5-Day Bavaria Itinerary
Updated: Jun 15
Bavaria has always been one of my dream destinations: vibrant Munich, amazing mountain villages offering stunning views, incredibly beautiful lakes, and famous castles. Finally, we found time to go there for a few days and decided to take our bikes with us, as this region is considered to be amazing for cycling.
The plan was to spend 5 days in Bavaria exploring this beautiful region by bike and cover longer distances by train. No suitcases - just cycling bags, no car - just trains, and for the majority of them we didn't even buy tickets in advance.
If you are also a fan of mountains and want to get more ideas about how to spend 5 days in Bavaria & learn some useful information on how to save costs, check out our 5-Day Bavaria Itinerary.
Brief Summary & Budget
We were coming from Luxembourg (the distance between Luxembourg and Munich, our first destination in Bavaria, is almost 600 km), and as we decided to try something new and travelled by train, the journey to Munich took us about 8 hours with a 1-hour stop in Manheim (see the below photo). In total, we changed 3 trains: Luxembourg-Trier, Trier-Manheim, and Manheim-Munich, and purchased the ticket only for the last one! How is it possible? Read further :)
We spent 2 nights in Munich, then went by train to the Garmisch-Partenkirchen area (where we stayed for 1 night) and then moved to the Füssen area for the last 2 nights and came back to Luxembourg via Manheim.
Travel costs - around 50 EUR per person for Manheim-Munich tickets (check out Omio to get the best offers), and all the remaining transfers were covered by the famous 49 EUR monthly ticket for regional and local trains. This ticket allows you to travel throughout Germany with just one ticket by all means of local public transport for just 49 EUR per month.
Hotels were rather pricey, especially in the Garmish and Füssen areas, but we managed to find good options for around 80-90 EUR per night, thanks to Genious discounts by Booking.com. We saved a bit on food and drinks (especially beer) that were much cheaper than in Luxembourg.
So, let's get started!
Getting Know Munich
We came to Munich in the evening, checked out at our amazing hotel, and went directly to the English Garden, where we enjoyed a nice summer ambience and tried terrific local beer and sausages at a traditional beer garden near the Chinese Tower. Then, we continued our bike tour through the centre of the city and enjoyed the well-known Marienplatz (the central square) at night.
The next morning we went to check out the BMW museum and after that, we went to Olympia Park, a prominent recreational area and event venue that was built for the 1972 Summer Olympics. It has since become a popular destination for both locals and tourists. We enjoyed beer and cocktails and admired the amazing views of the nearby lake - Olympiasee.
Munich is a perfect city to be explored by bike - we managed to explore almost every corner of Olympia Park and then in just 20 min went to the stunning Baroque-style Nymphenburg Palace surrounded by beautiful gardens.
We stopped for a late lunch at one of the nearby Beer gardens and then had a chance to arrive at the hotel before the thunderstorm and heavy rain started.
In the evening, we went again to the historical centre of the city, starting from Karlsplatz, and saw the main historical attractions of Munich, such as the Cathedral Notre-Dame of Munich, walked until Marienplatz and then finished the evening at Hofbräuhaus, a historic beer hall that serves traditional Bavarian cuisine and its renowned beer.
Hard Day in Garnish Area
The next morning we went to the Munich Hbf via English Garden and then took one train to Murnau and the second one to Garmisch. The distance between Garmish and Klais, where we decided to stay for the night (check out hotels in this area on Booking.com), was around 10 km, and considering it to be an easy ride (marked as "easy" on Komoot), we decided to go to the hotel by bike. We didn't expect to be climbing 300 meters uphill, but it was a good experience, and the views were stunning.
In the evening, we went for dinner to Garmish and explored a bit this town, which reminded me of Leukerbad and other similar Alpine tourist towns - nothing extraordinary, but worth visiting. Then we went back to our charming hotel, located in the countryside, where it was super calm and relaxing.
The next morning we were rewarded by an amazing descent from Klais to Garmish - the compensation for the ascend that we suffered a day before! Then we tried to catch a bus to see Lake Eibsee, but apparently, the buses got cancelled and we wasted more than 1 hour of our time. A quick ride through the centre of Garmish: we had a quick lunch, and then caught the train to Reutte (Tirol, Austria) and left the train at Vils station, close to Füssen.
We planned to go from Vils to the Forggensee, the big beautiful lake close to Füssen (the distance between Vils and Forggensee is just 15 km, around 50 minutes by bike), but we were not very lucky with the weather: it started raining again, so we had to take the train from Füssen to Seeg, where our super cosy quite hotel was located and managed to go outside only to the local restaurant.
Exploring Fussen Area
The next morning we decided to fulfill our prior day plan and finally go to the Forggensee by bike. Also, the project included a ride near the two famous castles and a visit to Alpsee - another famous lake of Bavaria.
We were lucky with the weather and finally, we were able to fully enjoy cycling and observing fantastic mountain views.
Our cycling route passed along Lake Hopfensee, which was rather close to Seeg, where we were staying. In around 20-25 minutes we reached Forggensee and fully enjoyed the amazing views of the lake with stunning mountains in the background.
We headed to Füssen, explored its small historical centre, and stopped there for a quick lunch.
We planned to see both castles - Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein and go inside the second one. However, we realized that we were short of time, the places were super crowded, so we decided to explore the castle next time and cycle along Lake Alpsee instead.
The views were stunning, and we were lucky with the weather, so we decided to explore the surroundings a bit further.
We cycled until Fussen via Schwangau, made a stop in a local Biergarten, explored Saint Coloman Church, and then cycled along the other side of Forggensee Lake.
Dinner break at Füssen, and then we realized that we missed our train to Seeg and had to cycle back at night.
It was relatively calm and dark in the evening, but we enjoyed this ride and the stunning views of the Hopfensee.
Back Home & Lessons Learnt
The following day we started our journey back home: cycling until the train station, train to Augsburg, another one to Manheim, and lunch break in the same Japanese restaurant where we went a few days ago. Another train to Trier, then, the last train to Luxembourg, and here we were, back home.
Overall, the trip was amazing: all the places that we visited were worth it, but if I were planning this trip now, I would either go there by car, not by train (that would allow us to save a lot of time we spent on transportation) or reduce the number of destinations.
For example, the ideal plan would be to spend 2 nights in Munich, and then the remaining 3 nights in the Füssen area. That would allow us to reduce the number of trains and visit one of the castles. An alternative itinerary would be Munich and Garmich-Paternkirchen, as this area is also worth detailed exploration.
But for those who decide to explore the area by car, our itinerary: 2 nights in Munich, 1 night in the Garmich area, and 2 nights in the Füssen area would be perfect!
Cycling is fantastic in this area, and it's the most convenient way to explore Bavaria (together with a car or train, to cover longer and/or not-so-enjoyable parts of your route), so even if you don't have your bike or don't take it with you, consider renting it in one of the numerous rental spots.
I hope you liked this post, where I planned to give you a high-level idea of how you can plan your 5-6 day trip to Bavaria. More detailed posts about each of the places we visited will be released soon - save the link to my blog, follow me on Instagram and come back! :)
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