I'll be in Munich at the end of the year with my husband and teen son. We'll be staying at Hotel Torbrau for 5 days arriving on December 29th. We would like to see the following: Marienplatz, Residenz, Cathedral, Deutsches Museum, BMW Museum, Castles (tour), Saltzburg and salt mine, and Botanic Garden. We will not be renting a car.

We're going with the mindset that we'll return again one day. Please comment on our itinerary.

Day 1 - Marienplatz, Viktualienmarkt and Cathedral
Day 2 - BMW Museum in the morning, and Deutsches Museum in the afternoon
Day 3 (New Year's Eve) - Castles Tour, back in time for dinner and celebration
Day 4 (New Year's) - Salzburg and Salt Mine (opened for the holiday)
Day 5 - Botanic Garden, Residenz, more Marienplatz and Viktualienmarkt

I'm also looking for a restaurant for New Year's Eve night. Thank you!

ttt

Salzburg old town is way more fun/lively when the stores are open. The BMW museum may be open on New Year's day, I remember going there on Jan 1, 2002 after a late morning brunch at the Kaefer Bistro.

DAX, I've checked BMW's schedule - they'll be closed on Dec. 31 & Jan. 1. Thanks for letting me know about Salzburg.

I thought it would be nice to spend our last day in Munich.

I recommend visiting the Asamkirche, not far from the Marienplatz--amazing Baroque interior

I can only give you a run down on our activities during May this year - but you never know, there might just be something in this mini trip report with photos that could help!
http://tinyurl.com/mvml7q

Vttraveler, I just Googled Asamkirche - it looks beautiful inside, so ornate. Thank you, I will keep this in mind!

Tod, after seeing your photos, I know I'll have to go back after this trip when the flowers are in bloom. Thank you!

One obvious place for tourists to celebrate Sylvester/New Year's Eve is at the Ratskeller. They haven't put up their 2009 menu yet but you'll get the idea: http://www.ratskeller.com/uploads/me...8_englisch.pdf
It can be a challenge to find brunch on New year's day too thus I mentioned Kaefer Bistro which was a decent place to end up in.
I wouldn't put priority on the BMW museum unless you're a true fan of BMW. Salzburg is worth a lot more, I would recommend spending at least one night in Salzburg, you won't regret it. The Alte Pinakothek is one of the most important classic art museums in Germany. Munich & Salzburg will be magical when covered with snow. Visit the Residence in Munich it has easy access and many rewards.

Dax, thank you for all of the information. We've modified our schedule to see Salzburg on our last day there. BMW Museum is a must-see for my son, so we'll go there on Day 2. I took a look at Ratskeller, and it does appear to be touristy, but given that my son is a picky eater, the a la carte menu might work.

Now we just have to figure out our options on New Year's Day as everything I've looked into will be closed that day.

I would agree with you about needing to be in Munich on your last day instead of Salzburg. It may be better to do Salzburg on your second day and do the BMW museum on your last day. There is no direct train to the Munich airport from Salzburg so you'd be needing lots of time transferring at the downtown train station and even worse if you leave your luggage in the hotel because it's quite far from the hauptbahnhof. Deutsches museum is within walking distance to Torbrau so that can be done on any day. Your hotel choice is excellent to access all the places you want to see except for the botanical garden in Nymphenburg which I would question in the cold winter weather unless you just want to see the indoor orchid garden, it may be better to save it for another trip in the springtime. We couldn't do anything else on New years day either, so perhaps you can do the salt mine separately from Salzburg or go to the assam kirche then. I would imagine that the only stores that will be open are in the main train station.

The Torbrau is a nice place to eat and drink and is just next to the old medieval gate. I took a tour a while back (a company dark history tours or something like that) and the guy told told us that hitlers SS was started in there. The staff were very friendly when I was there though. In the winter, Munich is very cold but generally dry. If you wrap up and have lots of socks and a pair of gloves you'll be fine. I recommend that you try the hot wine punch (Gluhwein) which they sell at that time of year.

Thank you for the information, joeallsopp! I will definitely keep all of this in mind.