Bavaria

A former kingdom that is now Germany’s largest state, running from the Alps to Franconia.

Best seasonMay – Sep; Dec for the markets

Ideal length5 – 8 nights

Main gatewayMunich Airport (MUC)

Getting aboutRegional rail; a car helps in the Alps

MoneyEuro

SuitsAlps · castles · old towns · beer gardens

Overview

Why Bavaria

Bavaria spent most of its history as a country rather than a region — a duchy, then an electorate, then a kingdom until 1918 — and it joined the German Empire on terms of its own. It still calls itself the Free State, it is predominantly Catholic where much of Germany is Protestant, and it has a dialect, a calendar and a set of manners that it does not share with Berlin. It is also Germany’s largest state by area, which means it is not one landscape but three: Old Bavaria in the south and east, running up to the Alps and the lakes; Franconia in the north, which is wine country with medieval cities in it and which will politely correct you if you call it Bavarian; and Bavarian Swabia in the west. Munich is the capital and the gateway, and almost everything here is reachable from it — but the state is considerably more than a set of day trips from its own capital.

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Cities & Places

Where to go in Bavaria

Munich is the region’s published destination and the base most Bavarian itineraries are built from — the capital, the airport and the rail hub for everything south of the Danube. Neuschwanstein, the Alps and the Franconian cities are covered on this page.

Munich

Highlights

What this region holds

A hillside castle that launched a thousand posters, an Alpine lake you can only cross by electric boat, and four old cities that most visitors to Germany never reach.

Neuschwanstein and the castle routeLudwig II began Neuschwanstein above Füssen in 1869 and it was unfinished when he died in 1886. It is a nineteenth-century romantic fantasy of a medieval castle rather than a medieval castle, which does not make it less worth seeing — and Hohenschwangau, his childhood home, stands below it. Entry is by timed ticket and the visit is a long day from Munich rather than a half one.

The Bavarian AlpsThe southern edge of the state is genuine high mountain country. Garmisch-Partenkirchen sits below the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest peak, which is reached by rack railway and cable car and stands on the Austrian border. The valleys around it are walking country in summer and ski country in winter.

Berchtesgaden and the KönigsseeA deep alpine lake in the far south-east corner, held between rock walls with the Watzmann massif above it, inside a national park. Only electric boats are allowed on the water, which is why it is as quiet as it is. The village of Berchtesgaden below it makes an easy base.

Regensburg and the DanubeA medieval old town on the Danube that came through the war intact and is inscribed by UNESCO along with Stadtamhof across the river. Its Stone Bridge is the twelfth-century crossing the town grew around. Passau, where three rivers meet, is further downstream.

Franconia — Bamberg, Würzburg, RothenburgThe northern third of the state is a different country in everything but administration: wine rather than beer, and a run of old cities. Bamberg’s old town is UNESCO-inscribed and largely untouched; the Würzburg Residence is inscribed in its own right; Rothenburg ob der Tauber is the walled town on the Romantic Road that everyone pictures.

NurembergFranconia’s largest city, with a reconstructed medieval core, the best-known of the German Christmas markets, and two places of record that matter: the Nazi party rally grounds with their documentation centre, and Courtroom 600, where the Nuremberg trials were held and which can still be visited.

When to go

When to visit Bavaria

A four-season region where the mountains and the cities want opposite months.

May – JunThe best all-round window. The Alpine valleys are green and the high passes and cable cars are opening, the cities are comfortable, the beer gardens are running and the crowds have not arrived. Snow can still close the highest ground into early summer.

Jul – AugWarmest and busiest, and the only reliable season for the high mountains and the lakes. German school holidays fall here, so the Alps and the castle route are full and rooms need booking well ahead. The cities are hot but the lake country is the reason to come.

Sep – OctAutumn in Franconia is wine harvest and the light is at its best, and the Alps are at their clearest before the snow. Note that Oktoberfest falls from mid-to-late September into early October in Munich and its dates move — it affects accommodation across a wide area, not only the city.

Nov – AprCold, dark early, and split in two. December is Christmas-market season and Nuremberg, Munich and the small Franconian towns are at their most atmospheric. January to March is the ski season in the Alps, while the old cities are quiet and cheap. Many rural castles and gardens close or shorten their season.

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