I am a teacher, and will be traveling with three 17-year old students and one other adult in July. We are booked on a group tour for 10 days that includes London, Paris, Lucerne, and Munich.

I have scheduled four extra days on the end of the trip to do some touring on our own. I would like to stay in Bavaria to take advantage of the Bayern ticket. What do you think are the "must-see" attractions/experiences in Bavaria that you think teenagers would appreciate?

We are not opposed to visiting Austria also, if the opportunity presents itself.

Also, we are looking for economical housing. Do we need to book places to stay in advance? Which type of accomodations would meet our needs, assuming that we would want to leave our luggage safely stored at our accomodation location.

Thank you for your advice in advance.

Amy

Northern Bavaria is great. Nuremberg, Bamberg, Würzburg (Residenz), and Rothenburg are all very worthwhile. Weikersheim (just over the Bavarian border in Baden-Württemberg) and its palace can be seen by train from Würzburg. Würzburg is the largest and perhaps least attractive of these places to visit but might be a good base for daytrips to the other places by train as its a major hub.

Here's a great map of all the train lines in Bavaria:

http://www.bayern-takt.de/media/PDF-...samtnetz07.pdf

There are of course many other places and valuable outings...

Salzburg/Berchtesdaden might be good with a stop at the Chiemsee.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen/Mittenwald is another option - lots of outdoor stuff to do there.

Just depends on the typ or trip you seek.

Hi Amy, what time of year? If this is summer you should definitely make reservations. I can't help too much because we always just stay in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Hopefully one of the Bavaria experts will see this and help out. Dukey?

We stayed in a lovely apartment in Berchtesgaden, about 20 minutes from Salzburg. The mountain views in this area are incredible, and there is a lot to see and do. If you stay in one of the mountain towns (Berchtesgaden, Schonau, even Hallstatt, Austria) their are vacation apartments that are very reasonably priced.

We also loved the area around Fussen. Neuschwanstein is quite an impressive sight, one that most 17 year olds would love, and again the surrounding area is gorgeous.

Also loved Nuremburg; such a lively city with wonderful architecture and delicious food.

Basically I loved all of Bavaria and count it as one of my favorite European regions. I don't think you can go wrong wherever you decide to base yourself.

Tracy

You could stay a few days near or in Berchtesgarten and go up to the Obersalzburg region. It is extremely beautiful and also has historical interest with the Eagle's Nest and the remains of Hitler's home and other Nazi leader's homes. You could also take boat tours on the lakes nearby. The Fussen area of course has the famous Neuschwanstein Castle (the "Disney" castle). The Zugspitz (highest point in Germany) is nearby as well. Really you can't go wrong in southern Bavaria - it will all be beautiful - and everything is close together (by U.S. standards).

Thank you for all of the good advice. It looks like I can't go wrong with Bavaria.
I have a good idea which cities to focus on now, but do you have any advice for "must-do's" while there? The landscape is awesome, but I am sure the students will want to "do" things while there. It has been my experience that students want to be constantly on the go, and they are not always as impressed as I am with museums, art or buildings.

I was thinking about summer luge, also maybe a boat ride down a river. Any advice on those or other activities?

Also, when staying in a youth hostel, is it safe to leave your luggage there and go out touring during the day?

as a 25 year old I have to say that Hohenschwangau where Neuschwanstien castle is, was VERY impressive. My husband and I also liked the area around lake constance. There is a ferry that goes out to Mainau (My-Now) island which is a huge garden island with a butterfly house and everything. The island would take a good portion of a day if not more. I know that the best place to connect mainau and the ferry is a place called Meersburg. It is great! There is also a luge thing you can go down and lots of hiking/ biking/waterfalls and fun stuff. At least I like that stuff....

THere is also the Wilhelma zoo but is way better than a zoo! look for their web page and check it out!

Hope this helps

I recently returned from a trip to the Northern Bavaria - the towns mentnioned by Russ in an earlier post. I loved all the towns I visited (Nuremberg, Bamberg, Würzburg, and Bayreuth). They're definitely not high up on "must-see" lists as I encountered almost no American tourists. Haven't been to S. Bavaria so I can't compare them for you.

You can read my trip report if you're interested:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34991739

yk I enjoyed your trip report very much. You seem like a very organized traveler.

The Wilhelma zoo looks intersting too.

Hi,
As stated before, you really can't go wrong in southern Bavaria. Our favorites,
Fussen:
Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. There's a cable car and luge ride (sommerrodelbahn) less than a mile from the castles. At the top of the Tegelbergbahn is an outdoor cafe/restaurant and the start of hiking/walking trails.
www.tegelbergbahn.de/227.0.html
www.tegelbergbahn.de/208.0.html

Mittenwald is another favorite of ours. It's a gorgeous village and just a short ride (less than 1/2 hour) to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Zugspitze, plus it's about an hour by train to Innsbruck. I don't know if this would work with a German rail pass).

Berchtesgaden and/or Salzburg is another great option. Salzburg is beautiful and very easy to see the sights and town on foot.

Paul

If they want to "do" thing,s you could go to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and hike through the Höllentalklamm (gorge). The trail is carved out of rock, through tunnels, and over bridges, and takes you inside the gorge, sometimes just feet from the raging river. Totally safe but exciting. I found someone's photo album with pictures here:

http://www.merkley.net/gorge.htm

Our older teens thought this was really "cool". Other things to do from G-P would be ride up to the top of the Zugspitze (where they could be photographed with the sign indicating Germany's highest beergarden); and hike or ride a lift up Wank to watch the paragliders take off.

I see that your "Ï am a teacher" announcement doesn't necessarily indicate an educational focus. Okay. Outdoors it is.

I like the suggestion of Garmisch. The Zugsptize, Germany's tallest Alpine peak, is spectacular, as is the "Partnachklamm" gorge (the one I believe enzian is referring to.) Mittenwald is nearby, a gorgeous little village with scenery and shopping, not to mention lots of violin making shops (marginally educational.) Make sure you take them out for a Bavarian Evening at the Fraundorfer - great traditional music (margninally educational. mostly fun) and regional food. Also -- the Ausserfernbahn is a spectacular train route covered by the Bayern Ticket that takes you through the the Austrian Tirol region behind the Zugspitze and back into Germany if you follow it far enough. (Note that there is some renovation going on after mid July on this route and buses will operate instead.) An interesting hike is the Fürstenstraße - the Princes route - that leads from the Austrian Ulrichsbrücke train stop to Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein castles, a 2-hour walk through forest and valley on a well marked trail. From Füssen you can return by bus or train to Garmisch.

You can also take a train ride from Garmisch into Innsbruck Austria for a day. Oberammergau, site of the Passion play and some interesting paintings, is also reachable via public transport.

Hostels: I don't have any experience with hostels in Garmisch, but generally, German hostels nowadays offer smaller rooms so that you'll have private rooms if you ask for them. They'll have some 4- and 6-bed rooms. Mittenwald has a hostel as well, with 3- and 4- bed rooms. These hostels lie 2-3 miles outside the town center, however. SeeEnglish pages at www.djh.de for hostel info.

You might do better to contact the local tourist office and see about an apartment for several days. They will be able to help you find something with the right number of beds in the right location.

You might also look into splitting your time in Füssen (near Neuschwanstein, also has a hostel) and Garmisch.

Russ---there are actually two "Klamms" at Garmisch. Partnachklamm is closer to town, a little more "touristy" (kiosks, horse-drawn carriages im Sommer). Höllental (translate---"Hell's Valley&quot is a bit of a walk toward the Eibsee, more rugged and exciting. Both are nice.

Another thing I could suggest at Garmisch-Partenkirchen--the Dolomiti Eiscafe (ice cream parlor). The kids would love the Spaghetti Eis and Pizza Eis. Spaghetti Eis is vanilla ice cream extruded by a press to look like strands of spaghetti, topped with "red sauce" (fresh strawberry sauce) and "parmesan" (white chocolate shavings). Pizza Eis has a "crust" of hazelnut ice cream, topped with various things. Both are delicious. Sigh.

If you are interested in Garmisch, I would be happy to help you search for suitable lodgings. From a base there, you could visit the castles and other things. Russ has made excellent suggestons.

several people have referred to the Zugspitze. A trip up by train or cable car is truly spectacular in good weather. There are similar trips up the WEndelstein which is farther east, if you end up in that area

Teens would probably enjoy the tour of the salt mines outside Berchtesgaden. Touristy but fun and of historical interest, too.

I think you should choose between southern Bavaria/alps area and northern
Bavaria since you only have 4 days.

All the tips are good, but as usual most everyone seems to always leave out Prien am Chiemsee with its Herrenchiemsee castle in the middle of the lake. This is such a great overnight stop by having dinner by the lake, also. It is highly regarded by Germans as a vacation spot.

For a moderately-priced hotel here, I always stay in the town itself at the family-run Hotel Bayerischer Hof (http://www.bayerischerhof-prien.de/). It is a nice 1 1/2 km. walk to the lake, but it is also only 100 meters to the train station and in the middle of this small town. And Prien is about 45 minutes south of Munich, so you can easily get to the Munich airport.

Something else: this is in the middle of all the other sites, which have been suggested, so you could stay here and take shorter train rides to other locations ---- returning for dinner or after dinner each evening. For this, you should reserve your rooms in advance during the peak vacation season.