Hello! My wife and I are planning a trip to Germany for a week in late May with our (then)14 month old son. We live in Singapore and this will be our first long distance trip with the baby. So, given the time zone difference etc. we are of the opinion that we would stick to only a couple of places as bases and do day trips from there. Do you think this is a good idea? For now, we are thinking of taking the flight to Frankfurt. Is frankfurt a good base for a couple of days or is Munich better? What is the other place that could be a base? we are interested in natural beauty, history and culture. We started out thinking we wanted to do the romantic road / black forest and the castles in Fussen. Now it looks like all of this may not be possible. Any help on the itineary will be greatly appreciated!
Posted by
Lawrenceville, Georgia
693 posts
First off: are you planning to rent a car or travel by train or bus? If you only have a week, you have to consider the transit times between your points of interest, Germany is larger than it seems. You could fly into Frankfurt, travel down to Munich and fly back from Munich. I would forget about the Black Forest this trip. In fact, I'd fly into Munich, visit the castles and spend a couple of days in Salzburg and then fly home from Munich. This area is packed with natural beauty, history and culture.
Posted by
Atlanta
1358 posts
With little ones, I like being outside of the big towns. They get more room to run around and there's less crowds to deal with.
I'd suggest getting a room or apartment in a farmhouse near Garmish-Partenkirchen or Mittenwald as a base. Those towns are small enough to navigate easily with a little one, but big enough to have things to do. There's hiking in the area, too. You can take day trips to the castles and to Munich.
To find farmhouses, you can either go on the tourism websites for G-P or Mittenwald, or go to www.landtourismus.de for listings. I like to find a working farmhouse (one that has animals) with a few rooms or apartments, so there's a better chance of other families with kids there, too. We've stayed in farmhouses with our kids, and they've gotten to pet cows, ride horses, slide down big hay piles, ride tricycles, and play soccer with other kids.