I hope you can help me with my itinerary. We are flying into Munich and will be staying in Garmisch for 11-12 nights and then going to Prague for 3-4 nights. These are all tours and we will not be driving.

Day One-Partnach Gorge
Day Two-Neuschwanstein Castle
Day Three-Herrenchimsee Palace
Day Four-Eagles Nest
Day Five-Linderhof Palace
Day Six-Brixen & Vipenteno
Day Seven-Day Trip to Switzerland, Lichenstein & Austria
Day Eight- Dauchau Concentration Camp
Day Nine-Eibsee
Day Ten or Eleven-leave for Prague by train
Day 14-Head back to Munich
Day 15-Fly Home

How does this sound? Our three adult children and I are meeting my husband who will be on R & R from OIF. I am wondering if he will be up to all of this.......

Hi T,

If you have already paid for the tours, this is a great itinerary.

Hi trisig,
I'd just like to say that Brixen and Viptino are terrific destinations. Vipitino is quite small but very charming. Brixen has a large pedestrian zone and is beautiful! We went last Oct. and it's now our favorite town in Sud Tirol. If you get the chance, the Diocean Museum in Brixen is excellent!
www.brixen.org
My only concern would be there is no day without a tour so you may be able to relax. I do think everything you have listed is a very worthwhile destination. If you had a free day, I'd suggest a short trip to Mittenwald (less than :30 away from Garmisch). Gorgeous village to walk around and sit at an outdoor cafe.

Paul

We have taken somewhat similar vacations, basing ourselves in one place and doing a lot of day trips. Our experience has been with renting a car and driving rather than booking tours for the side trips. That approach is obviously more flexible since it allows for last minute changes in plans.
The places you are going all seem like reasonable day trips. some are farther than others from Garmisch.
If you have not already booked all the tours I think you might want to consider some days just exploring Garmisch-Partenkirchen, maybe taking some hikes. In good weather, the trip up the Zugspitze is truly spectacular.

Are you committed to these trips or still trying to decide which tours to choose?

For 11 days I recommend basing yourself in Munich and Salzburg(for eagles nest, salt mine tours, Salzkammergut sigtseeing). Garmisch is not that attractive of a town to stay that long, I would pick Mittenwald or Fuessen if I have to stay in the southern border towns rather than Garmisch, however Munich & Salzburg are much better bases.

You seem to dedicate too many days for the castles which is fine if that's what everybody is into. There is a bustour starting across the street from the Munich train station that combines Linderhof with Neuschwanstein in one tour.

I would recommend time to soak Munich itself even if to visit the Residenz, Alte Pinakothek, Lenbach Museum, Deutsches Museum which may make a good family outing on your own. Salzburg is a baroque jewel that will be fun for the family to explore.

Thank you so much for your input. No, I have not booked the tours yet. After reading about Neuschwanstein, I wondered about giving this one up. Or Eagles Nest? Herrenchimsee? What do you think? I would like to spend some time hiking on our own.

Hi,
I would do the Neuschwanstein tour, but I'd add Hohenschwangau ("next door&quot if you could, maybe even instead of Neuschwanstein castle tour. I found the tour very interesting, as it is the place Ludwig grew up in and has more history. Now that I think of it, this may not be possible since tickets may be included with the tour.
I might suggest skipping Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria tour. Although I don't know what it encompasses, it seems like it must be a very long outing. Lichtenstein is not worth the travel. There's really only a small tourist zone in Vaduz and the scenery won't be much different than that in Bavaria.
Out of the castles you mentioned, I haven't seen Herrenchiemssee Palace yet, so I won't comment on dropping that, but I defintely wouldn't cut out Linderhof. It's fabulous inside! My favorite so far of Ludwig's castles.
Maybe drop the Eagle's Nest tour and take the Zugspitze trip in Garmisch. There is also a Sommerrodelbahn (luge ride) on the outskirts of Garmisch which was fun.
I guess what I'm saying is,,,without knowing what the Swiis tour is, I'd drop that and Eagles Nest.
Just my opinion.
Hope this helps.

Paul

trisig....

Are you staying at the Edelweiss? If so, enjoy - it's a great hotel (and SO clean!!!). What time of year will you be there?

I'm not too sure how far some of those places are, so not sure how long of a day the tour is, but you may want to check with your husband before you book all this. I would maybe book half of those trips.

He may not feel like getting up and getting dressed every single day and being gone all day. That's just my opinion after speaking with so many friends home on R&R. Many of them really want to just rest - and enjoy time with family, hanging out, relaxing and not being responsible for anything or having any kind of a schedule.

Again just my opinion

Hi tri,

>No, I have not booked the tours yet.

In that case:

11-12 nights is far too much time to spend in Garmisch.

Herrenchiemsee is between Munich and Salzburg - you can visit it from either city. You can easily visit Berchtesgaden from Salzburg.

From Fuessen, you can visit Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, and Linderhof.

>Day Trip to Switzerland, Lichenstein & Austria

What????? How about a daytrip to Garmisch from Fuessen or Munich.

Dachau is easily visited from Munich.

Since you are flying in/out of Munich why not spend some time there?

You can then visit Salzburg and Fuessen before leaving from Munich.

>meeting my husband who will be on R & R from OIF.

You are much too overplanned. Give the poor guy some time for R&R.

I hope this helps.

Enjoy your visit.

Thanks for your advice. We are going the first two weeks of September. You are right about letting him rest. This is his second tour and when he came home the first time we just hung out and saw the family. This time he said that he wants to see as much of Europe as he can. I suspect most of the bus rides, he will be sleeping! We are staying at Edelweiss. It looks fabulous and I would like to relax and hang out there some. I think I will cut out the Eagles Nest trip. The luge ride sounds like fun! My son wants to see a soccer game, but I don't know how to figure that out. We are going to Prague to see one of our Exchange Students that lived with us for a school year. Our last night will be in Munich, so I thought we could see some of the highlights that afternoon and evening.

trisig - please pass on my thanks to your husband for his service.

I'm sure whatever you decide on for an itinerary will be great because you'll all be together.

If you are going to stay at the Edelweiss for the entire time (or most of it) you may want to consider getting a car for at least half of it. Driving in Germany is a breeze and it will really increase the amount of freedom you'll have. Get one with a GPS and you will be golden. Email me direct with questions about the hotel, if you want. shamel@hotmail . com

I have changed my itinerary. Any advice?
Day One-Arrive in Munich and spend the afternoon-evening
Day Two-Train to Prague
Day Three-Prague
Day Four-Prague
Day Five-Prague
Day Six-Train to Garmisch
Day Seven-local-Zugspitze
Day Eight- Tour to Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Austria.
Day Nine-Dauchau Concentration Camp
Day Ten-local- hike around Partnach Gorge
Day 11-local- hike around St. Martin Hutte/luge ride?
Day 12-Tour to Brixen and Vipenano
Day 13-Linderhof Castle
Day 14-Neuschwanstein Castle
Day 15-Train to Munich
Day 16-Fly home

The only question I had is whether to take one of the local days to take a tour to Herrenchimsee or Eagles Nest. I hate to do that because my son said he would like to try the golf course out. How many can say they played golf in the Alps?

Linderhof and Neuschwanstein should be combined into one day.

Hi Trisig
We will be staying at Edleweiss Sept
15-21st might see you. We are
pondering what day tours to take also.
Enjoy. Thank your husband for my
husband & myself for serving our country. My husband served in Korea
and Vietnam.

Thank you. He really needs this vacation! A couple of weeks ago, he was close to not being here with us. His humvee was hit by a bomb! The angels were with them, the vehicle was destroyed, but the guys had very few minor injuries.

Hi T,

>Linderhof and Neuschwanstein should be combined into one day.

I would say "could".

You might wish to see Hohenschwangau and Neuchwanstein one day and Linderhof and its grotto on another.

The grotto is well worth the walk.