Wednesday, April 25, 2012

First Trip to Munich and Possibly No. Italy

Hi Board! My family and I are planning a trip to Munich in mid- late October. We%26#39;re all adults and love to sight-see and really immerse ourselves in the the culture. We%26#39;re looking at 10-14 days and possibly seeing some of Northern Italy. Does anyone have any great recommendations on where to stay/see? Also, are there any smaller towns to visit as well? What about rental cars? I know there%26#39;s the bahn to get from country to country- but how is mass transit?





Do you think it%26#39;s feesable to hit No. Italy? How many days would be the max you%26#39;d spend in Munich?





Thanks so much for all the help!





-MR




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Hi MR,





First, we love traveling to Bavaria, Austria and Northern Italy in October! So far, after 5 trips in Oct. since 2001, we%26#39;ve generally experienced nice weather (60%26#39;s to 70%26#39;s daytime, low to high 40%26#39;s nightime) and very little rain. The fall foliage can be beautiful also.





With 10 to 14 days you can easily see Munich, some of Bavaria, some of Austria and northern Italy, especially with a car. The Italian border is only about 3 hours from Munich. Another hour or so and you%26#39;re in the Italian Dolomites.





Here%26#39;s a link to a trip report we wrote that may be of help in your planning:





fodors.com/community/europe/my-first-trip-re…





You may find days 7 through 11 of another recent trip report we wrote helpful also:





fodors.com/community/europe/moselrothenburgb…





We also have photo%26#39;s at:





www.worldisround.com/home/pja1/index.html





www.worldisround.com/home/pja1/travel15.html





These should be able to give you some ideas.





Paul










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Thanks Paul for that awesome info! It was so helpful!




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Your welcome!





There are so many charming villages and old towns where you%26#39;re planning to go and the scenery is gorgeous. Once you get a better idea of what you%26#39;d like to see, come back with questions. Glad to help out.





I can recommend renting a car through www.gemut.com. We did this in %26#39;07 and just again for our trip to Bavaria, Austria and the Dolomites this coming fall. You can call for a quote using the toll free # on the car rental page of the website.





Paul




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%26gt;What about rental cars? I know there%26#39;s the bahn to get from country to country- but how is mass transit?





What do you mean %26quot;to get from country to country%26quot;? The Bahn (Railway) is there to get from place to place, no matter whether over the border or not.



Most rail connections in Bavaria are centered on Munich. If you base yourself in the city you have very good connections to almost anywhere in Bavaria. If you base yourself in a small town at the edge of teh Alps it is better to rent a car to get anywhere except to Munich, as the tangential bus connections are often slow and infrequent.





North Italy is easy to reach but once you go into the mountains the driving will get slow (narrow winding roads etc.). South Tyrol (Dolomites, Bozen etc.) has an excellent bus and local train network (SAD) serving all main valleys, so if you are not comfortable with driving in the mountains this is a good alternative.




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this is all such great information! Planning your first visit can be so overwhelming! Does the Bahn work for the small quaint towns outside the cities? We plan on traveling from Frankfurt to Munich and want to see the smaller towns in between, is that feesable to do with out renting a car?




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Hi mrabe81,





Absolutely easy to visit small towns without a car. I spent a month in the village of Mittenwald in 2007/08, and now I live in the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, all without a car. You can very easily get to the town and enjoy your days hiking and poking around locally -- but it is a little trouble to make long-distance sight-seeing excursions from village to village.





But if you%26#39;re a slow traveller like I am and enjoy taking the time to see a place rather than just speeding by, then the train is really the way to go!





You can reasearch all the routes and fares at the rail site,





www.bahn.de





Have fun!





s




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%26gt;Does the Bahn work for the small quaint towns outside the cities? We plan on traveling from Frankfurt to Munich and want to see the smaller towns in between, is that feesable to do with out renting a car?





www.bahn.de has all public transportation schedules in Germany (not only the trains). You can just enter your destination and see how to get there.

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