Bad Tolz - Good Home Base for Exploring Sourthern Bavaria?

I definately recommend Garmisch. I've never been to Bad Tolz (lived in Bavaria for several years but never felt a reason to be there) but really enjoyed Garmisch, which is a tourists' wonderland and has lots of good shops of all kinds. Have fun!

I was there last Easter. And I can understand why you're considering it as a base. The pros are: It's actually a large town with plenty of grocery stores/supermarkets, a good choice of restaurants, and with easy access to the freeway. The cons would be: It's not one of those pretty little villages. And unless you're heading South (Garmisch etc.) you'll have to pass the Munich area with all its traffic. Consider Starnberg as an alternative option. The town itself isn't all that pretty but the location is probably even better - and it's part of the Munich S-Bahn system.

Thanks Andreas - I am thinking of staying in the south primarily and avoiding Munich on this trip, so if that is the case would one of those pretty towns be better than Bad Tolz - such as Mittenwald, Garmish, or Oberamergau?

Well, http://www.bad-toelz.de/en/bad-toelz/destinations-for-day-trips/destinations-for-day-trips.html

Hi Gord, We stopped in Bad Tolz for a few hours a few years ago. Nice enough, but after a short visit, I feel no need to visit again. I'd base in Garmisch or nearby Mittenwald. While we love Mittenwald, basing in Garmisch may make day trips a bit easier/more convenient. Paul

Thanks everyone for your comemnts - they are very helpful. So, I am just wondering why Rick doesn't have anything in his guidebooks about Garmish P? I know GP is a well known destination. They (Rick Steves) seem to recommend Fussen or Reutte for this area and I am sure those are great destinations. I do not know anything about this area, but Reutte does seem very, very small. I presume that Rick is recommending Reutte because it fits with his philosophy of "Europe Through the Back Door", whereas Garmish does not? Any thoughts on choosing between Reutte or Garmish? I'm leaning towards Garmish now after reading everyone's comments, but I do trust and value Rick's opinion's as well. Thanks.

Hi again Gord, Funny, we've visited Reutte twice, once to see why RS recommends it from our base in Fuessen and the other time as we were passing by again and wondered if we had missed something. We didn't miss something, in my opinion. I don't get why he recommends it. A rather non descript town/village. RS doesn't cover Garmisch, Mittenwald, Zell am See, the Zillertal, the Otztal and so many other terrific places/areas. I'd go with either Garmisch or Mittenwald. I wouldn't exactly describe the Garmisch/Mittenwald area an alternative to the Fuessen/Reutte area. They are about 1 hour to 1.5 hours apart. Paul

Great. Thanks Paul. I think we'll go with one of your recommendations such as Garmisch

"I am just wondering why Rick doesn't have anything in his guidebooks about Garmish P? I know GP is a well known destination... I presume that Rick is recommending Reutte because it fits with his philosophy of "Europe Through the Back Door", whereas Garmish does not?" First of all, Mr. Steve's Germany book skips over A LOT. Some of his choices seem to me like he simply hasn't devoted very much time to exploring this country. The choice of Reutte as a recommended destination is particularly perplexing, given the much more superior options in the immediate area. Reutte isn't that small, but it just looks like they dropped a modern German/Austrian town in an Alpine valley, and only a handful of the more typical buildings from the region survived. I think he may give it special attention because he uses it as a base for his tours (since his books tend to be more or less written versions of his tours). I don't think it has anything to do with any "Backdoor philosophy", because most of the rest of the book is filled with destinations that couldn't be more touristy. Now, I don't claim any special insight into why Mr. Steves doesn't even mention GaP, which for good reason is the most famous resort in the German Alps. But another long-time poster (James, currently residing in Kentucky but formerly in Ansbach, Bavaria) has a theory- Mr. Steves will never recommend a location that hosts a US military presence. The US military has run a recreation resort and conference center in the town since at least the early 1950s.

Gord, I really like Bad Tolz I think it could be a great base for you. It has some interesting architecture and a really nice wide and steep main street and some great places to eat, you are avoiding the bustle of Munich and you can get to a lot of places in every direction which are worth visiting. Hotel prices will be cheaper too than Munich or Garmisch I would imagine.

Bad Tölz (or Toelz) would make an excellent base for exporing that part of Oberbayern, a very pretty part of Bavaria. The area is well served by the Bayerische Oberlandbahn. It's a popular vacation area for Germans. I spent several days there, based in Osterhofen, in 2009, coming down into the area from the Wendelstein on the Seilbahn (cable car). In addition to an extensive rail network, there are roads served by the buses of the Regional Verkehrsverbund Oberbayern (RVO) so there must be roads as well. From the main town of Holzkirchen, rail lines branch out to Bad Tölz, Tegernsee, and Schliersee/Bayerischzell. From Bad Tölz you can go by bus (road) to Kochelsee, then to Walchensee, and from there to Garmisch-Partenkirchen or Mittenwald. From Holzkirchen, you can go by rail to Rosenheim and from there to Salburg or Berchtesgaden. And, of course, from Holzkirchen, there is swift S-Bahn service into Munich.

Thanks everyone for your comments! After doing more research, I stumbled upon and have now been researching the Bavarian "Alpenstrasse" which runs from Lindau on the Bodensee to Berchtesgaden. We would probably want to travel in the reverse direction (due to our travel schedule - that would work better). So now what I am thinking is over a 6 day period or so, travel the Alpenstrasse by car over the 6 days, making various overnight stops along the way. Based on the research I have done, you end driving 2-4 hours per day, and can stop as you like along the way gradually making your way to your next overnight stop. Does anyone have any thoughts on the "Alpenstrasse" route? Thanks!

Over the last 10 years, I have been along most parts of the Alpenstrasse, either on the very road by bus or along side it by train, but not all in in a single trip. Most recently, May, I spent a day going from Berchtesgaden to Frasdorf. The bus didn't go from Berchtesgaden to Ramsau to Inzell, so I took a slightly different route, by train to Bad Reichenhall, then by bus to Inzell. The rest of my trip was on the exact road. The road, or the areas beside it, it scenic, but just typical of the area. You don't have to be on the exact road to see similar scenery. The best part is the towns. On the part I traveled in May, I would particularly recommend Reit im Winkl. There is an interesting castle at Aschau. As mentioned above, a few years ago I spent some time in the Oberbayen area between the Inn river and the rail link from Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. In that area I would recommend Bayrischzell, Schliersee, Bad Tölz, Kochelsee, and Walchensee. All those towns are visitable by bus or rail. Also, the Wendelstein is a good place to visit, but it is not on the actual road. It is accessible by cable car from Osterhofen, near Bayrischzell, or by cog rail from Brannenburg, on the Inn. Brannenburg is not shown on most Alpenstrasse maps, but is about the only way to Bayrischzell from Oberaudorf.

I wouldn't bother to stop long at all in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but Oberammergau is worth a few hours or a night's stay. Linderhof is not on the Strasse, but worth seeing if you're nearby. The road from Oberammergau to Hohenschwangau is ho-hum, but the castles in Hohenschwangau are worth a stop. From there to Sonthofen the most interesting part is over the mountains at Oberjoch and down the switchbacks on the mountain face into Bad Hindelang. From Sonthofen, take a side trip up the Illertal to Oberstdorf (you can do this by train) and then up into the Kleinwalsertal (there is a bus). From Immenstadt to Lindau is nice but not spectacular.

Bad Tolz has relatively few accommodations, and rooms in the surrounding towns 10-20 miles away are mostly very, very expensive. Why don't you checkout Garmish? The train even goes there from Munich. The town is on the road to Innsbruck, and day trips out of there would be great. You could even hit Switzerland in 2 hours.

Hi Gord, We drove the "Alpenstrasse" from the area near Reit im Winkl to Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden. Sorry, we found the drive and the scenery to be quite ordinary. If you really want to just drive through spectacular scenery, head from Berchtesgaden to the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, to Cortina d'Ampezzo, over the Giau Pass, through the Alta Badia (Italian Dolomites), over the spectacular Gardena Pass, through Val Gardena to Bolzano, Merano and then over the very impressive Timmelsjoch Pass into the Oetztal to Oetz/Imst and then on to Lindau. Paul