My wife and I will be in Munich for 5 days in the middle of October. The last few days we will be in Munich for business so we plan to tour the city then. We have the weekend free and want to take a few day trips. Can you recommend the best day trips. We have access to a car but are willing to take the train if it is more convienent. <BR> <BR>We have seen posted messages about Salzburg, Eagles Nest, Nurenburg. Do you have any suggestions? Can all these be done without staying overnight? <BR> <BR>Thanks

John, One possibility, a 2 hour drive to Fussen, just outside of town is Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwanstein and in October the drive should be lovely. The train serves Fussen, but there are a couple of changes.

John- Salzburg is a nice day trip - It's about 2 hours by car or train. If you drive(which I do almost every time), <BR>you might want to drive into the middle of town and park. The old town is best seen on foot. You can even walk across the bridge to see the Mirabell gardens. <BR>If you did stay overnite , you could go to Berchtesgaden to see the Konigsee and/or the Eagles Nest the next day. It would be easy to see both if you have a car as Berchtesgaden is only 30 minutes from Salzburg. <BR> <BR>Richard has made a good alternate suggestion to see Neuschwanstein. If you go there by car you can also catch the Wiess Church, the garden in front of Schloss Linderhof, and/or the Abbey at Andochs (great food and beer on a terrace). <BR> <BR>If you go by car, get a good map. Have a great time- <BR> <BR> <BR>

Definitely go to Neuschwanstein. My wife and I were in Munich last month and made a day trip from Munich. It was the highlight of our 15 trip thru Europe. <BR> <BR>The train is incredibly easy (and cheap!). It takes two hours from Munich. Depending on your departure time you may have to change trains once in Buckloe, but even that was easy because there is only one train there to change to. Right outside of the train station in Fussen there are buses that run every hour to Neuschwanstein. <BR> <BR>We left Munich on the 7:51 am train and returned late in the afternoon. Be sure to spend some time walking around the town of Fussen before boarding your return train. It is a really nice small town to stroll through. <BR> <BR>Wish we were going with you!!!

Neuschwanstein is virtually a must if you have time for an excursion from Muenchen. <BR> <BR>A car is highly recommendable for two reasons: <BR>1.) It will allow you to get to the castle early enough in the day to avoid protracted waits. (October is still quite a peak month for visitors.) <BR>2.) It will faciliate seeing some of the other sights in the area including another of Ludwig's castles, Linderhof, the Wieskirch (baroque church in the meadow), etc. <BR> <BR>Nuernburg is certainly close enough for a day trip, and if you find you do enjoy castles you could also visit the third of Ludwig's castles as Herrenchiemsee. Dachau, of course, is quite near Muenchen and may be of interest as well. <BR> <BR>More info on visiting the royal castles at www.twenj.com/bavarianeu.htm <BR> <BR>Ed

John: Here are my favorites when Munich is our "home base", assuming that you will not spend at least one of those days exploring the city, I would do this: <BR> <BR>1) Head east toward Prien. You can take the ferry out to the castle of King Ludwig II at Herrenchiemsee. It is only just over an hour from Munich. While out this way, you could head east one more hour and visit Salzburg. The old town is quite beautiful and the fortress above the city offers some great views as well as good dining. You could instead visit Berchtesgaden which is in Germany and close to Salzburg. It is a beautiful town nestled in the valley. <BR> <BR>2) Heading southwest, you could reach Garmisch-Partenkirchen in about two hours and this is a lovely town with beautiful countryside, mountains and charming houses. You could ride the cable car up to the top of the Zugspitze. Right in that area is King Ludwig's Linderhof Castle, the basilica at Ettal and the beautiful town of Oberammergau. <BR> <BR>3) You head west and see Neuschwanstein castle as suggested, which is indeed spectacular and also take in the parental home at Hohenschwangau. Along the way across the "Romantic Road", be sure to take in the Wieskirche ("white church") at Steingaden, it is certainly worth the stop. <BR> <BR>There are other choices as well. You could visit Dachau concentration camp just 25km north and further out, there's Regensburg and Augsburg to visit. <BR> <BR>You won't be bored. Have fun!

Minor correction to Lee's otherwise excellent note: <BR> <BR>The Wieskirche: Weiss is white. Wies is meadow. Literally, church in the meadow ... as it indeed is. <BR> <BR>Ed

Thanks, Ed. Wondered what that meant. Have been near it but never in it....one day! soon I hope to be in it, listening to music. Oh heaven.

Many good suggestions so far, some others are Rothenburg (which I would prefer to Nurnberg), Regensburg, Lake <BR>Constance, and Innsbruck (best on the list if you want to shop). <BR> <BR>If I had to rate them, I'd pick a trip to Neuschwanstein but would go into Linderhof and shop in Oberammergau but would view the castle from the highway above. (the castle is best at a distance, long lines and crowds wait to get into the dark castle that was never finished inside) Second I might make a stop at either Herrnchiemsee or the Eagle's nest on the way to Saltzburg. (with Konigsee close 3rd for another possible stop, but it takes longer which you don't want to miss the time in Salzburg) Third on the list would be to Rothenburg. Lake Constance, Regensburg, Nurnberg and Innsbruck (just because I'm no shopper) after that. <BR> <BR> <BR>The one thing I say to miss is Dachau. I have a long experience at a camp somewhere else that I won't go into, but I think Dachau, as startling as it may be, glosses over the absolute horror of the reality. Out of the respect for the experience I had elsewhere, I could never go there. <BR> <BR>

Andechs Monastery is just south of Munich near Ammersee Lake and the town of Herrsching. It's a fun hike in good weather from Herrsching, or you can drive right to it. Great monk-brewed beer, primeval food (pork knuckles, sausages, traditional specialties) and a terrific view south to the Alps and west over the Ammersee if you take a table on the gigantic patio. The chapel makes a great visit, too. Go on a weekday for smaller crowds.

two couples planning to stay in munich for week or more and do day trips in March or April 01. any suggestions on good place to base out of munich? apartment house or Pension hotel/

Ed: You are absolutely right and I stand corrected. Wieskirche is indeed "church in meadow". Thanks, Ed! <BR> <BR>John: Perform a search on this site for Munich accommodations. You will receive a plethora of valuable information.

Thanks for all of the responses. We are still debating but are leaning towards Berchtesgaden and Herrenchiemsee. We fly in Friday morning 8 am and plan to drive straight to Berchtesgaden. Spend the night there and then tour and head back to Munich via Herrenchiemsee. We debated heading to Salzburg instead but are afraid we would just be rushing through and think it would be more relaxing to skip it. We also plan an afternoon at Dachua unless others feel like Geoff and think it should be skipped. One other thought would be to skip Herrenchiessme and trt to get all the way over to Neuschwanstein. Any idea how long it takes to get there from Berchetsgaden and how much time you need to hit the major sites? Thanks again for all the responses

Well, Ed. If you are going to enter the business of correcting people, I suggest you get it correct, too. The German term for meadow is Die Wiese. It has an e on the end. And is not the German term for the church Die Wiesenkirche? <BR>The one I know about is spelled that way. Perhaps this is another one. <BR>Die Kirche is the German word for church and it, too, has an e on the end. <BR>

Hi <BR>As far as I am aware the church is called the "Weiskirche" as Ed said. <BR>Al, IMHO Ed was really polite in his correction, and no body seemed upset by it?

I asked a German friend of mine to shed some light on this little squabble. She lives in Munich, graduated from the university in Friburg, and also has a masters degree in broadcast journalism from the Grady School at the University of Georgia. <BR> <BR>Here are her comments: ... there is, indeed, a famous Bavarian church in the <BR>Allgäu-region which is called "Wieskirche". ... we should <BR>actually write "Wiesenkirche", but the name is slightly colloquial (it is <BR>sort of like when we students used to call the emblem of UGA "the Arches" <BR>instead of "the Arch"). It's just spoken language that got accepted by the <BR>written form as well. <BR>The Wieskirche lies ca. 20 km north-east of Füssen. It was built from 1746 <BR>until 1754 by Dominikus Zimmermann. Its proper name was: "Wallfahrtskirche <BR>in der Wies". (You see, that the ending of "Wiesen" has been dropped out of <BR>laziness. (E.g. you can also say: "Ich habe Hunger" as well as: "Ich hab <BR>Hunger".) Bavarians always took a special likening to dropping endings. <BR>