Germany in October

First, I was in Bavaria the first two weeks of October 2007 and the weather was great. I think if you check with Rick's guidebooks, you will find that October is actually one of the driest months in Germany. I was there in November a year later, and I got rained (snowed) on. I was there this year in Aug/Sept and I got rained on.

As for what's open, depends on where you want to go. The K-D boats on the Rhein are still running, albeit on a reduced schedule. Kehlsteinhaus (Eagles' Nest) is probably closed. The castles in Fuessen will still be open. Museums and palaces in Munich will be open.

Hi Deyon,

Perfect time to visit! We've traveled to Germany in '01, '03, '06, and '07 all in mid to late October. We also went in Apr/May in '05 (most rain on any trip) and late Sept. '09.

No one can predict weather, but our experiences are we can count on one hand the number of rain days on ALL the October trips. Again, just our experiences, daytime temps. were anywhere from mid 60's to low 80's and cool to chilly nights.

As for sites being closed, we never ran into that problem. We did find that most sights we wanted to see weren't crowded. In fact, there were just 5 of us taking the tour of "Mad" King Ludwig's Neues Schloss (Herrenchiemsee). The Eagle's Nest (Kehlsteinhaus) is open until the end of October. The Koenigssee boat trip also runs all year (unless the lake freezes!).

If interested, we have photo's from many of our October trips at:

www.worldisround.com/home/pja1/index.html

www.worldisround.com/home/pja1/travel15.html

Paul

My experience is October starts out pretty nice then gets cold somewhere around the middle of the month. I've had beautiful October days, short sleeve shirts were fine (but nights require jackets), and bitterly cold October days, well below 30 degrees, when we needed ski caps, scarves and gloves (and were still freezing). The earliest really cold day I've had was about the 15th.

Octoberfest is mostly in September. It ends the first week in October, you can make it if it's your first stop. It will be crowded, and lodging expensive, throughout the festival.

If you go to Neuschwanstein, the nearby sommerrodelbahn close by about the first week in October, sometimes earlier (depending on the weather).

The English Gardens in Munich don't close but the time to be there is any warm day.

I have understood the question that the OP does not want to be there for Oktoberfest and the crowds it entails. But they also are only inquiring about Germany and not Munich. There are no crowds in the rest of Germany for Oktoberfest. It is a strictly Munich thing.

2 years ago, October was horrid, rainy and cold. Last year, it was lovely the first week or so and then started getting colder. September was much nicer.

Maybe Deyon could say where exactly they wanted to go?

Thank you all for your inputs - they really help.
Jo- We are going to kind of follow Rick Steve's 21 day Germany/Austria/Switzerland, changing some small things, but using that as a base. I had tried to figure out how to go a little earlier and avoid the crowds in Munich. But I was afraid there would be a lot of people coming for Oktoberfest, but then traveling the rest of Germany while they were there. I realize it will be a give & take between crowds/weather, etc. Just trying to work out the best of both.

Hi Jo,
We were in Cochem, Rothenburg and Ramsau (by Berchtesgaden) for last 2 weeks of October, 2007. We had pretty nice weather all around. Actually only 1 day of rain (mostly overcast) at all. The last few days of the month were actually gorgeous days!

Brad, just to note... we've been to Tegelberg twice recently in mid to late October and the Sommerrodelbahn(luge ride) and cable car were both open at this time of year.

Paul

That may be my favorite time of year to travel in Germany and Switzerland. Good balance of low crowds / decent weather / things haven't started closing for the season yet.

We did...

Flensburg/Hamburg/Frankfurt/Rothenburg the last week of October 2002.

Frankfurt/Wurzburg/Rothenburg/Munich/Fussen/Salzburg/Freiburg/Interlaken/Zurich the 2nd week of October 2003.

Freiburg/Basel/Interlaken/Geneva/(on to Italy) the last week of October / 1st week of November 2000.

Do pack prepared for rain -- not that it rains a lot in that time period, but it is a little cooler, and rain plus cool make for a miserable traveler.

We just went last October- arrived in Munich on the 4th, a day after Oktoberfest. It was a great time to go. Weather was in the upper 70's. We crossed the Alps the following week and they were having their first snow. Temps changed dramatically in just a week. However, nothing was closed and the crowds were quite minimal everywhere we went.
Highly recommend the Third Reich walking tour in Munich suggested in Rick Steves' book.

Rothenburg was also a great place to stay overnight.