Anyone care to comment on my draft itinerary for Munich, Salzburg, Fussen and the Berner Oberland?
 

Hi all. The flights are booked, the car is rented and now I am looking into hotels for our family of 4 (husband, me and 2 boys). If anyone cares to comment or mention something we are missing, please feel free to comment.

Day 1 Fly to Munich

Day 2 Arrive Munich, maybe take a bus tour or hang out - nothing really involved. My kids didn't sleep on our flight to England last summer and slept through our red bus tour, so I don't want to plan anything big.

Day 3 Munich Art Museum for me; meet up husband and sons at the Science Museum; 1/2 day Dachau


Day 4 Drive to Salzburg. Do Hellbrun or salt mine. Stay in Salzburg

Day 5 Salt mine or Hellbrun and walk around Salzburg. Drive to Fussen. Stay in Fussen.

Day 6 Tour Neuschwansten and Linderhof and ride alpine slide. Stay in Fussen

Day 7 Walk around Fussen, ride a different alpine slide. Drive to Berner Oberland - or stay somewhere else in between?

Day 8 Berner Oberland. Stay in either Wengen or Lauterbrunnen

Day 9 B/Oberland
Day 10 B/Oberland, drive to Zurich (only to stay near airport)

Day 11 fly home from Zurich

Any recommendations on what to see on the drive from Fussen to the Berner Oberland?

Remind me, what time of year are you going?

July

Are you renting the car as you leave Munich?

Renting the car as we leave the airport. We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express, which is a bit outside of the city center, but I am open to suggestions for clean, quiet accommodations in Munich that would accommodate 4 people.

From fussen you can meander along the Bavarian Alpine Road east along the foothills of the Bavarian Alps to Obertsdorf (I think, not sure of its course), etc. if not taking the faster less scenic way

We are planning a trip to similar areas in June. Can you give me more info. about the alpine slide in Fussen. Also, I have heard about a luge ride near Salzburg - anyone familiar with that? Is it just for the winter?

The reason I asked about the timing of the car rental is my continued feeling that having a car while visiting Munich may be a waste of money not to mention the possible costs of parking, etc...IF you are close to public transport and willing to use it.

Hi karens,
As far as accomodations, we can recommend Hotel zum Hechten in Fuessen and Hotel Eiger in Wengen.

www.hotel-hechten.com

www.eiger-wengen.ch

jgg...
Fuessen area alpine slide info:
Tegelbergbahn is about 1 mile from Neuschwanstein castle.

www.tegelbergbahn.de/227.0.html

Look under the "liesure" menu to find the Sommeroddelbahn (luge).

Paul

Thanks pja1. For some reason that page is in German so will have to wait until DD comes home from school to translate for me! Is the alpine slide pretty fun in the summer? My kids will be 16 and almost 13 when we go. Could we do the 2 castles and alpine slide in one day?

We went on the slide when we were there and it was a lot of fun. People of all ages were doing it. It isn't something that takes a long time or is very involved, just a little fun thing to do. You can absolutely do the slide the same day you tour the castles. The slide takes a few minutes per ride, costs a couple euro. While you are there, you can also take a tram to the top of a mountain.

I wouldn't recommend staying in Fussen as I didn't care for it and I didn't care for the Hotel Hechten as the service was lousy. The rooms are fine and the food is good but the surly service really put us off. Explore on this board as I think many like staying in Reutte better and it's not far although it's in Austria and you are supposed to have a special sticker to drive a rental into Austria.

I would recommend the Hotel Uhland in Munich but not sure if they would have family or quad rooms.

Lily,
Sorry to hear your comments on Fuessen and Hotel zum Hechten. We stayed twice in Fuessen and the Hotel zum Hechten (Oct. 2001 and Oct. 2003). We experienced no "surly" attitude either time. Actually, our first time there I couldn't find the hotel parking lot and parked a few blocks away. One of the hotel staff walked back to my car with me and had me follow him to the lot. As for Fuessen, we really liked staying there. We think it's a very nice old town and would stay there again. That;s just my (our) opinion.

Paul

Lily, a correction to your post. You only have to have the "vignette" IF you plan to travel on the Autobahns in Austria. If you can get to Reutte without traveling on the Autobahn, then you would not need the "sticker".

Of course, if the OP plans to spend time in Austria (Salzburg), they will probably need to get a Vignette anyway.

Paul, to be honest it may have been the weather that made me not care for Fussen as it was snowing and very cold in early June that year - 2006 - in an unusual cold spell. The hotel was fine but I think we must have been there on an off period as the couple who ran the hotel were not pleasant or helpful. I had read several positive reviews like yours so maybe it was just the time we were there.

Hi Lily,
That's what the board is here for...to share advice and experiences. Everyone has different opinions and experiences.

Paul

We stayed at the Hotel Moserhof in Reutte and really enjoyed it. The hotel is a family-run place with really great people. The room was spacious and had banquette with a pull-out bed for extra people if needed. Our room also had a balcony with a great view of the mountains.

The hotel has a restaurant with patio and indoor seating. The food was good and we enjoyed being able to eat and relax at the hotel after hiking around all day.

The restaurant also seemed to be a meeting place for locals - a group of retired men showed up each morning for their coffee and then there were other folks around at dinner time.

Overall, it was a really relaxing and nice place to stay. It was pretty convinient too - 10-15 minutes from Fuessen.

Many thanks for all your replies. I just booked the Altstadhotel zum hechten for Fussen and now only need to decide where to stay in Switzerland - Lauterbrunnen or Wengen.

I'm glad so far no one has said that my itinerary is too ambitious. We do like to see a lot but I don't want to be so rushed we don't get to enjoy where we are.

Hi again,
For the Berner Oberland, I'd pick Wengen to stay. We stayed 4 nights at the Hotel Eiger and our stay in Wengen was the highlight of our Switzerland trip.
Just on note on Neuschwanstein...if you know when you'll be there, it's probably best to reserve your tickets and tour time in advance. It gets very crowded and the wait could definitely ruin your plans for the day.

http://www.neuschwanstein.de/english.../admission.htm

Otherwise, since you're staying in Fuessen, I'd try to get there very early, like around 8:30am


Paul