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-   -   The German Alps with Kids - where to stay? (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/the-german-alps-with-kids-where-to-stay-1673613/)

Schelley Nov 5th, 2019 06:35 PM

The German Alps with Kids - where to stay?
 
I have about a week with my two kids (will be 5 & 10) in Germany while my husband is at a conference elsewhere in Europe. We plan to meet in Rothenburg ob der tauber at the end of his work trip. The area around Fussen in summer might be the perfect spot. I don't have a strict agenda apart from wanting to see the castles: Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangua. Maybe we enjoy some safe, easy walking or bike trails, lake swimming, wandering around the old towns or finding a good playground. I hear train travel from Munich to Fussen is easy. I gather I wouldn't need a car to get to the castles and the idea of having cafes and grocery stores nearby is appealing. The smaller towns of Schwangua/Hohenschwangua are in walking distance of a lake and more walking trails/outdoor activities? Each still has a small town center. I do feel a little nervous about driving in a new country with two kids and neither of them old enough to read a map! It's also at the beginning of the trip and everyone will be a bit jet-lagged. Advice on where to stay? In Fussen or one of the smaller towns outside of Fussen?

swandav2000 Nov 5th, 2019 09:18 PM

Hi Schelley,

I live in Garmisch, about 60 km from Füssen, and I adore it. It's my favorite little day-trip escape. It has a sweet pedestrian zone with streets leading off in many directions and many interesting shops, it has an actual castle right in town, it has a lake just outside of town, and it has a river running by the edge of town.

The wide valley is perfect for easy bike rides or long walks, and you can hike the mountains or take the Tegel cable car.

Yes, it's very easy to get from Füssen to Hohenschwangau -- busses go up there regularly. Hohenschwangau can be a but of a zoo, though. I was there recently with my nephew in late Sep, and it was crazy with wandering, lost tourists, and lots of traffic. It'll be even worse in July or August. Füssen might also be busy....but nothing on that scale.

Just one note about spelling. To get the best results from google or rail searches, you should use correct spelling -- Füssen or Fuessen if you don't do the umlaut.

You can see the easy train connections at the German rail site

www.bahn.com.

Have fun as you plan!

s

Fodorite018 Nov 6th, 2019 05:39 AM

Something you might consider is taking a tour with Mike's Bike Tour's out of Munich. We did it with our adult kids two years ago and absolutely loved it! We met at their office in Munich and got on a big comfy bus and headed out. We got our bikes and rode out to Swan Lake and then got lunch after the bike ride. I don't have the name of the restaurant off the top of my head, but it was not in a busy area at all, so it was very quiet and peaceful with nice views. Anyway, then back on the bus and up to the castle. We had plenty of time to walk up to Mary's Bridge and see those views before doing the castle tour. It was a leisurely day. I have recommended this to many people, including in real life lol, and everyone has loved it fwiw. So just an option to check out.

We loved Rothenburg and stayed there for 3 nights. We didn't have an issue with crowds at all, but it was September so that might be some of it. The only time it was crowded was for the Night Watchman Tour, which I highly recommend. BTW, Zur Holl is an excellent restaurant there and a must, IMO!

Schelley Nov 6th, 2019 07:36 AM

Thank you so very much for this! Thanks for the note on the spelling. I have a North American keyboard and I wasn't sure how to add the umlaut! This is great advice. I am lucky to hear from someone local!

Schelley Nov 6th, 2019 07:41 AM

Thank you mms. It's great to get recommendations from those with first hand experience. I had read about the Watchman Tour. I think my 9 year old especially would find it very interesting. We have 5 nights planned in that area and thought we'd try and fit in a trip to the Playmobil park. We plan to drive from there up Fairy Tale Road then Stay in Lubeck for another 5 nights. After Germany we're headed to Denmark.

Fodorite018 Nov 6th, 2019 07:50 AM

Schelley--Be sure to visit the criminal museum in Rothenburg. Allow plenty of time as it is fascinating, and a 9 yr old would absolutely love it. Enjoy Denmark too. Our son did a study abroad semester there while in college and we thoroughly enjoyed it when we visited. He was our tour guide, lol.

Albertbrown Nov 12th, 2019 04:53 AM

Hi Schelly, gone through your post and interactions with mms. The itinerary is fine and Lubeck is a great place to stay for 5 nights. Happy Journey!

BDKR Nov 12th, 2019 05:04 PM

https://rail.cc/en/blog/neuschwanste...h-fussen-train

bilboburgler Nov 13th, 2019 08:28 AM

Lubeck is a nice little city, you might find this place interesting to eat in https://schiffergesellschaft.de/en/ the food is not top notch but the interior is special. You can ride along rivers and canals to Lueneburg (ue for e umlaut) which is just a fantastic visit. Denmark's fascination with cycling is worth picking up when you are there, the bikes are generally poor but the infrastructure amazing.

Macross Nov 13th, 2019 09:57 AM

I would stick to trains and buses after arriving. It is so less stressful and public transportation in Germany is top notched. Great advice from Swandav.

Schelley Nov 14th, 2019 04:30 PM

This is all so helpful. Thank you to everyone for such wonderful suggestions. I’m excited and nervous to travel solo with children (I’ve done many solo trips prior to having a family but this adds another layer). I’m so grateful to get a nice easy plan together. I’ll check out the links to train and restaurants and tours. My son is socking away all his allowance for pretzels and pastries:)


lavandula Nov 14th, 2019 06:07 PM

Don't know what your kids are like in cafes / restaurants, but in Lübeck Café Niederegger is special ... it's a family-run traditional café hundreds of years old that specialises in marzipan, and Niederegger marzipan is available in shops all over Germany. Many of the cakes have marzipan in them and you can even order a marzipan coffee. You order at the counter and a waiter brings you your cake and coffee. Nice to get a feel for what traditional Kaffee und Kuchen is like.

Lavandula

Schelley Nov 14th, 2019 08:48 PM

I had heard Marzipan is from Lubeck and I LOVE it. I also quite like coffee. My kids are fairly good in cafes. I’ll definitely put this on the list of “must do’s”. Thanks so much for the tip!

Fodorite018 Nov 15th, 2019 05:37 AM

Schelley--Traveling solo with kids is definitely different, but also fun. My first time overseas, I was alone with our kids, ages 4 and 7. I remember getting on the plane and thinking "what am I doing? I don't know a word of the language etc". Our trip was planned in less than a week, so no time to really plan, and we were meeting my husband there on one of his port stops (military). It was the best thing I ever did! During part of the trip, my husband had to go back to the boat for a day or two at a time, so I did the moving around with the kids to another town. I now our situation was a bit unique, but I will never forget riding with the kids in a taxi to our next town and looking over to the river and seeing my husbands sub driving along the surface, and he was at the helm. Amazing, and it gave me some type of odd confidence that he was with me. Anyway, I know, totally off tangent here, but just showing that exploring with just the kids is fun and you never know what you will find:)

Christina Nov 15th, 2019 08:47 AM

FYI, I type letters with foreign accent marks etc on them on my American keyboard, as I write in French often so I have the ones I use the most memorized. Basically, you have to have the NUMLOCK key on, then press the ALT key + a series of four numbers on the small righthand keypad (while the ALT is held down). If you don't have that small numeric keypad, you can't do it.

the 4 numbers are
0232 for è
0233 for é
0234 for ê
etc
0252 for ü as in Füssen

that's a little bit of a nuisance but I type quickly and do it when I'm writing emails or posting on Facebook to someone in France, for example. You can use them in a Google search line, also. You can find a list of all these if you want online in various places like here
https://sites.psu.edu/symbolcodes/windows/codealt/

Schelley Nov 15th, 2019 05:26 PM

MMS I just love that story. It’s very encouraging to see you had such a wonderful and memorable time with your children and husband It’s exactly what I’m hoping for. To see a few sights but also to open their eyes and hearts to a different place, language, food, customs and lifestyle. I want them to see how great that can be! Also, thanks for the note/tip on how to add accents using my North American keyboard! Much appreciated

Alec Nov 16th, 2019 01:56 AM

Umlauts on PC:

ALT0228 for ä
ALT0246 for ö
ALT0252 for ü
ALT0196 for Ä
ALT0214 for Ö
ALT0220 for Ü

On laptop it's the same. Depending on your make, you have to enable numeric pad on your keyboard.

On Mac:
Hold down OPTION key and press u. Then release OPTION key and type the base letter, such as a, o or u. Umlaut will then appear over the base letter you typed.

Fodorite018 Nov 16th, 2019 06:22 AM

Schelley--Yes, the kids got so much out of it! Our 4 yr old ate grilled calamari for the first time on that trip and absolutely loved it. He ordered it everywhere he could, and when we returned home he had me make it all the time. We had such a good time on that trip and it got us hooked. Our kids are 26 and 28 now, and they both still love to travel all over the world. I love that! Our daughter just took a friend that had never been out of our state, and they traveled around Europe for 3 weeks this summer. She was thrilled to show her friend a whole new world;) Even though our kids are grown, we still do big trips to Europe all together. Another is planned for this summer. I hope that never ends, that we all like to travel together etc!


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