We are off to Munich this summer in an effort to sate an appetite that was fed by a wonderful vacation there last year. We know where we're staying, and have a healthy list of city-area sights to see for the first week, and places we long to visit again. But what day trips can we add as we explore the region more thoroughly? How is Garmisch? Other venues easy to reach by train? We are travelling with a nine-year-old, but she is an experienced and inquisitive traveller.

How about Ludwig's castle known as Herrenchiemsee? Been to Salzburg?
It is worth two days, at least.
Both are reached by train, although Herrenchiemsee requires a boat ride from the shore of the lake.

There are several places south of Munich, e.g. Tegernsee and Berchtesgaden. You could do a day trip to Nürnberg to the north or Bad Tolz to the south.

There are quite a few scenic villages to the south and west of Munich that you could profitably explore.

I am sure other Fodorites can make several suggestions.

A pretty easy mountain "adventure" would be to take the train from Munich central station to Bayrischzell. After a while, the line will become a single track, winding along Lake Schliersee into the front range mountains of the Alps. After an hour, you get to Osterhofen where the cable car to the top of Mt Watzmann starts. Only a 5 minute walk from the station. As Watzmann is located in front of the Alps, you have a great view of the mountains and a lot of Southern Bavaria. When done viewing, you can either go back to Munich the same way you came, or go downhill with the cog wheel train and get to the Brannenburg station on the Kufstein-Rosenheim-Munich line of the regular trains after a 30min walk from where the cog wheel trains end.

If you should have one really miserably rainy day, which I hope you won't, you can still take the suburban train from Munich to the tropics ;-)
http://www.therme-erding.de/de/10068...8/english.html

Hi,
I definitley agree with Ludwig's Herrenchiemsee. It's one hour from Munich on a beautiful lake with an Alpine backdrop. My favorite of Ludwig's castles.

www.herren-chiemsee.de

If you're interested in going to the Garmisch area, just 20 minutes away is the quintessential Bavarian village, Mittenwald.

www.mittenwald.de/index.shtml?en_mittenwald

Paul

That whole area along and though the alps is absolutly wonderful. Get a map and look at Salzburg, Bertschesgaden, Konigsee, Chiemsee, Garmish, Mitenwald, Ettal Monastary, Linderhof, Oberammergau, Wieskirche, Fussen (Neuschwanstein) and Reutte. On the Austrian side of the border you can explore Hall, Innsbruck and Seefeld.

I would second pja's idea to skip Garmisch and go to Mittenwald instead.
Garmisch may be a good base for exploring the area, but for just walking around in the town, it does not offer that much (besides stores). Mittenwald is more scenic.

I know that you asked about train travel, and most of the places that got mentioned before are accessible by train (some only by bus), you could also think about renting a car for one day to go South to go to Linderhof, Ettal, Oberammergau. Bit more flexibility, especially with a kid.

Thanks so much for the suggestions. We'll now spend some time studying our train schedules and maps! Salzburg is definitely on the agenda, and we're being attracted by the Nuremburg concert schedule, as well!

I was going to suggest Nuremberg as a possibility too. We went from Munich and it was a direct train - no changes, which made it very easy. And Nuremberg itself is neat. We loved walking the old town area, touring the castle, etc. We used Nuremberg as a homebase to explore some nearby towns - the main train station is just outside the old town, which makes it very convinient, and Nuremberg is a hub, so getting around the area by train is easy.

We made day trips to Rothenberg and Ansbach (my husband was stationed there once upon a time, which is why we went there). Bamberg was also on our list, but we didn't make it there.

Thanks J_Correa. Really enjoyed your trip summaries last year also - they were an inspiration to us as we planned our summer vacation. We're still hooked on Munich, but want to expand the horizon a bit. Nuremberg is a very likely destination now, not least because we need to make a return visit to PlayMobil Fun Park! This will be my third and my husband's umpteenth trip to Deutschland, and we are always delighted by what we find to do.