Munich to Salzburg by Car: Sights?
 

Will be traveling by car with family in mid May (2 adults and adult children) from Munich to Salzburg to begin a 10 day vacation. Will hit the road mid afternoon. Are there any "must-see" sights along the way? Thanks for any advice.

Yes!!! I would strongly suggest you stop at Lake Chiemsee and take a boat to visit Herrencheimsee. One of Ludwig II castles/palaces, it is beautiful and well worth a tour. There is also an old abbey on the island and the palace gardens and statues are great.

Be sure you visit the salt mine while in Salzburg. I thought it was going to suck but it was fantastic and very memorable.

Thanks, I saw Chiemsee on the map but didn't consider stopping. We do have plans to visit the Salt Mine near (in?) Berchesgaden as part of a day trip from Salzburg. How long do you estimate that the side trip/boat ride and castle tour at Chiemsee would take ?

I'd plan on at least 4 hours. Maybe leave Munich a little earlier.

toddpod,

We are also travelling via car from Munich Airport to Salzburg in mid May. Because the drive is only a 90 minute trip, we are planning on stopping for lunch in a quaint village along the way and then enjoying Chiemsee as a day trip from Salzburg. I think you would enjoy Chiemsee this way as opposed to a stop over, additionally you would not have a car full full of luggage which could be an issue with theft.

Mike

>90 minute trip
With an average speed of 120km/h.
Works only at night.

We really enjoyed Herrenchiemsee also. IIRC, 4 hours seems awfully long to me. More like 2.5 hours maybe. But there seems to be more attractions there now than I remember. You may have to wait to catch a boat to and from the island. And maybe wait for an English language tour. Last such tour leaves at 5, the palace closes at 6.

But Herrenchiemsee/Prien/Stock is close to the highway. Seems kind of a waste of time to drive right by it, then make a daytrip back.

mike1728;

I like the idea of making Cheimsee a side trip from Salzburg, but that would take some rearranging. What do you plan to do with your car while in Salzburg. I've read there are several options. We will be staying three nights in the heart of 'Old Town' where parking is at a premium.

toddpod

toddpod:

You don't say if you plan to drive from Munich airport directly after your arrival, or from downtown Munich.
Either way, 90 minutes is not realistic. 2- 2 1/2 hours, depending on traffic. A8 motorway is "famous" for major traffic jams.

I doubt you will have enough time for Herrenchiemsee, but that depends on how "late" your late afternoon departure will be.

An alternative to the Chiemsee stopover could be to take A8 towards Salzburg, but take A93 towards Kufstein/Austria.
Leave the A93 at exit Oberaudorf for (Austrian) federal highway B172.
B172 will merge with (German) federal highway B305 and take you to Bad Reichenhall/Salzburg but via an scenic alpine byway and thru pittoresque alpine villages like Reit im Winkl.

But I would not suggest that alternative route if you had to start the trip directly after a red-eye night flight from the US.

Cowboy1968

We'll be arriving Munich Airport @ 9:00. From there, will be travel by cab to BMW Welt as the primary reason for the trip is to take European Delivery of a new 5 series. (appointment is 2:20pm at BMW Welt). I suspect we wont get out of there before 4:00 pm, making an extended side trip a stretch (based on the above information).

This is why a day trip back to Cheimsee (and the Herrenchiemsee tour) might work better. If that's the case, do you have advice regarding appropriate route to Salzburg?

Thanks

toddpod

toddpod,

Fortunately, we are renting an apartment in Salzburg (10 minute walk into town) and have free parking, so I can't comment on paid parking. And if you are in Salzburg for only three days I don't know if you would want to spend a whole day in Chiemsee with so much to see in and around Salzburg. And yes, last December I drove from Munich International Airport to Salzburg in just over 90 minutes (it was a Sunday morning, with very little traffic).

Enjoy your trip!

Mike

Cowboy 1968,

After re-reading your post. we plan to take the Deutsche Alpenstraße later in the trip when traveling to the Garmisch area from Salzburg. I believe that is the route your are referring to. Yes?

toddpod

Mike

Sounds like you've been to Salzburg before. Do you have any advice regarding the various evening concerts that are offered. (some with dinner, some without). I can't imagine a visit to Salzburg without at least one night of musical entertainment.

Thanks

toddpod

I recommend the dinner concert at St. Peter's Stiftkeller. The food was actually very good for such an event!

http://www.stpeter-stiftskeller.at/e...rt-dinner.html

toddpod..

You are right. Most of the alternative route follows the Deutsche Alpenstraße. Though I prefer to take that bit thru Austria than sticking to the signposted Alpenstrasse route. But you'd by-pass Chiemsee that way.

When you can't leave Munich before 4pm your options are somewhat limited to visit Herrenchiemsee.
And since all this will be on day 1, I have no clue how much sightseeing you want to do with a jetlag.

From the BMW Welt to Salzburg is fairly simple. Drive the Middle Ring Road from BMW until you get on A8. There is no real smart backroad to avoid the Autobahn.

If you plan to drive on Austrian motorways you need to get a toll sticker before you cross the border, e.g. at the former border crossing facilities.
Or use last exit in Germany and take a regular highway into Austria and avoid the €7.90 (good for 10 days).
Even though Salzburg is right after the border, the Austrian motorway patrol has their eyes open for toll dodgers , especially on those few kilometers behind the border.

So, toddpod, are you arriving in Munich after a long, overnight flight from the US? Because if so, you will be sleepy and jetlagged. Not really in good condition for driving. I'm not sure how strongly the Germans/Austrians feel about impaired drivers. It would be better if you spent a night in Munich before picking up your car. Or, if your plane flight/BMW appointment are set in stone, spend a night in Munich or thereabouts before driving on.

We took the Deutsche Alpenstrasse a few years back. It was not well marked at that time. And part of the road was private, through a forest. You went through a gate.

And we bought our vignette (toll sticker) at a gas station just before Salzburg -- having whizzed through the border past the little house advertising "vignettes," which I thought were postcards.

Mimar; I've thought about that. Having made a similar trip to Italy 2 summers ago, I found that I was less jetlagged going over and more jetlagged on the trip back. I have thought about spending the night in Munich first night...and will give it some more thought. Thanks for the advice.

JTodd

ps. what a great site this is. I'm sorry I didn't find it sooner. The advice/experience is appreciated.

Ditto what Mimar wrote.

I did not until now notice the huge time gap between your arrival and the arranged pick-up date at BMW Welt.
If your plane lands on time at 9am, you should be out of the airport by 10am. Taxi at that time needs 30 minutes to BMW Welt.

So what to do between 10.30am or 11am and 2.20pm in (almost) the middle of nowhere?

You can visit the BMW Museum (which is worth it) and the Olympic Park and Stadium, but if you don't plan to do that, there is not much more you can do in that area.

There are many "car-friendly" hotels in that area of North/Central Munich, so if you plan to spend the night in Munich and have your new car in tow, it would relatively easy to do the short drive from the BMW Welt to a nearby hotel (where you could go first from the airport to dump your luggage). And take public transport from there to spend the evening in the old town of Munich.

Toddpod,

Sorry can't help with Salzburg evening concerts as both of my previous visits to Salzburg were business related. This will be my first real holiday in Salzburg in May. We plan on at least two full days to explore Salzburg and then day trips to Berchtesgaden, Hallstatt, the lake district of Traunkirchen, Chiemsee, and the Danube Valley (Krems, Durnstein). However, just by what I have read, it appears that there is a wide selection of various concerts almost nightly in Salzburg with prices from very reasonable to expensive.

Mike