we stayed in Best Western Hotels because I used to have points there. Some were quite expensive but others were very reasonable.

Ibis is also good. I loved everywhere we stayed in December this trip. Most expensive was in Munich but worth it since the husband was having back problems to be central.

We've had good luck with BW... plus they mostly seem to be owned by "local" people rather than the standard corporate-every-room-looks-the-same chain kind of places. There are probably many nice smaller independently owned places you might find on Booking.com.

We were in Bavaria in early October 2018 after previously visiting Switzerland. We were amazed at the cheapness of things in Germany. We could finally afford to eat out at pubs and restaurants, and buying groceries was great - a can of real beer cost less than a bottle of water!

I’d like to go back to Germany some time. Not only was everything reasonably priced, but I really liked a lot of the small towns like Regensburg and their historic buildings.

<<We've had good luck with BW... plus they mostly seem to be owned by "local" people rather than the standard corporate-every-room-looks-the-same chain kind of places. There are probably many nice smaller independently owned places you might find on Booking.com.>>

Exactly. There are also very nice B&Bs which you can often find just by walking round or calling at the local tourist board.

Munich has a number of excellent museums, as well as historic churches and buildings. There's also the fine science museum, which sits on an island in the river. Good interactive exhibits.

Garmisch is suffering a surge in virus cases right now. A young woman, employee of the US Army hotel, came back from a vacation in Greece feeling ill. She got tested and was told to isolate. Instead, she went bar-hopping. There were about 50 new infections from that event, and the number may be growing in the next 2 weeks. Bars and restaurants must close at 10 pm for at least the next week.

I think bars and restaurants must close at 10 pm in Munich as well.

So I'd avoid this area.

s

hard to understand why people can be so selfish and stupid.

Ugh, there is no excuse for that. Sorry that that happened. I had hoped that people have learned from this, but obviously not.

You can find quite good value lunches in Switzerland, esp at restaurants that cater to office workers rather than tourists. Dinner not so much.

In Germany, esp if you are driving (but also by train/bus) it’s worth stopping for a stroll and a meal in places that are not of special interest to visitors but are still attractive and pleasant. We did that a lot, enjoying stopovers in places like Detmold, Bad Rappenau, Hattingen etc. No mention in the guidebooks but worth seeing anyway.

Did she work at Edelweiss? I wondered how they will do the lifts and train this year. We were squashed on both. I stood coming back on the cogtrain we were that packed. People are just selfish. So sorry. Just went to Stars and Stripes. OMG, shut down the whole resort for two weeks. She went to Peaches and the Irish Pub. We always go to the Irish Pub. Stupid girl. I hope they do fine her and send her home.