Trying to plan a trip to Germany, mostly Southern Region and really need to figure how many days we should plan to stay before I go any further in the planning stages.

We want to see Munich, Bamberg, Landshut, Berchestgarden, perhaps Salzburg, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and 2-3 days in Regensburg. How many days do you think
would be a good time frame to go to all these places and not feel too rushed.

I'm not sure if we want to travel by train or rent a car and would like comments on that as well.

2 weeks, if there are just one or two of you take the train, if more take a car.

I agree that 2 weeks would be a pretty good time frame.

If it were my trip, I'd pick up a car when I was ready to leave Munich and drop it off when I arrived in Regensburg. The roads in Germany are excellent, though there's often roadwork being done. Since you're going to multiple destinations, I would think a car would be the best option.

In many ways, driving is less of a hassle, because you just load your luggage in the trunk and off you go! The downside is finding your hotel once you get into town. A GPS would of course solve that problem. Or downloading a map from Michelin.com.

When I go to Germany, I usually rent a car, though if I'm just going to be in one or two cities, I take the train.

Hi,

I'll comment only on the places we've spent time in... Berchtesgaden, Salzburg and Garmisch. I'd say the minimum would be 3 nights for Salzburg/Berchtesgaden. Pick one to stay in, visit the other from there, as by car they're less than 30 minutes apart. We've spent a total of 11 nights over 4 trips in this area. I'd also say a minimum of 3 nights for Garmisch, although we prefer to stay in Mittenwald, 20 minutes from Garmisch. We've stayed a total of 7 nights over 2 trips in Mittenwald and visited for a day trip on another trip. We prefer a rental car for our trips.

I like 16 days. That includes the travel days on either side so 14 days on the ground.