Use a couple of bases - Berchtesgaden, Garmisch and yes Munich (day trips to the north - Rothenburg, Nurnberg, etc.

Just wanted to say thank you to all for the wonderful and very helpful suggestions/tips, information, etc.

We just got back last night and had a fantastic time!!

My husband really wanted to stay in Salzburg for the first 3 nights so we flew into Munich, we did decide to rent a car for the full stay, we got a great deal on it so it was worth it. We stayed at a lovely little hotel in Salzburg. The drive from Munich to Salzburg was pretty quick, we enjoying exploring and driving around.

This isn’t in any actual order however just to let you know what we did and where we went due to all the great tips I received:

We walked around Salzburg, went to Salzburg Cathedral for an organ concert, went to Mirabell Palace and Gardens, Schloss Hellbrunn which we all enjoyed. It was our warmest day so the trick fountains were a wonderful way to cool down!! We did Fortress Hohensalzburg, drove to Berchtesgaden and hung out there for a little bit, then drove to a wonderful little restaurant where we had a fantastic lunch with a spectacular view of Berchtesgaden then went on to Lake Konigssee and did the boat trip to Saint Bartholomew.

After Salzburg for three days/nights we drove to Munich, on our way to Munich we decided to go ahead and do Schloss Herrenchiemsee. We were going to drive to Prien and take the boat to Schloss Herrenchiemsee however we ended up stopping in Gstadt and taking the boat from there to Schloss Herrenchiemsee. We then took the boat back and had a great dinner in Gstadt. We got into Munich late Friday night, we then had Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Munich. Tuesday morning for a very short time before flying out so we squeezed in a couple of hours at the Alte Pinakothek which we enjoyed as well.

Once in Munich we did Munich Residenz. Marienplatz, Viktualienmarkt, Schloss Nymphenburg, Englischer Garten where my daughter loved watching the surfers do their thing. Hofgarten, Hofbrauhaus, the New Town Hall, St. Peters, peeked inside St. Michaels it was closed for access due to some construction work going on inside the day we were there. We drove to Ettal and went to Schloss Linderhof, stopped in Oberammergau, walked around and had a fantastic dinner.

There were plenty of things we would have loved to have seen and places we would love to go to that we didn’t have time for, so another trip there at some point is needed for sure.

All three of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Thank you again to all who took the time to write in and provide me with great advice!!

Thank you for reporting back - so few do and thanks for all the thanks to folks!

Sounds like a Wunderbar trip!