3 Days From Munich: Bavaria Day Trips

Three days builds on our 2-day plan with one more day trip: Munich for orientation, Neuschwanstein because it’s non-negotiable, then Dachau, treated with its own pacing rather than bolted onto the castle day. Need Salzburg or the Zugspitze too? Our 4-day and 5-day versions add those.

Book these before you go:

Day Focus Distance/time from Munich
1 Munich orientation, beer garden dinner Home base
2 Neuschwanstein Castle ~3h door to door
3 Dachau Memorial ~50-60 min door to door

Day 1: Learn the rules before the beer arrives

Munich runs on cash more than most European capitals admit; bakeries, imbiss counters and a good share of beer gardens still won’t take a card, so carry some. The MVV network covers everything you’ll ride today, U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses, on one integrated fare. If you land on a Sunday, shops are closed by law outside the usual exempt categories, stations, pharmacies, restaurants and tourist sites.

Walk Marienplatz once, catch the Glockenspiel if the timing lines up (11am, noon, and 5pm March through October) and don’t linger, twelve minutes of mechanical figures isn’t the main event. Skip Hofbrauhaus for dinner. It’s been a tourist stop since 1589, not because it’s the best beer hall among hundreds; Augustiner-Keller pours better, and Hirschgarten, roughly 8,000 seats, is Europe’s largest beer garden and still feels local on a weeknight. Order Weisswurst if it’s before noon, tradition says it “must not hear the noon bell,” peel the skin, dip it in sweet mustard, and eat it with a pretzel. Close the day at the Englischer Garten’s Eisbach wave, people surfing a standing river wave in the middle of a city park beats another church interior for a free afternoon.

Day 2: Neuschwanstein, the one non-negotiable

This is the castle everyone’s seen a photo of without knowing its name, and the reason to bolt Bavaria onto a Munich trip instead of just doing the city. It sits near Fussen, roughly 2h10 out by train plus a short bus, and there is no walk-up entry: it’s a fixed-time, guided tour of about 35 minutes, tickets released through the official Hohenschwangau ticket center up to 8 weeks ahead. The 10am-2pm slots in summer disappear first regardless of season.

Do the tour, then hike up to Marienbrucke, the bridge with the view that’s actually on the postcards; the castle itself barely photographs from inside its own courtyard. Have lunch in Hohenschwangau village and don’t overthink the rest of the day, there isn’t much reason to stay once the tour ends. Head back to Munich for the evening and let a beer garden do the rest.

Is the restoration work going to ruin your visit?

Probably not, but it might change what you see. The castle interior is mid a large, multi-year restoration project, so some rooms or passages may be scaffolded during your specific visit, and Marienbrucke itself closes seasonally from roughly November to March for ice safety. Neither cancels the trip; both are worth checking the week before so the day isn’t planned around a single closed room.

Day 3: Dachau, and why it’s not a sightseeing stop

Take the S2 to Dachau, about 20-25 minutes, then bus 726 to KZ-Gedenkstatte, or walk it in half an hour. Entry is free, and the site is open daily 9:00-17:00 with last entry at 16:30, closed only on December 24, unlike most German museums it does not close on Mondays. English-language tours run around 11am and 1pm. This is a memorial and documentation site , not an attraction, and it draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year precisely because people treat it that way: dress and behave like you’re at a memorial, because you are. Give it a full half day and don’t schedule anything cheerful directly afterward.

Don’t stack this with Neuschwanstein on the same day even if the train timing looks tempting on paper. Each deserves its own headspace and its own travel time, and cramming both into one day cheapens whichever one you do second. Spend what’s left of the evening back in Munich somewhere quiet, Haidhausen’s local restaurants work well, before you head home tomorrow.