trip to germany
 

Hi,

This forum has always been of invaluable help for me. I am back again to seek help for our next trip to Munich.

An aunt of mine is visiting us here in London. She is quite well traveled and said that she was primarily coming to spend time with us. However I know that she hasn't been to Germany and would enjoy a trip there. As I have recently started working I wanted to gift this trip to her. Which means that it can't be a very long trip (both because of the budget constraints and the limited number of days that I can take off).

She is coming to London on 10th May. I was thinking of a four/five day trip, focusing on Munich and around. Both she and I cannot drive in Germany, so we will have to depend on public transport. From what little I have been able to look up I think we would like to base ourselves in Munich.

Day1: spend in MUnich

Day 2: Dachau

Day 3: Neuschwanstein

Day 4: salzburg (or something else?)

Day 5:Munich

Please comment on my itinerary. Honestly I haven't researched much...and would appreciate all the help that I can get in deciding on an itinerary.

I am getting a good deal on Ryan AIr for Memmingen Munich (west). Should we take a return flight to this airport...or should I look at other options?

Please help...as only two seats are available on the return flight, and I would like to book them soon.

Munich makes a great base and your itinerary looks fine. You might also consider basing in Salzburg if her tastes run more to stunning scenery and smaller cities, as there are also great options for day trips from there.

Many people have Neuschwanstein on their list but we really enjoyed Linderhof castle as it is finished and beautiful. We were there in the dead of winter and I suspect in May it will be even more beautiful.

For stunning scenery, you might consider a day trip to Garmisch and Mittenwald, easily done in the same full day. Leave Munich for Mittenwald and visit Garmisch on the return.

These are just some quick thoughts as I know you need to make some decisions.

If you do consider staying in Salzburg rather than Munich, it is an easy journey by train and you can visit Lake Koenigsee, Berchtesgaden, St. Gilgen and other beautiful areas as well. Just a thought.

Have a great trip!

Thanks a lot kfusto. I was looking at Munich as there is more to do( in terms of variety) than in Salzburg and around. I will look up Linderhof...is it possible to do both in a day?

I really like the idea of going to Garmich and Mittenwald is good too...but I am not sure if you are suggesting that I do Salzburg or Garich+mittenwald. Stunning scenery does interest us...but probably a day in either of the places would be good for us...would really appreciate some other options too.

Do you think that there is some completely different place/city that we can go to...and fly of there?

Also is the airport that ryan air flies to convenient to get to from the city center?

What would be good areas to be in Munich...as in I was hoping to find an apartment.

Please let me know if any of you have any specific studio apartments to recommend.

Thanks a lot!

If you want to fly Ryanair, I see two options: (1)Munich - the Ryanair Airport for Munich is Memmingen, about 1/1/2 hours by train to Munich (for schedules, check www.bahn.de, there is an English version of this German RR site). For all your day trips (incl. Memmingen) you and you aunt can travel on one day tickets, all over Bavaria for EUR 28. These tickets are good for trains and busses. Limitations: On weekdays, trip cannot start before 9AM and you are limited to Regio (local) trains. But for the trips suggested by kfusto, the difference in elapsed time between Regios and faster trains is minimal, or on some routes there are no faster trains anyhow.

(2) Instead of kfustio's suggesteions (all of which are good) anothet "Ryanair Option" - Fly into Friedrichshafen and visit along Lake Cosntance (Bodensee). In that case, I would suggest either staying i Lindau or in Meersburg, and travel by train, bus and boat. Places to see: Lindau, Bregenz/ Austria, (by boat) with ascend to Pfaender Mountain for view of Swiss, Geran and Austrian alps; Fuessen (Neuschwanstein) Meersburg: Konstanz, Insel(flower island) of Mainau.

Lindau is about 30 min. from Friedrichshafen (by train); Meesburg about 1 hr.by bus. Not all of the above places are in Bavaria.

Memmingen is another disingenious trick of Ryanair. It is about as far from Munich as Birmingham is from London. Train connections are good, but still you lose quite a lot of time. OTOH even the main airport is almost 50 min from the city center by train, so I guess it doesn't matter much.

Downtown Munich to Memmingen airbase in about 50 min by car and you can park your car 100 meters away from the plane.
Nice but tiny airport, parking is 5.50€ per day I remember, far too expensive. There is a MCDonalds at the Autobahn exit, perfect for a short break on your way, because at the airport there's really not much to do or see, except reading the free German newspapers. They were building new toilets and had people queue for the dixi toilet wagon with 2 toilets in it.

Ryanair will make big money once the start charging for using the toilet onboard their planes. :-)

Hi everyone,

Thanks a lot for your responses. Based on your recommendations I would want to include Gramich and mittelwald. This time I think we would like to stick to having Munich as a base and explore areas around it.

As we would be flying from London and would just be carrying backpacks...do you think It's a better idea to go to the castles/ mittenwald+gramich straight from the airport.

Treplow the 28 euros travel pass is valid for a day? Are there any 3/4 days passes and would it be worth its while for us to get them?

I am looking at certain apartments in Munich...can you please comment if they are ok location wise:

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p506361

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p513385

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p529029

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p241994


Please let me know which ones are good value for money and would be easiest for us to do the various day trips that we have planned.

Thanks a lot again for all your suggestions...

>http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p241994
A few meters away from the hospital in Pasing right at the Würm river. Should be rather quiet, not centally located, but you can walk to Pasing station in about 15min. Pasing to downtown by train about 10-15min.

>http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p529029
Between Goetheplatz and Hauptbahnhof, not quiet, Multiplex movie theatre and a McDonalds right at the corner. Ok distance for walking to the centre, lots of immigrants so you can try all kind of food.

>http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p513385
Sendling, nice beergardens, rather good living quarter! Not far from downtown. Good for people who want to stay close to the river without too many other tourists.

>http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p506361
Ghetto, dont stay there. Not too close to downtown.

In Munich you may want to check out a bus tour that goes south of the city. We went to Neuschwanstein Castle, Oberammergau, & Linderhof. The trip takes most of the day but it's worth it. You have a tour of the inside of Linderhof and you can walk around the stunning grounds. Oberrammergau is a fairy tale town....buy a clock! Neuschwanstein is amazing even if not finished. Take the bus up but walk down and grab a beer at the bottom.

Logos tahnks a lot for your feedback. Unfortunately for us the only apartment that is now available to us is :

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p241994

I do think that given the number of day trips we plan to do...15 mins could be a bit long. Please let me know if it is a wrong assumption at my end...

Our budget is around 50-60euros/night. Do you think we can do better than the apartment that we are getting right now?

Also Ret2Go I really like your idea about doing a tour...as that would help us in visiting all three castles...however I was wondering about the costs. Are there any tours that you could personally suggest...and how much would it cost. Also I beleive the hike around Neuschwanstein is quite beautiful...we wouldn't want to rush through things.

Well, the area is quite good. The view from the balony looks like it directly at the Bodenseestreet. Some traffic there but within walking distance from Pasing station. Trains from Munich central station to Garmisch or the Allgäu (Füssen) all stop at Pasing, so no that bad at all. But yes it about a 15min walk to the station and at least 10-15min from there to downtown.

I was born only a few meters away from where the photo was taken :-)

This 3 min waliking to the station claim is pure nonsense. 10min if you're fast. Being at the station entrance doesn't mean you're on the platform anyway (4-5 downtown, 6-7 out of town, 1-3 medium distance, 8-9 long distance.) To Garmisch/Füssen the trains depart from platform 2-3. Closest to "your" entrance.