One week, Two countries, Three different experiences – this makes for a very nice post Christmas trip for anyone looking for snow but not necessarily for winter sports. With two cities, you can plan to avoid the worst of the weather if necessary and your time in the Bavarian Alps can also be tweaked to suit local conditions.
Salzburg
Salzburg, with its lovely old town and musical heritage, is compact enough to explore and enjoy in a single day (although you will wish you’d allowed for a longer stay!). It can be reached directly from several European countries and is well served by budget airlines. The airport is a 15-20 minute bus ride to the city centre or train station. With centrally located accommodation, you’ll have no need for other public transport.
There are 30-35 trains serving Salzburg-Munich every day. Price vary from €8 upwards and duration is typically between 1.5 – 2 hours.
But we’re not going all the way today. Circa 30-40 minutes brings us to the town of Traunstein. From here, we change train and 23 minutes later we arrive at the lovely village of Ruhpolding.
This small town in the Bavarian Alps concentrates on outdoor activities and can facilitate visitors in both summer and winter. It has some of the finest hiking routes in the region – from easy strolls to challenging Alpine paths, there’s something to suit everyone. A dusting of snow transforms it into a popular winter sports centre – be it skiing, snowboarding or cross country trails.
Back to Traunstein and we continue on to Munich. This city has a very different vibe to Salzburg so the two shouldn’t really be compared at all. Bavaria’s capital offers all the amenities of a major city and will take more time to explore properly. A day will allow you enjoy the architecture and highlights of the city centre (all walkable) while extra time will permit an array of cultural experiences, night life and trips to the likes of Neuschwanstein or Dachau. And, when you’re done, the train from the Hbf will take you to the airport in 42 minutes.
I went skiing in Austria, but apart from that, winter would not tempt me to visit these cold regions. Salzburg and Munich are equally beautiful cities to visit though.
We’ve done a few Christmas markets, and a few New Year’s Eves in the cold but otherwise – it’s sun and heat for me definitely!!!
A great quick trip for those over the pond already. I’ve been to Munich in the winter, but not the others. Traunstein is very tempting. Maggie
There are so many lovely opportunities for us already in Europe – although, from our point of view, we still have to catch a plane. I’ve a pal in Brussels and I’ve always envied the way she can jump in her car and just head across borders.
I love the Bavarian Alps and all the cute little towns around them.
You could actually hop off the train at any of them – they’re all so cute and inviting!!!
I’ve never been to Salzburg and would like to, and I really plan to see Munich properly one day (having had two very brief overnight stays there in the past). But I’ll wait till the weather warms up a bit first, as I’m not at all keen on snow!
We’re not used to it either – and neither of us has ever indulged in winter sports. So there was lots of drama when packing to go!!! And winter stuff is so bulky compared to a few t-shirts and flipflops! We enjoyed it but wouldn’t be doing it every year!!
What a treat being able to hop across a small pond like you did and enjoy such different experiences in such charming and interesting areas! Coming from across the Big Pond, a week-long trip wouldn’t be enough in my mind, unfortunately. We’re lucky, though, that we have time to travel longer distances, although the sand in the hourglass seems to be diminishing at our ages! Thanks for whetting my appetite to visit more of Germany, a country we’ve generally stayed away from.
We have so much to enjoy within an hour or two’s flight from Dublin… I can understand that the likes of Italy, Spain, Greece, etc, are more appealing when planning a long haul but there’s so much in Germany – apart from the major cities, the northern towns are beautiful and then of course there’s the Rhine and Mosel Valleys, not forgetting the Black Forest, the alps and the castles1 ( And that’s just off the top of my head!!) You could plan a whole month around Germany alone. Having said that, back in August 1987, we planned a month long trip down along the Rhine, Heidelberg, Black Forest etc – the weather was so bad that we didn’t really linger anywhere – had a quick look at whatever and moved on. We finished the route in 9 days, pulled out the map and crossed over into Italy!!!
Beautiful images.
We were in Munich a couple of years ago during summer. We bought Euro 9 monthly ticket and could visit Salzburg for free. We very much enjoyed Munich, Salzburg and Innsbruk.
They’re all lovely aren’t they – and so accessible from each other. We definitely have been neglecting trains in recent years but it has whetted the appetite for more rail travel…
We’ve been to Salzburg and Munich, but not Traunstein. And we regret not taking a day trip to Neuschwanstein. Everything looks so pretty covered in a dusting of snow.
Doesn’t it! We get the odd dump of snow but this white landscape is unfamiliar to us really – so it was particularly enjoyable (and it didn’t snow while we were there so we weren’t inconvenienced by it)
Aw what a lovely trip, perfect for some winter magic across a couple of beautiful cities. Salzburg is one of my absolute favourites 🙂
We enjoyed it all but are more than ready now for a blast of heat somewhere!!!