A five-day road-rail loop through Bavaria’s greatest hits, minus the fluff.

Want to see the best of Bavaria inside a week? In this itinerary, we’ve put together a fast-paced five day itinerary that covers all the essentials, from the icy Alps in the south to Nuremberg’s historic centre in the north.

Designed around both driving and train travel, you can string together the best of Bavaria without feeling rushed off your feet. So let’s dive in!

Day 1

Munich in sharp focus

Begin at the heart of the city on Marienplatz, where the Neues Rathaus fills your field of view and the Glockenspiel still pulls a crowd. Two minutes south sits Viktualienmarkt, a warren of produce stalls and beer benches. Swing by late morning when vendors are in full flow; if you’re a grazer, this is lunch. If you’d rather sit down, book a table at Dallmayr Delicatessen upstairs for old-school service and a wine list that understands lunch can be a serious sport.

In the afternoon, give yourself one major museum and one palace. For hands-on science that’s actually fun, the Deutsches Museum on Museum Island has been doing interactivity since long before the word became marketing speak; check current exhibits and hours on the museum’s own planning page before you go. If history and gilt are more your speed, the Munich Residence puts you inside Bavaria’s seat of power for centuries, with ticket details and opening times clearly laid out by the palace administration.

Walk back through the English Garden if the light is good. It’s one of the world’s largest inner-city parks and the quickest way to understand why Munich regularly ranks high for “liveability” beyond the cliché. Dinner belongs to beer culture. If you want the brass-band, everyone-is-friends version, reserve at the Hofbräuhaus München. If you prefer something more local, the chestnut-shaded garden at Augustiner-Keller is the city’s oldest and pours from wooden barrels; click through to the restaurant page for menus if you need to steer toward lighter dishes.

Where to sleep to keep logistics frictionless. If you like a high-design hideout right on the market, Louis Hotel sits over Viktualienmarkt with quiet, considered rooms and a rooftop terrace. For classic charm five minutes from Marienplatz, Hotel Torbräu is a Munich veteran with the kind of staff who know how to solve problems you didn’t know you had.

Day 2

Royal castles and the edge of the Alps

Castles first, mountains second. That order beats the crowds. Take an early regional train from München Hbf to Füssen, then the local bus to Hohenschwangau. A visit to Neuschwanstein is only by timed guided tour and tickets are now sold centrally via the official shop; if you plan to tick both royal homes, the same portal handles online tickets for Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. If the bridge path is open, build in twenty extra minutes for the Marienbrücke viewpoint. It’s exactly as dramatic as the postcards, which is the point.

From Füssen, continue ninety minutes by train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. If the weather is clear, you’ll want sunset at Lake Eibsee, which mirrors the Zugspitze into infinity on windless evenings. Staying lakeside cuts faff and increases magic; Eibsee Hotel is the only property right on the shore and has doors-to-trail convenience that matters when sunrise calls. If you’d rather be in town near restaurants and the Zugspitzbahn station, Garmisch has plenty of choice; the tourist board’s site is the most current, so browse Garmisch-Partenkirchen’s official pages for availability and events.

Money saver for today and tomorrow. Bavaria’s regional day ticket is designed for exactly this kind of zig-zagging. The Bayern Ticket covers all local and regional trains plus most urban transport from 09:00 on weekdays and all day weekends. It does not cover ICE or IC long-distance trains, which you don’t need on this route.

Day 3

Zugspitze summit and a gorge with attitude

Weather rules this day. If skies are blue, take the morning ascent to Germany’s highest point. There are two straightforward options. From Eibsee, ride the record-breaking cable car to the top using the official Zugspitze site for timetables and any maintenance notices. From the Austrian side near Ehrwald, the Tyrolean Zugspitzbahn is a scenic alternative with its own ticketing and hours; useful if you’re looping by car, less so by rail.

Back down, trade big views for intimate geology in the afternoon. The Partnach Gorge is a short bus or taxi from central Garmisch. The walkway chiselled through the rock is narrow, wet and wonderful. Check the gorge’s homepage before setting out; it posts seasonal opening times and occasional full-day closures.

Take a late-afternoon regional train to Nuremberg for your Franconian chapter. If you want a small hotel with personality, Hotel Drei Raben leans into local legends in its room design and keeps you a short stroll from the old town’s ramparts.

Day 4

Nuremberg past and present, without euphemism

Start with medieval Nuremberg above the city roofs. The Imperial Castle dominates the skyline and its museum puts the Holy Roman Empire into context fast. After lunch in the old town, switch registers and face the twentieth century squarely. Nuremberg’s most important modern site isn’t pretty by design. The Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds runs an interim exhibition while a major refit continues, and it anchors a wider landscape of propaganda architecture spread around Dutzendteich lake. The museum publishes practical details for the guided tour of the former rally grounds, which is the most efficient way to understand the scale and intent of the site.

Back in the centre, decompress with Franconian beer culture or a simple walk along the Pegnitz. If you crave one more museum, the BMW crowd-pleaser waits for tomorrow back in Munich, so don’t force it tonight. Dinner can be unpretentious and excellent; locals will nudge you toward Schäufele and kellerbier. If you’ve still got energy, the castle at night is atmospheric and mercifully less photographed.

Day 5 — Berchtesgaden and Königssee or a Munich deep-dive

Choose your own finale depending on weather and appetite for mileage.

Option one is all-nature. Take an early train through to Berchtesgaden and spend the day inside Germany’s only alpine national park. The official park site is the place to skim rules and trails with authority, so glance at Berchtesgaden National Park on the way. The classic move is the silent electric boat ride on Königssee to St Bartholomä and back, with more hiking if time and legs allow. If the seasonal bus is running and conditions are safe, you can add the mountain-road ascent toward the Kehlsteinhaus for the view and the uneasy history; the official site posts seasonal opening windows and the rule that the summit road is only reached by the special buses from Obersalzberg. For a soft-landing finale and a very good breakfast tomorrow, stay in town at Hotel Edelweiss Berchtesgaden, which also knows its way around spa logistics for tired hikers.

Option two keeps you in Munich for a deeper cultural sweep with less time on rails. Car fans go straight to BMW Welt and the BMW Museum, an easy tram ride north where the museum sketches a century of design and engineering in bright, digestible rooms. If your tastes run toward courtly drama, return to the Residence Museum for the Treasury or the jewel-box Cuvilliés Theatre. Wrap the trip under chestnuts with one last plate of roast pork at Augustiner-Keller’s restaurant or keep it classic in the vaulted halls at the Hofbräuhaus beer hall.

Getting around without headaches

For most hops in this itinerary regional services are faster door to door than long-distance trains once you factor station changes. The Bayern Ticket is a no-brainer for single-day roaming across multiple towns. It’s valid on regional rail and local transport across the state and shows the specific exclusions in plain English. For point-to-point journeys, the main Deutsche Bahn portal remains the single source of truth for live times and platforms.

If you’re combining castles and mountains on the same day, pack the right footwear. Trails to the Marienbrücke can be muddy. Mountain weather on the Zugspitze swings from T-shirt warmth to winter in minutes. The Zugspitze page posts lift status and wind closures, and the Partnach Gorge site will tell you if you need to rethink.

Where to Stay

Louis Hotel gives you zero-effort access to Viktualienmarkt and the old town, Hotel Torbräu gets you old-Munich character right where trams and S-Bahn converge, Eibsee Hotel removes every barrier between you and sunrise on the lake, Hotel Drei Raben turns a central sleep into a story, and Hotel Edelweiss is the easy button for a Berchtesgaden finale. If one of these sounds like your perfect stay, open the official page and lock the room before everyone else has the same idea.

Practical notes that save time

Munich is kinder to early risers. Hit Viktualienmarkt before lunch. If you want one palace in peak season, book the Residence tickets for morning entry and work outward in the old town. If you’re traveling with kids, the Deutsches Museum’s exhibits are tactile by design and the “Kids’ Kingdom” wing is engineered for short attention spans. Beer gardens will seat you by the crate, but reservations help indoors on weather-iffy evenings; Augustiner’s site takes them online.

For experiences that actually add value, buy the Neuschwanstein ticket in advance via the official castle portal, use the rally-grounds tour slot published by the Nuremberg museum to avoid guesswork on meeting points and times, and ride the Königssee boats direct from the operator so you can pivot times if the forecast changes.

And yes, you can do all this without a car. That’s half the charm. The other half is watching the Alps get bigger out the window while someone else keeps an eye on the signals.