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Travel to Bavaria with toddler over Christmas: Salzburg stay or day trip?

Hi All, We are traveling to Bavaria for 10 days over Christmas. We have a 3 year old son and I want to make sure we aren't taking on too much with him along as far as hotel changes and transport as these things are more tiring for/with a child. I want our time to be relaxing and not feel hurried, but my husband loves to take in as much as possible. For our itin, we didn't want to stay less than two nights at any place so we have at most 4 locations (Rothenburg, Munich, Fussen, and Salzburg) over the 10 days. Question 1: RS recommends a quick day trip to Salzburg, but I'm wondering if it would be better to spend 2 nights there, or quick trip it from Munich as RS suggests. We plan on doing the Sound of Music tour of course, but unsure of what else (note that with a small child we won't be able to do much in the evenings). Question 2: are there any special fun things that little kids will enjoy (outside of Christmas markets) we should add to our sights to see? Question 3: Is Rothenberg or Nurnberg better to start our trip with? We are staying 2N in Rothenburg and were thinking of visiting Nurnberg from there. Doable with a kid?
THANKS for any advice!

Posted by
69 posts

I dunno, we were in Salzburg 2 nights and did not have time to see enough. It is a beautiful little city. We did the Fraulein Maria Bike tour on our last morning there. Pretty much wiped us out, and we still had to drive to Fussen from there. I personally think Salzburg deserves atleast 2 nights. I would have been unhappy with a daytrip there. We went to Rothenburg as a last minute change in our itinerary but only were able to stay one night. I loved that place and wish we had stayed atleast 2 nights. We love walking the streets, eating and shopping. We stayed in the Romantik Hotel which we loved. It is within the walls. We didn't go to Nurnberg. Fussen is lovely. We only had time to visit the two local castles. Did it all in one day. A little tiring but very fun and beautiful. We stayed in a B&B just 3 blocks into town. It was very clean. A lovely place with beautiful gardens. (Suzanne's B & B. We were there Sept. into October and were there 3 weeks. We were in Munich 2 nights, Vienna 3 nights, Graz 2 nights, Salzburg 2 nights, Fussen 2 nights, a little town outside of Freiburg 2 nights, St. Hippolyte/Colmar France 1 night (wish we had done 2!), Rothenburg 1 night (grr!), Kamp Bornhoffen south of Koblenz on the Rhine) 2 nights in a castle hotel, Cologne 2 nights and Frankfurt 1 night just to fly home. We always stay at a hotel near the airport the night before our flight so it is less stressful. We, too, pack alot into our trips, but we are always flexible and just pace ourselves. Somedays we may over-do it, next day we might just take it easy. Understand you can't do and see everything, so you have to pick and choose. We had to miss a boat ride on the Rhine which I'm still a little sore about, but hopefully there will be another trip! Good luck with your planning and have fun with it! Let us know how it goes!

Posted by
11507 posts

Four places in ten days is not taking it easy, it is rushing about. Do remember it may not be warm and nice for wandering around outside all day, so plan a few indoor sites here and there.