Bavaria experts I need help Pronto!!!!
 

I've known for about 3 months about our trip to Germany leaving on the 26th of July and coming back on August 9th. I started planning the trip, but while in the midst of it my mother got really sick and I had to do a very last minute trip to Guatemala to see her. As you can guess the Germany trip was put aside and right about now I think is a good time to start panicking! We are going to pick up my husband's BMW using european Delivery and we are driving for the first time (this is our 3rd visit but I am having a hard time figuring routes)
This is what I have, and I need help figuring out if the sequence is fine, or if I am doing this all over the place.
We start in Munich (he gets his car la, la, la )
We drive to DIngolfing for a factory tour of BMW (because apparently the one in Munich is not enough)
From Dingolfing we drive to Rothenburg and spend a couple of nights
From Rothenburg I want to go to see Herremchinsee , eagle's nest and the salt mines. Where is the best place to stay to do this? Stay probably 2 nights
After that we want to go to Salzburg
Then go and stay in Fussen to see the castles
visit Mittenwald and the husband wants to go up the Zigspite (I heard it is expensive ?)
and some how finally back to Munich to turn the car in.
I am looking for advice, my husband wants to drive the Alpine Road and I want to see the pretty landscapes.
I am a better and more organized planner than this, but life has really kicked me in the arse and I only have 5 days to have something resembling an itinerary. We are traveling with the husband and the child. any help will be great.
We have hotel reservations in Munich and Rothenburg and I then we are going to the turist information offices and ask for a list for Farms to sleep in and see if the have openings. (we've done that before, travel without reservations and go knocking on doors)

You can use Salzburg as a base for Herrenchiemsee (less than an hour), and Berchtesgaden (30 minutes), and the salt mines.

Then drive the Alpinestrasse to Mittenwald, Garmisch (Zugspitze) and end up in Fuessen. I would probably stay in Garmisch to have a little more flexibility.

Those two moves take some pressure off your planning by basing you longer in one location with places you want to see in pretty easy reach.

If you have done the farm thing before and have been happy with it you don't have that much pressure to get something nailed down, do you?

Relax - BMW, Bavaria, Beer, and Brats. Could it get much better?

As Aramis has noted, Salzburg will be a good base for Herrenchiemsee and Berchtesgaden, as well as the Salt Mines, so throw in some extra nights to Salzburg and have a base there.

As far as order goes, you can make this work in an almost circular fashion as you are starting and ending in Munich. If you go:
Munich
Dingolfing
Rothenburg ob der Tauber (use this full name if plugging into viamichelin)
Fussen
Zugspitze (access as part of the trip from Fussen to Salzburg if you want, or stay in Garmisch-Partenkirchen or Mittenwald)
Salzburg (with Chiemsee, Berchtesgaden, Salzkammergut)
Munich

For plotting driving routes, have a look at www.viamichelin.com.

Happy Autobahning!

The order above looks good. If the weather is good, I would stop at Prien on the way back from Salzburg and stay the night in Stock (the harbor) to take the boat to Herrenchiemsee and Fraueninsel. You can walk to the boat and back and it is a nice area to walk around and relax. Lots of restaurants. Also, there is a small train that goes between Prien and Stock. (But stay in Stock.) If you want the name of a hotel there, I will look it up tomorrow. Have a great trip!

Thanks a lot for the help. Now, I have only read about staying in Farms (actually I have been reading Bavarian Ben's postings and it sounds really nice)
We don't speak a drop of German and my husband is a bit picky about hotels...
If farm staying as cool as it looks? any issues?

Roundtrip tickets for Zugspitze ARE expensive (48€/person) but I still wouldn't miss it (unless it is not a clear day).

http://www.zugspitze.de/en/summer/index.htm

Zugspitze and Garmisch are the best. We did the cog train up. Stop and see the chapel. The price is not that bad for what you get and see.

a relatively new S-Bahn train link frequently links Salzburg and Berchetsgaden, just over the mountain in Germany. Before it was a roundabout rail link with not so frequent departres and no direct trains I believe.

Hi,

Just an opinion... I would base in the Berchtesgaden area for your trips to: Eagle's Nest, Salt Mines, Salzburg and Herrenchiemsee. If your looking for a farm stay, we LOVE staying at the Pension Mayringerlehen in Ramsau, which is 10 min. from Berchtesgaden/Salt Mine, 20 min. from Eagle's Nest, 30 min. from Salzburg and an hour from Herrenchiemsee.

The owners of the Mayringerlehen (Sabine and Johann Grassl) are simply wonderful, breakfast buffet is very good, views of the mountains are terrific and on the property they have goats, chickens, hens, cows, guinea pigs, rabbits, a horse and a llama. Sabine speaks some English.

www.mayringerlehen.de

If the mayringerlehen is booked, a great alternative is another place we loved staying at, the Guesthouse Friedwiese in nearby Konigssee. This is about 4 or 5 min. from Berchtesgaden. The owner (Helga Eder) is again just wonderful. She's also a wealth of info on what to see and do in the area.Helga speaks English quite well. Actually, she's originally from Iceland.

www.friedwiese.de/enska/isl.htm

Paul

I forgot, we have photo's of these places at:

www.worldisround.com/articles/324607/index.html

www.worldisround.com/articles/338872/index.html

www.worldisround.com/articles/355548/index.html

www.worldisround.com/articles/362557/index.html

Paul

Hi,

The Zugspitze trip from the Austrian side (Ehrwald, Austria) is quicker (1 cable car trip) and cheaper (adult-35.50 Euro, child 6-15yr. old-21.50 Euro) than from Garmisch. Both the Garmisch and Ehrwald trips go to the exact same place, the top of the Zugspitze.

www.zugspitze.at

Fuessen or Mittenwald to Ehrwald is about a 45 min drive.

Paul

You probably will have a hard time finding lodging in/around Salzburg, as the annual Salzburg festival starts July 27 and lasts for a month.

We stayed in Berchtesgaden last month at Pension Perlerlehen - we also did a BMW delivery! We're still travelling and are in Normandy, France now. I've been keeping a blog so you can peruse the Bavaria part toward the beginning if you're interesting. Happy travels!
http://familyineurope.travellerspoin...rchive/062011/

It's a matter of personal taste and interest, but Rothenburg is really out of your way considering the rest of your itinerary. It's a pretty town and very nice for picture taking, but that's about all it is. The Altstadt is tour bus central for the area and 99.9% of the businesses in the Altstadt are "tourist oriented."

There is pretty much nothing of historic or cultural interest in the town other than it being pretty (though not any prettier than a hundred other Altstadts in Germany and Austria). They have an entertaining night tour, it's pretty, and it's got a lot of tourist stuff shops. If it was on your route anyway, I would recommend a stop to admire and photograph the buildings, but otherwise I don't think it worth your while to go that far out of your way.

Of course, you might be interested in stopping at other points of interest along the way to and from Rburg--such as Regensburg, Nuernberg, Dinkelsbuehl, etc.--and that could make it more worthwhile, but that would lengthen the 2-1/2 to 3 hour drive from Dingolfing.

If you do decide to visit Rothenburg, here's a nice castle hotel with a good restaurant about a 15-20 minute drive east of town http://www.burg-colmberg.de/showpage...iteID=1&lang=2

Ok, right about now I am second guessing my decision to not make hotel/farm reservation for our Salzburg (or close to Salzburg) stay. I for some reason didn't notice that our dates are also part of the music festival they have every year. To taste the waters I sent about ten emails to places people have recommended to me and all of them are full!
Any suggestions? last minute solutions? I honestly think that if I try to pack the sleeping bags in our luggage my husband would notice :{
I am sure you all have heard the saying "It takes a village to raise a child" Well I am counting on a different version of the same saying " It takes the european forum to save Sglw from herself"

This is a nice hotel in Salzburg and it has availibilities, at least at www.booking.com. If your husband is "picky" with hotels he will like it I guess. http://www.monchstein.at/

No need to bring the sleeping bags.

During the time of the Salzburg festival you have two options:
#1 Get lucky and find one probably overpriced last-minute hotel room in Salzburg or anywhere in a 10-20kms radius
#2 Stay away from Salzburg, but within reach for an easy day trip. Since you seem to want to explore the region rather than the city alone, it makes no difference IMO.

We are in the midst of high-high season. Most German States are on summer school break and any Alpine resort town or village will see the biggest number of tourists. Not the time to be picky, unless you have lots of cash to throw around (for a hotel room in Salzburg).

Contacting individual establishments by e-mail will also be a rather futile lottery game.

I'd suggest you address the regional tourist informations which cover larger territories and not just one town or county:

For Berchtesgaden region, west of Salzburg
http://en.berchtesgadener-land.com/

For the Salzkammergut region, E/SE of Salzburg
http://www.salzkammergut.at/en

For Salzburger Land, the region/state of Salzburg
http://international.salzburgerland....dex.so.en.html

Final tip for your route:

Going East on the German Alpine Road, you could veer South once you get near Kufstein. And take Austrian Hwy 164 eastward. You can do the rest of the German Alpine Road on your final way back to Munich if you like. In Austria you drive through the mountains, in Bavaria you scratch the Northern front range.

If you want an even more spectacular route (with Garmisch as your ficticious starting point):

Go East on German Alpine Road from Garmisch, take the small toll road, until you hit Sylvenstein reservoir (on a map: the Southern most point of German Hwy 13, very close to the Austrian border)

Go South into Austria (Hwy 181), along the shores of Achensee (Lake Achen).

Once you hit motorway A12, keep going South on Hwy 169 to Zell am Ziller where you hit Hwy 165.

Take Hwy 165 Eastbound to the impressive Krimml waterfalls.
www.wasserfaelle-krimml.at/

Keep driving East towards St. Johann im Pongau. Road numbering will change from 165 to 168 to 311. But the direction (east) will stay the same.

St. Johann im Pongau or Bischofshofen will be in easy reach for day trips to Salzburg on A10 motorway, or the ice caves nearby.
http://www.eisriesenwelt.at/
(click on Union Jack for English version)

Visit Lofer .. near Salzburg.. pension Mayerberg!

Well, I am sitting here at the BMW Welt while the husband is being treated like a king. We are waiting with the child in the VIP lounge (with lots of free food and free wifi) I still only have lodging for four out of the 12 days of our trip :) but I am not complaining because.......life is good.
Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions.

I just hope it's not a convertible... some nasty black clouds and thunder already at the northern outskirts...