We r thinking about staying in Meersburg for 4 days to do some sightseeing around Bavaria. We're interested in seeing Oberammergau, Garmisch, Fussen, & Mittenwald. May also be interested in doing some hiking. We'd like a smallish town/village, but someplace where we can walk to go out for dinner. Would Meersburg make sense to use as a base? Reading about the area, it strikes me as a nice place to stay. Not sure if we'll have a rental car or will just train it. Thanks

Meersburg is not located in the free state of Bavaria.

Train connections to Bavaria are lousy. And Meersburg is far away from the Autobahn.

Meersburg is certainly a lovely place on the edge of the Bodensee, and I imagine there would be good hiking there, but it's a long way from the towns you list as being interested in seeing. If it is the lakeside setting that appeals, have you considered towns around the shores of the Ammersee (Herrsching, for example) or the Tegernsee? These are within easy reach of Garmische, Fussen, Mittenwald and Oberammagau.

Agree about Meersburg, but not in a good location for the sights you mention. Consider Bad Tolz. An old town that you can walk to everything. We usually drive, but logos999 can suggest if train connections are convenient. Richard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Tolz

Tölz is much better. Not so good to reach by train, but the perfect location for driving. The spa is great! There'll be havy traffic on weekends since it's on the main roads from Munich southbound. During the week, it's perfect for day trips to Mittenwald, Garmisch or the Sylvenstein and lake Achensee.

Bad Tölz is not really a small town and more modern, but it has everything. If you drive up to the Sylvenstein reservoir during the week, you might not see more than 5 or 10 cars during an hour on the road.

I'd suggest that you visit the Achensee/Maurach too.

>Achensee
Folks from Munich go there to buy gas a little cheaper. You save about 20-25ct per liter down there.

Meersburg is a great place to see the Bodensee/lake of Constance region - which is absolutely worth a visit of 4 days and much more. The only disadvantage: Meersburg has no train connection, so if you are dependent on public transport I'd rather pick one of the many locations that have trains.

However, Meersburg is nowhere near the places in the Bavarian Alps that you are listing above, it is not even in Bavaria, as has been said before. Why not pick one of the four locations you want to see and use it as a base, instead of staying far away?

I agree with everything that was said about Meersburg as a place to visit, and as a base to tour from.

Have you looked into Lindau as a base? It is at the eastern end of the Bodensee/Lake Constance. From there you can cover several places by boat and train. Oberstdorf is in the Allgaeu region of the Bavarian Alps; Fuessen can be done in a day, by train. Bregenz - a short boat ride from Lindau - is in Austria and offers a nice cable car ride to the top of the Pfaender with great views of the Swiss alps; the immediate area on the mainland (Lindau is an old city on an island - is very popular with German hikers and bikers.

For most day trips by train and bus in Bavaria (, like Oberstdorf, Fuessen, etc. north and east of Lindau) you can use the Bavarian ticket /Bayern Karte, where up to 5 of you can travel for the day on the same ticket for EUR28. Limitations: During the week, trips have to start after 9AM; you can use only regio trains. But that's what's running primarily in that region anyhow.

Check www.bahn.de for schedules.

I suggest you get a copy of the Green Guide Michelin for Gemany in your libarary and look up Lindau and environs to see if this area appeals to you.

Thanks for your responses and suggestions. We will forget staying in Meersburg and look elsewhere and check out all the places you've recommended.

Last September we flew into Zurich and traveled mostly by train the rest of the trip. We went to Lindau,day trip to Meersburg and other lake villages,then Fussen,next Mittenwald with day trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen,next to St. Wolfgang via Bad Ischl. The train does not go to St. Wolfgang but busses are right beside the rail station in Bad Ischl. The app. 30 min. ride over to St. Wolfgang is just beautiful. From St. Wolfgang we did day trips to Hallstatt and Bad Ischl. Leaving St. Wolfgang we took a taxi back to the BI rail station to go to Landshut, Germany. There was a dedicated bus to the Munich airport when we were ready to come home.This trip turned out to be one of our favorites. Happy travels!

Lindau is nowhere near the places you plan to visit either. Again, stay in the region you want to see, not several hours away.

Hi Y,

Given where you want to visit, I suggest Fuessen.

We stayed at http://www.hotel-hechten.com/

ira -- thanks for the hotel rec. I've sent off to see what they have available.

Lindau is app a 3 hour scenic train ride
to Fuessen. Fuessen was perfect for castle visiting
but was not particularly quaint or charming to us.
Mittenwald is close to Fuessen and lovely.