Recommendations for free time on Munich/Salzburg/Vienna tour

Unless something similar is included, a daytrip from Salzburg to the Wolfgangsee is well worth it. City buses each way, take the ferry from one end of the lake to the other, stop off at St. Wolfgang.

The standard daytrip recommend from Vienna is Melk.

Munich - so many places to see, easily accessible with the S-Bahn and U-Bahn train systems. See the various palaces, Olympic sites, and parks. Train & bus trip to Dachau. Many museums if you engage in such visits. Go to as many beer halls as you can, eat a pork shank, sausage plate, Wiener schnitzel, sauerbraten, or other entrees. Enjoy the living breathing town. Make sure to visit the Ratskeller in the basement of the “new” town hall. It is about to close after more than 150 years in operation and may never reopen. Also visit the Hofbrauhaus - the place is a gas - immerse yourself into the fun and culture.

Salzburg - the Old Town is a wonderful place to wander. Take a “Sound of Music” tour - and you can see a healthy share of the beautiful surrounding countryside. Augustiner beer hall. Churches and museums. Many small cafes.

Vienna - great place for visiting imperial palaces and museums. Much shopping if you are in the mood. Have some sausages, beer, Sacher Torte, etc. - food is plentiful and delicious.

Not sure what is already included in your trip, but-

In Vienna, we really enjoyed the Upper Belvedere Palace, especially the Klimt paintings there (also the stray Van Gough, Monet, and Rodin). The gardens in Vienna are wonderful, and just walking through them was nice.

For Salzburg, we took a short local bus to the Untersberg cable car. Spectacular views and nice hiking. Paragliding to watch, or participate if you wish. Above the old town, we found the Hohensalzburg fortress okay (though a little touristy) - but the hike from there to the elevator on the other end of the Monchsberg was great. We also enjoyed a Mozart dinner concert at St Peter Stiftskulinarium. It was a little pricey, but fun - and the restaurant has been there since 803.

We would have liked to have seen the puppet show in Salzburg, but it is closed in September (while we were there).

Enjoy your trip!

I just did this tour in September and really enjoyed it. Some recommendations:
Munich - visit Dachau and honor the past, watch the surfers in the English garden, tour the Residence, go down into the subway and see all the shops and restaurants, the BMW Museum is fun even if you're not a car enthusiast
Salzburg - wander the streets of the Old Town, find the gnomes at Mirabell Garden, attend the Mozart concert at the Fortress (the views of the city at night are fantastic)
Vienna - the Upper Belvedere palace has Klimt's The Kiss and many other wonderful treasures, the Vienna Opera House tour is interesting, the Military History museum has the car Archduke Ferdinand was riding in when he was assassinated to start WWI

Hope you enjoy the MSV tour!

These are such great suggestions! Love all these ideas!

The Vienna City Museum was a surprise gem.

While I have not yet been to Vienna, when I do finally visit, I will go to the Spanish Riding School, home of the famous Lipizzaner horses. https://www.srs.at/en/

Has anyone done the Dachau Radius Tours guided tour recommended in the Rick Steves guidebook? It is possible, of course, to do this independently using public transportation from Munich, but I’m just curious

I did the Radius Dachau tour when I was in Munich in last month (Sept). The tour guide was very knowledgeable about the camp and WWII. I had been to Dachau before but definitely learned a lot more with this visit. You meet at the Radius office and they provide the tickets for the train ride to/from the site and the tour of the camp. He walked us thru the entire camp, explaining the history of the site and the activities that occurred, answering questions from the group about it. There was about 25 people in our tour group. We went on the first tour of the day (9am) and had the camp mostly to ourselves but by the time we were leaving the camp was getting crowded with lots of other tour groups. You can do the tour by yourself but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them if you want a more detailed experience.

Very helpful info on the Dachau tour. Thanks. I think we will plan to do it.

So we are here in Munich now and did the Dachau tour through RadiusTours as suggested in the book and by someone on this thread. We would definitely recommend. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable. Another tip—if planning to do the 12:15 tour, there are two little quick cafes for grabbing lunch next door to the Radius Tours office.