A Munich and Salzburg Road-trip

Published in

Joyful Travels

8 min readFeb 5, 2015

Are you looking for a road trip itinerary through southern Germany and take a peak into Austria? You can get some ideas from what we did in our 5 day road-trip through the region.

Day 1: Füssen for lunch followed by a visit to the Neuschwanstein Castle

We cruised through the beautiful snow capped Alps with cascading waterfalls from the snowmelt to stopped in the quaint town of Füssen for lunch.

**Lunch at Madame Plusch with Käsespätzle and beer**

When we left the town center heading towards Neuschwanstein, we crossed a river and unexpectedly stumbled upon a great viewing spot for the St. Mang’s Basilica.

View of Füssen and the St. Mang’s Basilica, which dates back to the 9th century

You can’t drive through southern Germany without seeing Neuschwanstein Castle (or as I call it — the Disney castle). We played tourist and took the photo that everyone typically takes of the castle.

When you take the bus up the mountain, there is a path into a wooded area where you will eventually reach a bridge. It is on this bridge that we took our very own Neuschwanstein poster photo.

You can further take a horse carriage to the entrance of the castle. But we took the short walk instead and stopped many times along the way to soak up the breathtaking views.

Once we reached the castle, we immediately headed in to buy tickets to go inside. Unfortunately, you must go in with a tour guide and you cannot take any photos of the partly finished interior. Nevertheless, it is well worth the visit — the romantic fairy tale presence of the outside is equally reflected inside the castle with gorgeous decor and grandeur features.

Towards the end of the tour, you can pause on the balcony to further soak in the view — I didn’t want to leave this spot.

As the night approached, we ended our first day’s journey in Salzburg with a schnitzel and beef goulash.

Day 2: Exploring Salzburg, the home of Mozart

We went up a funicular first thing in the morning to Hohensalzburg Castle. On top, you can get a panoramic view of the city.

We went in further and took a guided tour of the castle. During the tour, we learned about the history of Salzburg and how the archbishops expanded the fortress across centuries.

In the end, we treated ourselves to a beer on top of the fortress/castle with yet another great view.

After coming down from the fortress/castle, we wandered around the narrow streets of old town. The streets were quaint, but some were very touristy. Sometimes it felt like we bumped into a Mozart chocolate store at every corner.

Eventually, we ended up at Carpe Diem, a modern Austrian restaurant, for lunch. We sat on the patio to snack on our food (and sip on our beer) while people watching.

I can’t remember what we ate exactly, but it was delicious.

Eating with the tiny spoons were particularly fun.

To make more room in our stomach, we strolled along the river. We had to take a pause and sit on the benches at Mirabell Palace to enjoy the beautiful sunny day. We were lucky to stumble upon a high school band holding a concert there and enjoyed the music while relaxing in the garden.

We couldn’t leave Salzburg without listening to a concert. We meandered through the palace grounds to a small concert hall to listen to some Mozart pieces played by music students.

After the concert, we crossed the river to grub on the original Sacher Torte. This is a must try — it even has a dedicated Wikipedia article.

Our piece of the Sacher Torte at Hotel Sacher

As if we didn’t have enough to eat so far, we couldn’t resist a pre-dinner drink at the Steinterasse roof top bar to watch the sunset.

To top off the great day, we enjoyed a savory dinner at Restaurant Goldener Hirsch, conveniently in our hotel.

Day 3: Tegernseer and Intro to Munich

Raise and shine, we left Salzburg to make it in time for a filling Bavarian lunch at Bräustüberl Tegernsee. We had to stop many times along the way to enjoy the great views.

Note: I didn't only have sausages — there is also some potatoes.

We strolled along the lake to digest, but ended up back in the beer garden for another Maß.

After we got our share of beer, we headed into Munich and checked into our hotel. We took the metro from there to check out the BMW headquarters and the Olympic park where the 1972 summer Olympics were held.

Call me a typical tourist, but I couldn’t resist stopping into Hofbräuhaus the first night to grab a Schweinshaxe. Unfortunately, we stopped in too late and they were already out. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was a lot of fun and the maß definitely hit the right spot.

Day 4: Exploring (and Eating Through) Munich

We rang in the day by hearing the Neogothic city hall clock-tower ring and watch the figurines dance.

After the crowd dissipated, we wandered around and found a bustling farmer’s market at Rindermarkt. It was then that I wish I didn’t just have such a filling breakfast (or wish I had a bigger stomach).

To prevent over-stuffing myself with food, we went up the narrow steps of St. Peter’s Church to get a panoramic city view — be prepared for a long climb.

And if you are afraid of heights, this might not be such a good idea.

How can we make a visit to Munich without stopping by Dallmayr overlooking Marienhof.

Below the restaurant, there was a gourmet market also owned by Dallmayr. If you are lucky, you can secure one of the few bar stools there to eat — we were not so lucky. Nevertheless, we couldn't pass up the chance to grab a few dishes. We found a bench in Hofgarten to treat our taste buds.

Afterwards, we took the lazy people version of touring the city — hopping on a street car to cross the river then come back across.

With more time left in the afternoon, we visited Seehaus in the English Garden for our first beer of the day! The atmosphere at this beer garden was great — highly recommended.

Now comes the big finale. Drum roll please …. Augustiner-Bräu feast that left me on a meat purge for 2 days!

Day 5: Munich Residenz and snack

The weather was hazy on our last day, so we visited the Bavarian monarch’s former royal palace. Touring the residence and reading the descriptions of the artifacts was very fun. This exhibit was a great display of wealth. It gave us a window into the opulent lives that they once lived.

Mural on ceiling with an optical illusion in the Residenz hall

After a few good hours wandering in the Residenz, we stopped at Schmalznudel due to a friend’s recommendation. The donuts were VERY tasty — I would definitely recommend it any day!