tcreath

My husband and I, along with another couple, will be traveling to this region in April and will be spending 2 (possibly 3) nights before moving along. I was planning on staying in Hall but as I started to research I stumbled upon pictures of Mittenwald. We have been to Bavaria a few times, and stopped in Hall for a few hours, but have never visited Mittenwald. It looks gorgeous! So, would anyone mind telling me which town they would prefer to base themselves in and why? Is one prettier than the other, as far as town and location are concerned?

Thanks!
Tracy

nicksgirl88

Hi Tracy -
We haven't been yet - but we are staying 2 nights in Mittenwald next May. We decided on it because it not only looks beautiful but so many people on Fodor's have raved about it. On our last trip to Germany we had originally considered Mittenwald but chose Fuessen so we could visit Ludwig's castles. This time though we wanted to actually stay in Mittenwald. We are planning on just wandering the town and hiking nearby one day, and the next day we are going up the Karwendel cable car. The views look amazing!

http://www.karwendelbahn.de/

This is where we are staying - http://www.edlhuber-mittenwald.de/

Hope this helps!

Gina

tcreath

Hi Gina! Thanks for the link! Funny I was just researching places to stay this afternoon and that was the place I bookmarked as being my favorite so far! We too chose to stay in the Fussen area (Hohenschwangau) instead of Mittenwald when we were last in this area in 05 because we wanted to visit Neuschwanstein. If we do stay in Mittenwald we will definitely daytrip to Hall. We visited it for a few hours back in 05 and really liked it.

Happy planning!
Tracy

logos999

Mittenwald is a tiny town. No McDonalds or anything bigger, a few restaurants a small pedestrian area, and of course famous for its violins. Compared to Seefeld which is just a few km away and has zillions of tourists making it a nightmare to visit, Mittenwald is quite nice. But if you want to do some daytrips southbound, there is the Zirler Berg mountain road with a steep downgrade and lots of slow cars! If you want to see Tyrol or northern Italy on your daytrips, Mittenwald will always take at least 90min more.

The Inn valley around Innsbruck is wide but has LOTS of traffic, so during rush hour, getting from north of Innsbruck to south of town can be really tiresome.

logos999

Should you want to go south to Italy (Sterzing etc.) and encounter one of those traffic jams, from Mittenwald, do set your GPS to Axams as first destination and Mutters as second. There has bee a lot of construction on that road recently, but it is your (only) chance to bypass Innsbruck during rush hour.

pja1

Hi tracy,

We've stayed in both places... Mittenwald in 5/05 and 10/06 and Hall in Tirol in 10/01, 10/03 and 4/05.

In '05 we made Hall in Tirol our first stop (from Munich/late April) before heading to the Dolomites and Mittenwald our last stop (early May) heading from the Dolomites back to Munich.

As to your question... they are 2 pretty different places. Hall in Tirol is a busier "old town" with an alpine backdrop and Mittenwald is more of a village (the quintessential Bavarian village IMO) with alpine scenery. Depends what you're looking for. We found Mittenwald (the first few days of May) to be pretty quiet, but still exremely charming.

In '06 we traveled from Mittenwald to Hall in Tirol for dinner at one of our favorite places, the Berg Taverne in Burg Hasegg. The trip took a little less than hour each way. Plan your drive around "rush hour" traffic.

To try and answer you're question is very tough (at least for me), but I'd say Mittenwald. It's a "post card perfect" village surrounded by mountains. We stayed both times at the Pension Schwalbennestl, but were recently considering the Eldhuber (nicksgirl88) for an upcoming trip. Looks very nice and I read great reviews of it.

www.schwalbennestl.de

www.worldisround.com/articles/324763/index.html

The Karwendelbahn in Mittenwald may not be open in April, judging from this years opening date of May 1st. You'd have to check next years scheduled opening date though.

Easy sightseeing from Mittenwald include:
Ettal Monestary
Ludwig's Linderhof Palace
The Zugspitze (Garmisch, 20 min. away)
Garmisch
Oberammergau
Innsbruck/Hall in Tirol
and Mittenwald of course!

Our favorites for dinner in Mittenwald are:

www.derkartoffelsack.de

www.mammalucia.de

If you're interested in bringing home some "souvenir" beer glasses, we bought a few (along with a few bottles of Mittenwald Radlers!) at the Mittenwald Brewery store. They were about $1.50 a piece. MUCH cheaper than what gift shops sell similar glasses for.

www.brauerei-mittenwald.de/english/index.php

Hope this helps.

Paul

bettyk

Our first visit to Mittenwald was in Sep 2009. We stayed at the Hotel Rieger which is right in town near one end of Obermarkt. It appears to be more expensive than the other places mentioned above but we found it to be very nice with a great restaurant.

http://www.hotel-rieger.de/hotel.htm

I agree with Paul that Mittenwald and Hall are two entirely different places. We spent 2 nights in Mittenwald and did not go anywhere else while there. We just enjoyed walking around, shopping and relaxing. It was cloudy while we were there and you couldn't see the tops of the mountains so opted not to do the Karwendel cable car ride.

As usual, I think we got some great photos:

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/249...11574650sOMCob

tcreath

Thank you all for responding. They both sound great, but we decided on Mittenwald. The other couple we have traveled with has not been to this area and we love the Bavarian look of Mittenwald and think it will be a great place for all of us to visit. And thank you for the links!!

Tracy