Fodor's Travel Talk Forums

Fodor's Travel Talk Forums (https://www.fodors.com/community/)
-   Europe (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/)
-   -   munich - day trips (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/munich-day-trips-1116059/)

mrali Jul 1st, 2016 02:07 AM

munich - day trips
 
Hi all,

I have planned 3 day trips for 3 seperate days.

1. Neuschwanstein Castle (my 4 year old wants to go there)
2. Berchtesgaden - hitler's eagle's nest (my choice)
3. Innsburck - Swarovski’s Crystal World (wife's choice)

My question is shall I rent a car to go and visit those places or train would be easy?
Secondly I was thinking to roam around at innsburck when we go there. will that be possible?

please advice?

sparkchaser Jul 1st, 2016 02:35 AM

IMO, you are better off driving. It is faster and gives you more flexibility -- and you will want that for getting to Neuschwanstein and the Eagle's Nest.


<i>Secondly I was thinking to roam around at innsburck when we go there. will that be possible?</i>

Why wouldn't it be possible? It's your trip, roam if you want to to. It's about a 2 hour drive to Innsbruck from Munich.

fourfortravel Jul 1st, 2016 02:38 AM

A little information that might be useful for planning.

1. We had a car for Neuschwanstein and could enjoy the walk down from the castle, lunch, and then have some fun on a nearby Sommerrodelbahn (our children were 6 and 11 at the time) on our own schedule.

3. Innsbruck is approximately a 20 minute drive from Crystal World. There is a (for fee) shuttle from Innsbruck to Crystal World, but no train. Innsbruck is a charming town worth exploring.

PatrickLondon Jul 1st, 2016 02:45 AM

Innsbruck is less than two hours by train from Munich, and you can get quite cheap fares if you book far enough in advance. Try www.bahn.de or www.oebb.at

It can be crowded as this train goes on across Italy, so it might be worth while reserving seats. On the other hand, I was able to find unreserved seats when I made this journey a week or so ago (over a weekend).

As I understand it, the Swarovski Kristallwelten is in Wattens, which appears to be a near a station on a local railway line from Innsbruck (I've done the train ride to Hall, on the same line, which was easy), but it might be necessary to get a taxi from the station (I don't know about local bus services - there might well be something signposted there)

As for things to do in an around Innsbruck if you won't want to go to the Swarovski -

One option that springs to mind is for you to take the train that goes to Wattens for the Swarovksi, get off at Hall and take a local bus or taxi to the silver mines - the display there takes children into account, and it might be fun for an imaginative 4-year old:
http://www.silberbergwerk.at/en/

Or in central Innsbruck itself, there's Schloss Ambras, with lots of armour on display, if you're not already castled out:
http://www.schlossambras-innsbruck.at/en/

Or for something unusual how about the Grassmayr Bell Foundry - all about how bells are made, with opportunities to bang things.
http://www.grassmayr.at/index.php?id=43&L=1

Or if the weather's good enough, you could go up to see the panoramic views above the city:
http://www.nordkette.com/en/home.html

mrali Jul 1st, 2016 06:16 AM

Hi all,

Thanks for the advice.

Is there any issue of parking? Also I heard that normal car doesn't go to eagle's nest. We have to park the car down and take some sort of transport to go to the top.

By roaming around in innsbruck I meant to ask that if its doable along with crystal world in a day If I take into account commute for roughly 5 hours?

fourfortravel Jul 1st, 2016 06:39 AM

With respect to the Innsbruck/Swarovski day trip, keep in mind the shuttle only travels four times a day. So, you have to consider:

2+ hour one-way travel to Innsbruck
Shuttle connection to Swarovski (the website shows the schedule to be every 2 hours)
Time to see/enjoy/shop at Swarovski
Shuttle connection back to Innsbruck
2+ hour return to Munich

Say you leave Munich at 0730, and arrive in Innsbruck in time for your wife to catch the 1020 shuttle to Swarovski. You'll have at least until 1400 or 1600 to explore Innsbruck, depending on the return shuttle your wife catches. You'll be back in Munich by either 1700 or 1900.

Only you know whether this is a workable day trip with a four-year old.

duketennisgal Jul 1st, 2016 08:55 AM

I would definitely rent a car. One of our favorite days on our trip to Munich was the day we rented a car and drove to Neuschwanstein. We started early, I think at about 6am in Munich to pick our car up. We got to Neuschwanstein in just under 2 hours and had plenty of time to walk around and have breakfast before our castle tour.

Afterwards we decided at the spur of the moment to drive to Linderholf and then Obberammergau. We were able to stop and enjoy the beautiful scenery whenever we wanted. Honestly, it's a gorgeous part of the world to drive through!

We ended up getting back to Munich around 8pm or so. It was definitely a full day but 100% worth it and I would gladly do it again!

mrali Jul 2nd, 2016 12:45 AM

for some reason i also believe renting a car is good option, but there are some cons too ...

1. getting lost on the way
2. picking and dropping the car
3. hotel parking fees ...

mrali Sep 27th, 2016 04:40 AM

I did the road trip for Swarovski’s Crystal World. Enjoyed every bit of it.

one tip to everybody:
whatever happens refuel the tank full and then return the car. I was charged roughly 3 times what the actual would have costed me.

unfortunately, there was some trick to open the tank cap which I and the guy at the gas station didn't know :s

sparkchaser Sep 27th, 2016 04:59 AM

Sorry you ran into that situation.


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 08:38 PM.