We are trying to decide between these 2 itineraries.

Option 1:
28 Dec arrive in Munich
29 train to Innsbruck, rent a car, drive to Mittenwald
30 visit castles, sleep Mittenwald
31 visit Zugspitze, sleep Mittenwald
1 drive to Saltzburg, sleep here or Berchtesgaden
2 Salzburg /Berchtesgaden
3 drive to Bled or Bohinj
4 Bohinj (visit Vogel)
5 Bohinj (visit lake Bohinj and Lake Bled)
6 drive to Ljubljana
7 visit caves, sleep Ljubljana
8 drive to Vienna, leave rental car and take train to Prague
9 prague
10 prague
11 fly to Paris , long overhaul, then back to Johannesburg

Option 2 (same activities but different order)

28 Dec arrive Munich
29 take train to Prague
30 Prague
31 Prague
1 take train to Vienna, rent car and drive to ljubljana
2 caves, and drive to Bohinj, sleep Bohinj
3 Bohinj
4 Bohinj
5 Salzburg / Berchtesgaden
6 Salzburg / berchtesgaden
7 Mittenwald
8 Mittenwald, visit Zugspitze
9 Mittenwald, visit castles
10 drive to Innsbruck, leave rental car and take train to Venice
11 flight to Paris, long overhaul, then back to Johannesburg

Any advice welcome

IMO, either trip would offer some delightful moments and each trip has some serious disadvantages.

First question for either itinerary: Are you accustomed to driving in snow, sleet, and ice? Any or all of them are possible in December and January, and all of those conditions can make for potentially deadly driving conditions. Even those experienced with these conditions know that they must be flexible in their plans at these times of year; anyone who is NOT experienced with such conditions would be well advised to reconsider and plan a trip that relies exclusively on public transportation. Seriously.

It seems that you are not interested in visiting Munich? I thought it delightful, and well worth a few days. JMO. No interest in Innsbruck? No time to see Salzburg itself? No interest in Vienna?

3 nights in Bohinj is a LOT -- but it seems you are using it as a base for Bled and other parts of Slovenia? Again, given the potential for road conditions that are not manageable, choosing a base in a city that gives you options for public transportation might make better sense. Ljubljana would be the most obvious choice.

2 days in Prague is very little.

I would strongly encourage you to re-think this plan to make sure that you don't actually need to drive.

Hope that helps!

Thank you so much for your reply. We would love to spend time in each of the places you mentioned but we only have about 14 days so I had to limit the places. We would like to take my 15 year old to see some snow and was hoping to do this in slovenia (vogel or kranjska). It sounds more affordable than ski resorts in Austria.

Thank you for raising concerns about driving. I am worried about this since we are not used to these conditions. I will definitely look at trains options.

Which places on my itinerary would you leave out and where would you add considering our 14 nights?

It is HARD to limit one's destinations, isn't it? Unfortunately, I haven't the expertise to answer your questions, but I can offer some ideas:

I'd start by focusing on the places you can reach by public transportation. Most guidebooks will give you some information about that, as will rome2rio.com (but you need to be a bit careful with that site, as it isn't sensitive to seasonal variation).

I'm not familiar with the costs of ski resorts in Slovenia, Austria, or elsewhere -- but I suspect that other Fodorites will have some great ideas! Are you intent on allowing your 15-year-old the chance to ski? IME, one can enjoy snowy conditions in many ways -- skiing, hiking, tobogganing, taking gondolas above the snow, whatever!

If skiing is your priority, then you might want to reconsider your options for where to go, as some places that are "less expensive" to stay (like Slovenia) can end up being more expensive, once you count transportation, than some places that are often described as "more expensive" (like much of Switzerland).

Either way, if you are willing to consider options for public-transportation options only, you might want to re-post with a title that specifies your interests, e.g., "affordable ski-ing by public transportation" or "experiencing snow by public transportation" or something like that. Just an idea....

Good luck!

Yes I agree it is sooo difficult to limit the destinations. Too many beautiful places to see! Thank you for your advice. It makes a lot of sense that a cheaper place might not be that much cheaper if it is more difficult to reach by public transport. I think my son will be content with any snow related activities.

kja has offered great advice. I would like to add our experiences living in Austria, during the winter and especially over the winter holiday season.

There is no guarantee that for some of the destinations in your itinerary, there will be any snow in late December/early January. For example, on 27 December last year we hiked around the base of Zugspitze, my husband and our son in shirt-sleeves. Sunshine, mild temperatures, and no snow.

Slovenian ski resorts tend to be less expensive than Austrian, but with a little research you can find all-inclusive resorts offering a variety of winter activities in Austria. One of our preferred towns is Seefeld; we are not skiers, but the town offers lessons (skiing and snowboarding); buses to the various slopes; and incredible hiking (our favorite). Most of the resorts also have spas and indoor pools, a luxury after a day spent in the winter outdoors.

We have also taken long winter weekends in and around Innsbruck, though not in December. Many family hotels/resorts have wonderful packages that would allow you to explore and enjoy winter without driving all over on unfamiliar roads.

Winter driving is not all Fahrvergnügen in the snow. The autobahns are well maintained, but not all roads leading to picturesque winter resorts are autobahns.

Finally, for what your interests seem to be, and for the time you have allotted, skip Prague. Check the cave tour schedules for Slovenia; those that are open may have a holiday schedule. Ditto for the castles.

In short, plot your proposed route on a map. Add 20% driving time for weather and any other incidents. Factor the logistics time (hotel checkin/out, train schedules, etc) versus actual enjoyment time, and decide what matters most.

The Austrian tourism motto is, "Arrive and Revive." For a good reason.

Are your flights already set in stone? I'm not sure why you are flying into Munich an out of Paris when you aren't spending time in either of them.

if you want winter sports, Munich is in fact a good place to start as it's the main airport for many of the Austrian ski resorts, like Seefeld, Zell am Ziller, Mayrhofen, [in the Arlberg region to the south of Munich] and though in fact you might find what you wanted at Garmisch -Partenkirchen which is the main german ski resort. doing some googling for resorts that offer a range of activities should bring results.

Alternatively you could head for Salzburg and do day trips into the mountains from there or spend a few days in a nearby ski resort, though these tend to be smaller than the ones in the Arlberg.

http://www.skiresort.info/ski-resort...gut-mountains/

From Salzburg I would suggest getting the train to Vienna and spending a few days there [plenty to keep you all entertained, especially at Christmas], and then returning to Munich to spend a few days there before returning home. All these places provide options for getting out into the mountains if the weather co-operates but lots of other things to do if it doesn't.

That's a very tight schedule which doesn't allow for entire day (or days) for bad weather in which you couldn't travel. It might be OK in the summer but I wouldn't do that in winter. I would actually limit myself to a few major cities that can be connected by trains (less likely to have to cancel due to bad driving conditions) and then do day trips from there. Could you split the time between Munich, Saltzburg and Prague and do day trips from them. Then if the weather is nasty you also have the option of things to do in the cities. Bad weather in the winter does not necessarily mean snow. It could be cold and rainy as well. And since you are apparently flying out of Paris I would spend at least two or three days there.