Munich, Salzburg in December.

There aren't too many "off the beaten path" places left in Bavaria. One place you don't often see people mention is Burghausen on the Germany/Austria border. Burghausen has a very old castle billed as the longest in Europe.

From Munich: Not sure if you can get to it by either bus or train, but we visited Weiskirche not far from Fussen a couple of years ago in December. It was sunny, crisp, clear and a gorgeous church. Kind of in the middle of nowhere....beautiful drive to get there. Have you thought about maybe seeing the Zugspitze? I think you can take a train to Garmish-P and then the cable car up to the top. We had a great lunch up there and enjoyed ourselves (yes in December) even though we couldn't see a thing. A white out! Still a great experience. From Salzburg: We love to stay in a little town called Obertraun which is across the lake from Hallstatt. You can take a train from Salzburg to Obertraun and I think the stop just before that puts you at the ferry to go across the lake to Hallstatt. What a beautiful place (even in December)! If I were you, I'd try to avoid Salzburg on a Saturday...we were there last year for the Christmas Markets and it was wall to wall people. Could hardly move...not very enjoyable to us. Ice skating is enjoyable though (only time my daughter has been ice skating has been last 2 years in Salzburg...pretty cool). There is also a palace not far from Salzburg that has a pretty Christmas Market...Heilbrunn I think is the name.

Thank you. Those sounds like great suggestions!!