We've been wanting to travel to Bavaria for quite some time and finally took the plunge. We ironed out the route we wanted to take and how we would travel, renting a car vs. hiring DayTrip drivers. If you've never used DayTrip we'd highly recommend the service, they are a great alternative to renting a car or taking a flight. We've even used them to pick us up from Zermatt, Switzerland and drop us off in Paris, France (7+ hours if you were wondering). Let's get into the trip!
Day 1 - We flew out of Orlando, arrived in Munich, and went right to being tourists. On the way to Rothenburg we decided to spend a few hours visiting the Dachau Concentration Camp. It was humbling to see the places where so many suffered and read the stories of how they survived through such darkness.
After a few hours we headed out on our journey to Rothenburg, one of the best preserved medieval towns in Germany. It's +/- 2.5 hours from Dachau so it was a perfect time to sleep a little and get rid of some of the jet lag we were all feeling. As a grumpy napper, opening my eyes to such a pretty town was one of the better ways I've ever woken up. The old town is surrounded by the medieval walls and seems to be stuck in time.
Day 2 - We stayed at Hotel Herrnschloesschen, very reasonably priced with beautiful rooms and situated in the old town near all of the main attractions and restaurants. Their breakfast was fantastic and the staff were very welcoming and friendly.
Our top recommendations for things to do and places to eat:
Walk the town walls - it's a great way to see the old town from an 800+ year old vantage point.
Medieval Crime Museum - this was one of our favorite museums...anywhere. There were hilarious shame masks, amongst floors of entertaining crime relics.
Trails - we took trails down to a valley called Burggarten and their were some very interesting buildings along the way.
Käthe Wohlfahrt's Christmas Village - What feels like miles of Christmas...everything.
Playgrounds - If you are traveling with children, there are numerous playgrounds just outside of the town walls.
Zur Hoell - Hands down the best food in Rothenburg, you will not be disappointed...unless you don't make reservations.
Schneeball - When in Rothenburg, you have to try the famous "schneeball". It tastes like fried pie crust and comes in many different flavors, including the traditional powdered sugar.
Day 3 - After a day and a half in Rothenburg we were on our way to Schwangau, Germany to see the famous "Neuschwanstein Castle". On the way, we asked our DayTrip driver if we could take a short detour and take a ride on the Oberammergau Alpine Coaster in the German Alps. It was exhilarating to say the least! You take a two ski lift to the top and then ride down the 8,500 ft alpine coaster back to the base of the mountain. It goes up to 25 mph and often feels like the breaks are there for show because it goes FAST!
A little less than an hour later we arrived at our hotel, Ameron Neuschwanstein Alpsee Resort & Spa, with views of the castle on one side and the beautiful Alpsee Lake on the other side. The hotel has a fantastic restaurant and the rooms were very cozy. One piece of advice here, the doors to the rooms may look like you pull....but you push. After checking in we took a walk around Alpsee Lake and went by Hohenschwangau Castle. The "Alpsee Loop" around the lake is 3.3 miles and takes around an hour and a half. We would highly recommend!
Day 4 - The next day we started our ascent up to Neuschwanstein Castle at 7:30am to hopefully beat the daytripper crowds to the best scenic locations. If you take the road from the bottom it's a little over a mile to the top, but it is up the whole way. We decided we wanted to take one of the lesser traveled trails to "Mary's Bridge" to get a better view of the castle. With all of the snow melting the trek up was nearly impossible and once we got to the road that leads to "Mary's Bridge", we need we messed up. Apparently the bridge was closed due to ice and due to that, all of the roads that lead to the road were closed as well. We knew we couldn't go back down the trail because it was too wet from the melting snow and each road we went down was closed with a gate saying "No Trespassing / Betreten Verboten!". Finally, we committed to a roadway where we wouldn't have to veer too far into the woods to get around the gate. We reached the bottom and casually walked by another "No Trespassing" sign and a few workers who were perplexed about where we just came from. After all of this, we still arrived almost 30 minutes early and were able to grab a hot chocolate and pastry at the entrance castle and wait for our reserved time slot.
Day 5 - Neuschwanstein Castle is incredible and we can't recommend Ameron Neuschwanstein Alpsee Resort & Spa enough, but it was time to move on to Salzburg, Austria! It's a 3 hour drive, much of which has beautiful views of the German Alps. We arrived around noon and could wait to jump out of the car and start exploring the history....and Sound of Music locations. We only made it to before we grabbed some food, a quick drink, and rested up for a full day of exploring ahead.
Day 6 - We decided, without realizing it, that we'd walk 30,000+ steps - from our hotel, Hotel Auerspurg, to the Salzburg Castle, through old town Salzburg, all the way over to Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron where the lake terrace scenes at the Von Trapp home were filmed, back to old town for a drink at Augustiner Brau, and then over to Mirabell Palace and Gardens. One tip for Leopoldskron, if you don't have reservations at the hotel you are not necessarily permitted to visit the grounds. However, the pedestrian gate was open when we went so we didn't have an issue getting in to see the lake terrace...that may not always be the case so please keep that in mind. While walking through the old town there are plenty of street vendors with every kind of pretzel you can dream of and numerous chocolatiers to try the "Mozart Chocolates". While we enjoyed some of the pretzels and it's very possible we went to the wrong chocolatier, the Mozart Chocolates often just tasted like a normal chocolate.
Day 7 - For years we've seen pictures of one of the prettiest towns in the world, Hallstatt, and couldn't wait any longer to see it! We booked a day trip through Panorama Tours that would show us a few more filming locations along the way to visit the beautiful village of Hallstatt. The drive was magical through the Austrian Alps, even stopping so we could have a quick snowball fight and our daughter could eat a few handfuls of the fresh powder. Hallstatt is one of those places that you quickly realize is even prettier in person. The walk along the promenade into the town square feels like something out of a Disney movie. The cable car to the top of the mountain is absolutely worth doing, even if you don't want to visit the salt mine. There's a sky bridge that seemingly floats over the old town below with amazing views on a clear day, and even on a not so clear day. There's a small cafe right on the lake called "Seecafe" that was very good for a quick break and if you are lucky (like us), you'll get the table that overlooks the beautiful mountains and lake.
Day 8 - On our last day we headed back to Munich to eat our way through the city before flying home the following morning. The drive is only an hour and a half so it's very doable as a day trip if you didn't want to spend the night in Salzburg and were based in Munich. Some of our favorite food from the trip was the street food in Munich. We had a few beers in Hofbrauhaus and then tried almost every sausage in the Viktualienmarkt and then tried to walk it off...but eventually found a dessert place instead. We stayed at the Louis Hotel near Marienplatz because it had such a great location and very good reviews. We definitely recommend, the location was unbeatable and the rooms were very spacious.
We hope you enjoyed reading about our trip to Germany and Austria! Please message us if you have any questions or are looking for advice on your future travel plans!