An outstanding castle option is Hohenwerfen, a short drive outside Salzburg:

https://www.salzburg-burgen.at/en/hohenwerfen-castle/

Burghausen is in Bavaria, near the Austrian border:

https://www.visit-burghausen.com/en

Wurzburg, Bamberg, Nuremberg, & Regensburg are places where you need
to plan on 2-3 days each. You should pick one enroute to your return
to Munich.

KGC has pointed you toward a solidly-wonderful part of Bavaria that deserves more time than just a drive-through. Right now your plan dedicates half your time to the German Alps. I suggest you cut your German Alps time in half and spend it in the Bamberg/Nuremberg area instead. Stay in Salzburg, do your B'gaden/Koenigssee day trip and take another day trip to Hohenwerfen...but drop G-P, etc, where you will be underwhelmed after your Swiss Alps experience.

AND you should consider extra time for KGC's other excellent suggestion too... the Freilandmuseum in Bad Windsheim lies roughly in between Rothenburg and Nuremberg:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g198421-d284746-Reviews-Frankonian_Open_Air_Museum-Bad_Windsheim_Middle_Franconia_Franconia_Bavaria.html

The German Castle Road, one of Germany's best-known driving tours, passes through this area:

https://www.burgenstrasse.de/upmedia/Uebersichtskarte_Burgenstra%C3%9Fe-und-Europa.jpg

All good suggestions. So much depends on your specific needs. If you go to Werfen as Russ suggests ( I love it too ) go to the Eisreisenwelt Ice Cave. It will be open after May 1. I have never been to the castle there only seeing it from afar - very scenic. You are probably too young to have seen the movie Where Eagles Dare ( Clint Eastwood, Richard Burton ) when it was in theaters, but maybe on tv. The Wefen castle was the one in the movie.

Since you have a car I think staying at Castle Colmburg would be fun. Otherwise I love staying in Rothenburg

This feedback is amazing. I need to process this and evaluate a little. We haven’t booked flights yet so everything is really flexible.

The current outline of the trip is this : Munich for two nights, then over the remaining 12-14 nights we are split between Berchtesgaden area (maybe even Austria), then Prien or Mittenwald area, on to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and then final leg of the trip would be to check out some castles, stay in Bamberg or Nuremberg or Würzburg. Last night back to Munich for our flight the next morning, depending the our departure flight.

All you advice is so helpful, I keep changing my mind every hour lol

Just to add, we might switch the Rothenburg leg with Burg Colmberg and just do a day trip to Rothenburg. Again THANK YOU. I will def post updates or questions

I think Garmisch and Berchtesgaden, while different, offer a very similar vibe. So, for the sake of avoiding time wasted moving around, I might choose one or the other. Since you have a car, I would lean toward a smaller place in the Berchtesgadener area. That gives you access to Berchtesgaden, Königsee, Salzburg (with its castle), and day hikes such as Wimbachklamm. We loved our stay at hotel Nutzkaser in Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden (there are 2 Ramsaus). Great setting, great dining room, cute rooms, family run with care.

We lived in Augsburg for four years and have visited all the places you mentioned more than once.

1) I like your plan and suggest you stick to it.
2) Salzburg is wonderful and consider taking a Sound of Music Tour, visit the castle, cathedral and Mozart's house.
3) Garmish is great, consider staying at the Fraundorfer guesthouse. Do see the Zugspitze.
4) On you way to Rothenburg, consider spending a fee hours at downtown Augsburg (very historic city over 2000 years old).
5) The Romantic Road is worth taking, be sure to stop at Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen, https://www.romanticroadgermany.com
Dinkelsbuhl is like Rothenburg a medieval walled city, without most of the tourists.

Just wanted to update. we have to cut the trip a little shorter than we’d hope. We have 8 nights now so probably cutting out of latter half. So still in and out of Munich, with an excursion south to the Alpine region in the middle. I’ll post some more updates as we get closer. Thank you all again!!!

If you are still planning to go the Nuremburg/Bamberg area, you should be aware that you can see Bamberg easily in one day. The surrounding area has other points of interest but the town itself is fairly limited.

just do a day trip to Rothenburg.

I highly recommend the Night Watchman Tour, which is at 8pm IIRC. If you do the tour and don't stay overnight, you'll have to drive back kinda late. Just something to consider.

We have 8 nights now so probably cutting out of latter half. So still in and out of Munich, with an excursion south to the Alpine region in the middle.

We did 9 nights in Germany last year and flew out of Munich. The key will be what you want to do day 1. After a long flight, that first day will be a drag. Do you double down and travel another hour or two and save Munich for last? Or do you just chill one night or do Munich entirely to start the trip? Once you figure that out, the rest of the trip will fall into place.

Flights and hotels booked! Here’s where we are staying - two nights in Munich, two in Bad Reichenhall); one night in Salzburg for a Mozart concert at Mirabell Palace; final three nights in Nuremberg. I have a general plan of seeing castles and towns and other sites on the travel days between our destinations. For example, when leaving Munich on our third day we will visit the Neuschwanstein area before checking into Bad Reichenhall. I have similar plans for our travel between Salzburg and Nuremberg. We also plan on seeing Rothenburg on a day trip from Nuremberg. Thank you all for the feedback!

We spent 3 nights at the Alpen Hotel Bergzgrauber last year and loved it.Not fancy, but great food. Toured the salt mine, Koenigsee boat tour with stop at Salet and St Batholome church, and the Berchtesgaden National Park—visitor center and various easy walks.

In Rothenburg, highly recommend the Night Watchman Tour

In Regensburg is the Maidult (local Fun fair) from 9 May till 25 May 2025

Have your own little Oktoberfest in springtime in Regensburg

Perhaps it fits into the way from Salzburg to Nurembergor a daytrip from Nuremberg

Can you do the Rothenburg, Night Watchman Tour and still return that night to Nuremberg by train?

salsa_dancer, yes.

https://www.bahn.de/

Hey there, s_d, sent you a pm about issues with train disruptions along the Rhine during your visit. Feel free to pm me if you need help with some options. (I'm thinking that with some adjustments, the east-bank train line might be a good option... and that Munich > Cologne priort to St Goar might be considered as well...)

Rothenburg > Nuremberg: At the latest, I would want to be on the 22:05 departure.

Gundersen, thanks. I will look up the schedule. I really want to take the Night Watchman Tour.

Russ, I just saw your PM and responded. Thank you.

Wanted to let yall know the trip was amazing. Germany is such an awesome country.

Ended up doing two nights in Munich, two nights in Bad Reichenhall, a night in Salzburg and three nights in Nuremberg. We rented a car from the airport and kept it in a garage while in Munich and Nuremberg.

In Munich we saw Nymphenburg palace, the Residenz, saw the glockenspiel at 5 pm, did a beer tour, walked the altstadt and saw the churches.

On the way to Bad Reichenhall we saw Neuschwanstein Hohenschwangau and (even better) the castle ruins near Reutte, Austria.

Konigsee and Obersee were the highlights of Bad Reichenhall. We saw the Eagles Nest on the way to Salzburg. In Salzburg we had bosna, drank schnapps at Sporer, and went to Mirabell for a concert. The next say we saw the fortress before heading to Nuremberg.

As for Nuremberg - WOW!!! We got the city pass and saw the castle, the AD house, the hangmans house. And we just wondered the streets of an amazing medieval city. We did the dungeons tour, the rock cellar and a food tour, the last two both in German lol

I am already starting to gameplan our next trip. The food and people we met were amazing.

I would love to see Rothenberg ob def Tauber, Bamberg, Regensburg, Augsburg, maybe some of the castles on the Mosel. Maybe even trip a different region all together!

Any thoughts on where to visit next?!

Thanks again for all the feedback!

Sounds amazing.

My idea for your 3rd trip would be going to northern Germany :-)

For your next one I would put Dinkelsbühl on my list.

When you again will have a car on your next trip the little town of Riedenburg in the Altmühl Valley might be an option for a stay

Not far from Regensburg (40km/45minutes) and Kelheim(16km/15minutes) and the Weltenburg Abbey on the Danube River

See
Riedenburg with Rosenburg Castle-- Burg Prunn Castle nearby -- Village of Essing nearby -- Cave nearby--Boatrips--Beergarden
Kelheim--and Liberation Hall--and Danube Gorge and--Weltenburg Abbey
or
Do a boatrip
or
Rent bike for a trip along the Altmühl/Main Donau Kanal
We boarded a boat in Riedenburg took our bikes with us and went as far as Essing with the boat
Had lunch in a nice Guesthouse with Beergarden and drove back to Riedenburg from Essing with our bikes along the River/Canal
It was a great day out

and many more things to discover driving hiking or biking

Near Bamberg is Bayreuth - I would put that on your list too. The opera house the is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G totally took my breath away. Also on the outskirts of Bayreuth is the Hermitage. The grounds are beautiful and the buildings are covered in little colorful rocks. I am drawing a blank on the title of the show, but I think it is the Empress. Parts of the show were filmed there.

We really enjoyed shopping in Bamberg and the hubby enjoyed the smoked beer. I just wish the monastery wasn't under construction. I would have loved to have seen the garden painting on the ceiling.