Mittenwald day trip from Munich

We've been to both. I don't believe that Mittenwald is as large as Garmish but it is every bit as charming and then some. The shops and some houses have beautiful paintings on them and the town center is very compact. We were interested in going because our boys played violas at the time and Mittenwald is the town of stringed instrument makers, geigenmeisters (sp). You'll see finished and partially finished instruments hanging in the lace curtained windows around town. We also liked Mittenwald because it didn't seem as touristy as Garmish.

Garmisch was worth the time spent travelling because of it's size. I'd like to see Mittenwald but not if it will only take a couple of hours to go through.

Hi Bob,
Mittenwald is more of a village but much more charming and picturesque than Garmisch IMO. The Karwendelbahn cable car trip in Mittenwald is very worthwhile. Paul

Instead of traveling 4 hours by train for a 2 hour tour, spend a little more time getting to Mittenwald and see some of the Oberbayern scenery in the process. Take the train (BOB) leaving Munich at 9:10 via Holzkirchen to Bad Tölz, then go by bus to Kochel, Krün, Mittenwald. If you make the minimum change times it will take about 3 hours vs 2 via Garmisch. On the way you'll see Kochelsee and the town of Kochel, as well as Walchensee. You'll arrive in Mittenwald at 12:19 in time for lunch. Take the train via Garmisch back to Munich. Or stop in Kochel, a popular resort town, for a couple of hours, look around and have lunch there, and take the next bus to Mittenwald, arriving at 2:30. Another thing you can do, particularly with the no-stopover route to Mittenwald is take the train from Mittenwald to Seefeld, a town at the high point of the line from Mittenwald to Innsbruck. Seefeld is in Austria, so the Bayern-Ticket won't cover you all the way from Mittenwald. You'll have to buy a ticket in Mittenwald for that part of the trip. However, the Bayern-Ticket will cover all of the buses from Bad Tölz to Mittenwald.

Thanks everyone. I'll have to rethink this.

Bob, I took this route in 2009, from Osterhofen (Bayrsichzell) to Holzkirchen to Mittenwald. I could have taken the train from Holzkirchen to Munich to Mittenwald, but I wanted to see the Oberbayern area up close, so I took the train from Holzkirchen to Bad Tölz and the bus from there. Glad I did. The views of the Kochelsee as we climbed the switch backs out of Kochel were spectacular. The Walchensee was an unexpected surprise.

Mittenwald is charming - but touristy. Well worth stopping there for acouple of hours on the way to somewhere els, but i could not justify the trip there and back from Munich just to see Mittenwald Consider Nuremburg

I'm glad I posted this question. Didn't feel like traveling a couple of hours for just a couple of hours of time spent there. I've been to Nurnburg a couple of times already so I don't think I'll do it this trip. Always wanted to go to Rothenburg. There is a tour that leaves Munich at 08:30 and lasts 10 hours. That might be worth it.

I wouldn't do a tour to Rothenburg. 1. It's too easy to do on you own. Using regional trains (with a Bayern-Ticket) would take about 3h20m per direction. 2. The tour leaves at 8:30 and takes about 10 hours. Is that 10 hrs in Rothenburg or back to Munich in 10 hrs. By car is would take almost 2½ hrs one way. I expect a bus would be about the same, so you would be spending 5 hrs in route and only 5 hours there. Five hours is not enough time to see Rothenburg. Instead of spending money on a tour, spend it on overnight accommodations in Rothenburg. Then you can be there for the Nightwatchman's Tour. Note: it is also possible to stay in Rothenburg until 10 PM and get back to Munich by regional train before midnight.