6 days in Bavaria. Places to visit, things to do.

I returned from a trip to Wolfratshausen, south of Munich, where I stayed with friends, in July. I last visited in 2016 on this visit they lent me their car to allow me to explore further afield during the week while they were at work.

On the weekend we visited castles, Christmas shops and attended a Medieval festival and in the week I explored the town where they live, on foot, caught a train into Munich, drove into Austria through the Alps and visited the local lakes while my hosts were in work.

I visited here in 2016, so wanted to explore new places and revisit in further detail some of the other places I'd already visited.

It's not expensive to visit the attractions in Munich, a few euro to enter museums and churches were free, although a donation is welcomed.

As I've lived in Dubai for the past 3+ years, the driving was easy for me, although it's been a long time since I've driven a manual car and some of the villages in the Alps proved tricky with testing my hill starts. Before entering Austria I had to stop at a garage and buy a 'vignette' to allow me to pass through the tolls freely. The road signs were easy to work out, I set my GPS before I left each day, downloaded an app called 'visit a city' and was able to download routes and places to visit in advance. I had a data package on my phone and there was plenty of free wifi.

There isn't a lot of English spoken in this part of the world and as I don't speak any German and had difficulties with translating the menus, I lived off Mozerella and Tomato sandwiches when I was out. When I asked for a latte I received a Latte Macchiato, which I wasn't too fond of, so stuck with the international word for cappuccino. I got by with miming and pointing and managed to buy train tickets as the machine had an English option and all announcements were in English and German. There didn't appear to be a return ticket option as the prices vary according to the time of day one travels. The S Bahn was undergoing works and my journey time was doubled.

There are so many things to see and do in Munich, Wolfratshausen and surrounding areas. All churches are free to visit and most of the attractions only charged a few euros to enter. Most of my spend was on public transport, fuel, coffee and food. In a couple of places my credit card wasn't accepted and my debit card declined as they only accepted local cards, which was awkward when I insisted on paying for dinner one night.

There are a lot of things in Bavaria that I find strange to see, I tend to notice more things from living abroad and always wonder when I visit new places what it would be like to live there.

There are maypoles in every town

Cigarette vending machines and advertising

Traditional costume is still worn freely, it's very pretty and expensive

There are chairs in the town centre so you can just sit down and watch the world go by

All the buildings are beautifully decorated

If you want to see the places I visited and get some ideas of things to do in this part of the world, then please feel free to click on the links below:

Day 1Ettal Abbey, Linderhof Palace and Oberammergau.

Day 2 Kaltenberg Knights' Tournament.

Day 3 Wolfratshausen, Bavaria and Marchenwald Fairy Tales Land

Day 4 Munich by train.

Day 5 Innsbruck Austria and the Olympic Ski Jump.

Day 6 Starnburg Lakes.

Dachau Concentration Camp is located 30 mins by road and 40 mins by public transport from Munich, it was a very moving experience to visit, but not for the feint hearted, it was an extremely emotional visit.

I'm looking forward to my next visit, hopefully in the summer of 2019, I'd like to venture further afield and explore the neighbouring countries some more. I did pop to Italy for an ice-cream in 2016.

Wolfratshausen, Bavaria and Marchenwald Fairy Tales Land. 6 days in Bavaria. Places to visit and things to do.

I was based in Wolfratshausen a 90 minute train journey from Munich Airport, staying with friends for a week in July. This is my 2nd visit to see them. The first trip in 2016, I explored further a field only visiting their village for a coffee and to catch the train. This trip I spent a day exploring and there was so much to do. There's not a lot of English spoken there, but I got by with coffee and having google maps was a lifesaver, especially as I didn't have to pay roaming changes with my UK sim.

Fountains

Beautifully decorated buildings

Parks

Several river crossings

Maypole

Churches

Monuments and statues

Wonderful little cafes to sit and drink coffee, people watch and watch the world go by

Marchenwald Fairy Tale Land.

Yes please one ticket. It's aimed at families with small children and there were lots of primary school groups visiting when I was there. I felt a little conscious taking photographs and made sure I didn't capture any children in the shots, but it meant I spent a lot of time lurking in the trees, waiting for the are to clear. i was always going to look dodgy whatever I did lol.

All the fairy tales told were accessed by the press of a button in both German and English. 

Indoor play areas

Woodland walks

The story of Rapunzel, is about a pregnant woman who craves some rapunzel or  rampion as it translates into English, which is a salad leaf growing in a witches garden, her husband is caught stealing it and in exchange for their lives they have to hand over the baby girl. At the age of 12 Rapunzel is locked  

in a tower, until she is rescued by a blind Prince who hears her signing, on her release, Rapunzel cries and her tears restore the Prince's sight.

Hansel and Gretel. My favourite Grimm's fairytale. It tells the story of two young children abandoned in the woods, probably due to the fact it was the great famine and families could not afford to feed themselves and their children.

Innsbruck Austria and the Olympic Ski Jump. 6 days in Bavaria. Places to visit and things to do.

It was around a 2 hour drive to Innsbruck, driving through narrow lanes in villages through the Alps. The route I drove took me through the old border crossing, otherwise I wouldn't have known I'd crossed from Germany into Austria.

At the border to purchase my vignette

Driving through the Alps

Like the rest of Bavaria, Innsbruck has some fascinating buildings, churches, lanes, markets, churches, restaurants and souvenir shops. It was a very pretty town to photograph and wander around. I didn't visit any of the museums or attractions, I just spent my time wandering around in the sunshine, drinking coffee and people watching. I've now got an excuse to go back.

And of course no visit to Innsbruck is complete until you've visited the Bergisel Ski Jump