Seeking Side Trips from Munich without a car

Tom, you can get to the castle tours by train. The only buses to the castle are those of specific tours which are, IMO, overpriced considering the ease of doing it by train.

Munich is in the center of a lot of rail lines that radiate out from it, so a lot of places are directly accessible by rail. For hiking, a lot of people would probably go to Garmisch-Partenkirchen (1½ hr by regional train). From there you can go to Mittenwald (20 min), Reutte (1 hr), or Pfronten (1½ hr).

Another interesting place, although not hiking, is the castle at Burghausen, on the Austrian border.

If you want a good, vigorous all-day hike, you can walk all the way from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to nearly the summit of the Zugspitze. I say "nearly" because some snow will probably remain in June. You can also visit other cute little towns like Mittenwald or Oberammergau.

Hi TOm - thanks I forgot about the Zugspitze - also been reading about Mittenwald area. Maybe its worth staying a nite of two in that castle/village area for castle and hiking trip then to Munich for a day or two before leaving to fly home to LAX.

It would be July 11-16 ish so Id hope the snow is mostly gone from the trails by then!

Not sure how far you are wanting to travel, but we very much enjoyed our day in Salzburg via train from Munich. It was a wonderful city!

Tom, halfway between Munich and Salzburg is lake Chiemsee with the small city of Prien. They have a very nice website (English version, too.) A small train goes to the lakefront from the railroad station. It ends near where the lake steamers stop. Lots of lake front hotels and restaurants. Two famous islands in the lake - Herren Insel and Fraueninsel (go by lake steamer). The castle on Herren Insel was built by Ludwig of Neuschwanstein fame - it resembles Versailles and is open to visitors. There is an "adventure swim bath" with indoor/outdoor water features near the steamer landing and next to hotels. The hotel restaurants post their menus on the internet on their own websites.

Tom last we went to Dachau concentration camp as a day trip from Munich. We did it by train, and then bus once you get in Dachau. We really enjoyed our visit, try to catch the guided tour at 1pm. You could also go to Salzburg, i would spend the night tought.

Tom,

One other possiblity would be a visit to Berchtesgaden. It's a beautiful alpine village and if you're interested in history you could always tour the Documentation Centre there or the Eagle's Nest. There's also a Salt Mine there, which offers tours.

Cheers!

I'd advise Salzburg. It's a 2 hour trip on the train from Munich and Salzburg is such a lovely place. Well worth a visit.

I'd also suggest Salzburg. It's easy to reach by train and everything is walkable once you're there.

I also like Salzburg, BUT

"great day hike or small village/towns" doesn't quite fit Salzburg.

In three hours from Munich by train and bus you can be in Mittelberg, in the Kleinwalsertal in Austria, which is a great place to hike in a high alpine, small villiage, setting.

Hi everyone - thanks for all the great Ideas - I really appreciate it. Once again the helpline steps up with great info! Lots of ideas to consider - since I would be coming by train from Bolzano & Innsbruck maybe its best to hit some of these towns on the way TO Munich vs from there. I noticed a lot of previous posts about staying a nite or 2 Mittenwald for hikes and Fussen for the castles as some mentioned here too - so will look into that more! thanks again!