Car rental & itinerary for trip to Baveria, Germany

From Schliersee, the only destination you picked that would be convenient by train is Munich. Everything else involves several hours of transit each way and multiple transfers. A car is pretty useless in Munich, so it would perhaps be reasonable to pick up a rental after you finished your day in the city. Some more specifics... Legoland is sort of a long drive from your base, but visiting here for a daytrip is possible You probably would not have time for Augsburg in the same day, however. Augsburg is nice, but not really worth going out of your way to see. Day 4 looks a little full. What is the purpose of visiting Garmisch? Although I love Garmisch as a place to stay in the area for skiing and hiking, I admit that there's less reason to visit it as a daytrip just to see the town. If you wanted to ascend the Zugspitze (which would be a good reason to visit), you could probably fit that in the same day as Neuschwanstein or Linderhof, but probably not both. Innsbruck sits in a beautiful location, but the town itself is a little on the industrial side. I wouldn't go out of my way to see it.

No question that you will save a lot of time with a car, plus, with 4 people, it should also be cheaper than public transportation. One exception: take a train from Schliersee into Munich. Also, do a weather check just before you leave home and, if you see a really rainy day ahead, plan Munich for that day. Instead of Innsbruck, split day 4 into 2 days: 1 for Neuschwanstein & Linderhof (plus the Wiese Kirche might be added), and replace Innsbruck with a trip up the Zugspitz plus riding on the nearby luge. Your unplanned day could be to the Berchtesgaden area to see the Eagle's Nest and then the nearby Salt Mines tour (usually one of the highlights for children).

Schliersee in itself is a destination. I would spend more than the first day exploring the area. There's a beautiful lake and lots of hiking. Day 2 is much too busy. After travelling to Munich either by train or car, you will have time for one of those activities. The Deutsches Museum itself can take one full day. After the museum closes, you could go to the Marienplatz, walk around and have dinner. Like the previous poster indicated, I would not go to Garmisch, Augsburg or Innsbruck. On day four, you may only have time for one castle. Again, by the time you drive there, get tickets and tour the castle at your appointed ticket time, you won't have time to drive to the next castle. The Wieskirche or the Ettal Monastary in Oberramergau is also worth seeing. Or, tour Neuschwanstein and go to the Tegelberg sommerrolderbahn (luge). For this particular day, a car would be beneficial. Another castle that is close to where you are staying is Herrenchiemsee on Lake Chiemsee. I rent my cars from AutoEurope or Kemwell. Check their rates online. Not sure about the zero deductible requirement. I secure rental car insurance with Travel Guard which covers the car completely. Have a great trip!

I spent a week in Schliersee two years ago. You will definitely want a car there. On the two days we went into Munich we took the train. There is free parking at the Schliersee train station. I rented our car through AutoEurope. I'm not sure if that option is available to you since you are not from North America. You could try AutoEurope.com if you want. They are a consolidator and our rental was with Avis. We arrived in Munich by train and picked our car up at the train station. We returned it to the airport before flying home. You could easily pick up and drop off a car at the airport.

Dear Tom, Thank you for your suggestions, i am open to change the itinerary. The itinerary we decided is based on feedback from few acquaintances who have been to the area. I would really be grateful if you can suggest any alternative areas that we could visit. We are from dubai so Green pastures itself gives delight to our eyes, there are enough of great buildings in Dubai, being there is to be more closer to nature and enjoy the countryside. Hence please suggest some location that you feel could be good. Will keep your comments on Augsburg on day of visit to legoland. How would you suggest to split Day 4 ??? well there is no specific purpose to visit Garmisch, I dont know anything of the area, but we were told it is a good place and we can drive around the place, I am open to knock it off the itinerary if there is nothing to see there. I am going to be travelling with kids so need to be at places where they can enjoy and I dont want to keep driving s I also want to enjoy the trip and not get tired driving. looking forward for your reply.

Dear Tim, Thank you for your suggestion, I take your suggestion to use the car for complete time of the stay, or once I finish Munich on day 2 and thank you for your inputs on weather, We have decided to drop Innsbruck from the itinerary and we would look to split day 4 into 2 days: 1 for Neuschwanstein & Linderhof (plus the Wiese Kirche might be added), and replace Innsbruck with a trip up the Zugspitz plus riding on the nearby luge thank you for your inputs on this as it was a guiding line for our decision making. For our unplanned day you have suggested to go to Berchtesgaden area to see the Eagle's Nest and then the nearby Salt Mines tour, can you please give me some more details of the area and what are the things that we should not miss out which children would enjoy.

Dear Denise, Thank you for your inputs, especially on the car hire, I will check for rates for AutoEurope. I checked with Chartis unfortunately does not extend Travel Guard insurance to UAE residents so I will need to find some other alternatives. Based on your inputs I will make provision to spend more time in Schliersee and nearby areas too and will keep your tips in mind when I plan start the trips to the castles. Thank you for your inputs once again.

Herrenchimsee is easy to get to from Schliersee. You take a boat to get there, as it's on an island. I found it very interesting. It is modeled after Versailles, but then you see the part of the building that was never completed. You see just the shell of the rooms, so you get an idea of how the building was constructed. Getting there is a nice walk from where you get off the boat. The grounds look nice, although we were not able to wander around. They were filming the Three Muskateers movie (with Orlando Bloom) that came out last year during our visit.