The southern germany portion of our trip in september involves 2 nights in fussen, 2nights in salzburg and 3 nights in munich (our last day will include the opening day of octoberfest). My question is..should we take away a night in munich and add it to salzburg? We are spending a lot of money on our hotel in munich because of the festival and there seems to be a lot to see in salzburg? Another thought is to spend a night in hallstadt, but that might be too much packing and unpacking? Maybe we should just keep it as is? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I would do Salzburg---always a good place to stay. Consider a day trip to the Wolfgangsee.

Let me suggest that you not spend that extra night in either place. Instead, find interesting places in the area.

For example, the area in Bavaria around the Tegernsee and Bad Tolz is charming. The area can be reached by bus or commuter train, but to really get around you need to have a car.

I think two full days in Salzburg could you leave you wanting another day depending on what interests you.
I don't know if anything will be going on at the Marionetten Theater or if there will be many musical performances that would interest you.

My four highlights of Salzburg were the Festung on the hill, Schloss Hellbrunn and its water display, a tour of the Festspielhaus where the Salzburg Festival is held, and the Marionetten Theater.

Wandering around the old town was interest, too, but it is small and after about 2 hours you have seen most of it.

Munich is usually crowded during Oktoberfest, but there are some things to see there that are not where the beer festival is going on.

Having been to both cities, I don't think there is a clear cut choice.

If castles interest you one of the Bavarian castles of Ludwig II is between Munich and Salzburg.
It is on an island in the Chiemsee and the usual destination is Herrenchiemsee. You can take a train part of the way and then a boat to the island. I have never been there, but the castle or palace was an attempt to rival Versailles.

Technology was better when it was built so I have read descriptions that say the hall of mirrors is better there than it is in Versailles.

Another suggestion is to visit Berchtesgaden. It is a pretty Bavarian village not far from Salzburg.

If you don't have a rental car, there is good bus transportation and train transportation to many places near Salzburg.

You can check out schedules at the Austrian rail site website:

www.oebb.at or www.öbb.at.

The bus is a little quicker than the train, although both make many stops.

Another idea would be a day trip to Linz. It is a little over an hour away by train.

Thanks for such quick responses! We will have a car so I will look into some of these suggestions.

James,

It's not an easy call. While Salzburg has a great deal of atmosphere - it's loads of fun to stroll its old town, especially at night - its sights are not all that compelling, and I trust two days of touring the city will be enough. By day three you'll be getting restless; but there's a cure: get a very early start on the day, hop in a rental car, and take a day trip to Hallstatt. After touring the town, take the short drive to Dachstein, hop in the cable car and enjoy some spectacular views of the countryside. The cable car will bring you to a series of tourable caves - well worth your time.

As an alternative, leave three days for Munich. While not as atmospheric as Salzburg, Munich has an impressive array of museums. If you're into science and technology, the Deutsches Museum is sure to please. If you enjoy touring art galleries, then consider Munich's excellent Alte Pinakothek. You can also tour the Residenz Museum and Nymphenburg Palace, former homes of the Wittelsbachs. Munich also features some tour-worthy churches, two of which include the Frauenkirche and St. Peter's. Then, of course, there's the Hofbrauhaus. Sure, it's super touristy, but loads of fum nonetheless. In short, Munich has much to offer, and filling three days will be a cinch.

Best of luck.

If you have a car, a think you have a lot of options. I prefer looking at the countryside and the small towns just as much as I like visiting the normal tourist so-called "must sees."

I have yet to find an absolute must-see in the sense that my wellbeing depended on it.

One thing I will suggest is that driving into Munich can be a slow go.

Two weeks ago we left Gmund near the Tegernsee to drive through Munich to Kempten. We left Gmund before 11 am on a Sunday. Before we reached the city limits of Munich we were in a total stoppage situation and then crawled along until the freeway divided. We took the ring to the west and soon found the autobahn toward Lindau. We were on our way with no further tieups.

With Oktoberfest going on, trying to drive into Munich on a weekend will probably be slow.

I recall one day we left downtown Munich for the airport on the first day of Oktoberfest. On the way to the airport, we could see that traffic headed into town was already snarled.

Depending on your schedule, you might do well to drop the car in Salzburg and take the train to Munich.

Driving in Munich is not so bad, as big cities go, but finding a parking place is difficult, particularly one that will not cost you. Many of the residential zones like Schwabing have restricted parking - permit holders only. Of course with Oktoberfest underway, the whole driving game may change to one of backups and general clutter.

At any rate, the whole area of Southern Bavaria and Salzburg is pretty, interesting, and inviting.

I really think you are in a win/win situation particularly with a way to get around that you control.

While I love Salzburg, I think 2 days should be plenty.

I like the idea of either Berchtesgaden or St. Gilgen on Wolfgangsee. We were in both places last September and they are amazingly beautiful.

If you don't want to do an overnight, then pick one and do a day trip from Salzburg.

If you are interested, here are our photos from our trip in Sept 07:

http://travel.webshots.com/album/561038806XxDcvw

We just got back from that part of the world. I think 2 days is plenty for Salzburg and 3 days is enough for Munich, unless you are museum crazy. Then 3 days won't even leave a small dent. If you have a car, by all means spend the time going to Herrenhiemsee. The Palace is worth it. Go to Hallstatt or St. Gilgen. I was not that impressed with Berchesgarten, but we did find a great old castle about 25 minutes south of Salzburg, called Hohenwerfen. We loved it.

To save yourselves a lot of money, time and trouble, it might be best to stay in one place for your whole trip. That's what I'd do with your destinations.

Bob has suggested Herrenchiemsee - a good choice - and you could actually set up in a vacation rental in that area and daytrip by car to Salzburg and Füssen; for Munich, maybe drive to an S-Bahn location and shuttle into the center from there - the distances aren't that far.

The village of Aschau is south of Prien / Herrenchiemsee. I checked the website - www.aschau.de - for this town and there are no less than 25 apartments that will accommodate up to 4 people from 9/14-9/20 and run around 60 Euros per night.

You can contact the TI office there for assistance. There's nearly always someone you can speak with in English in these offices if you want to use the phone.

e-mail: [email protected]

Kampenwandstr. 38
83229 Aschau i.Chiemgau

Tel.: 0049 (0) 8052 90 49 37
Fax: 0049 (0) 8052 90 49 45

HI J,

If you can save money by switching the night to Salzburg, I would do it.

The Salzburg card is worth the money.
http://www2.salzburg.info/sehenswertes_281.htm