5 Days From Munich: Bavaria Day Trips
Five days buys the full Bavaria set: Munich, then Neuschwanstein, Dachau and Salzburg from our 4-day plan , plus a fifth day on the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest point. Most people spend day five in a fourth museum instead; don’t be most people. Want Nuremberg too? The 6-day version adds it.
Book these before you go:
- Neuschwanstein day tour by train : the timed slot sells out weeks ahead in summer
- Dachau Memorial tour from Munich : free entry, worth booking for the added context
- Salzburg day trip by train : handles the cross-border connection
- Zugspitze full-day tour : weather-dependent, book for a clear-forecast day
- A hotel near the Hauptbahnhof : every train on this itinerary starts there
| 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 |
| 4 | Salzburg, Austria | ~1h42 by train |
| 5 | Zugspitze/Garmisch-Partenkirchen | ~1h15-1h30 by train |
Day 1: Get oriented, then go find a beer garden
Arrive, drop your bags, and skip the taxi rank; the MVV network’s S1 or S8 covers the 40-45 minutes from the airport into the Hauptbahnhof for EUR 13.60, versus EUR 80-110 for a metered cab. Five days is still too short for the Deutschland-Ticket to earn its EUR 63; buy single or day tickets instead and save the monthly pass for a longer trip.
Walk Marienplatz, note the Glockenspiel times (11am, noon, plus 5pm in the warmer months) without organizing anything around them. Have dinner somewhere that isn’t Hofbrauhaus: Augustiner-Keller or Hirschgarten, the latter Europe’s largest beer garden at roughly 8,000 seats, both beat the famous one on beer and food and neither comes with a tour-bus soundtrack. Cash still rules here, and if today’s a Sunday, expect shops shut by law with the usual exceptions.
Day 2: Neuschwanstein, locked in weeks ago
The castle sits near Fussen, about 2h10 out by train plus a short bus, and entry is a fixed-time guided tour of roughly 35 minutes with no walk-up option. Book through the official Hohenschwangau ticket center well ahead; the 10am-2pm slots vanish first every summer. Tour done, climb to Marienbrucke for the postcard view, since the castle itself photographs badly from its own courtyard. Lunch in Hohenschwangau, then back to Munich; there’s nothing left to do once the tour’s over.
Day 3: Dachau
S2 to Dachau, about 20-25 minutes, then bus 726 to KZ-Gedenkstatte, or a half-hour walk. Free entry, the memorial runs daily 9:00-17:00, last entry 16:30, closed only December 24, not Mondays. English tours run around 11am and 1pm. This is a memorial site , not an attraction, whatever a listicle calls it, and it deserves a full half day and a quiet evening afterward, not a second activity bolted on. Keep it separate from Neuschwanstein on the calendar; stacking both in one day shortchanges whichever comes second.
Day 4: Salzburg, because the border’s right there
About 1h42 by train at its fastest, and you’re in Austria, so carry ID even within Schengen. The Altstadt is compact and UNESCO-listed: Mozart’s birthplace, the Getreidegasse, and Hohensalzburg Fortress by funicular for the river view. Skip the packaged Sound of Music bus tours; walking the old town yourself covers the same ground and costs less.
Is one day in Salzburg enough, or should you stay over?
One day covers the core: the fortress, the birthplace, the old town streets. It’s tight if you also want the Salzkammergut lakes or a slower pace through the Sound of Music filming spots, in which case an overnight makes more sense. On a five-day Munich trip with four other day trips already booked, one focused day is the realistic option, and it’s enough to say you’ve properly seen Salzburg.
Day 5: The Zugspitze, Germany’s highest point
Garmisch-Partenkirchen is about 1h15-1h30 by train, and from there the cogwheel train and cable car combination reaches the summit of Germany’s tallest mountain. The round-trip ticket runs EUR 78 in 2026, with a one-way option at EUR 46. The summit view is entirely weather-dependent, so check current conditions before committing and book online at least a day ahead if you’re going on a clear-weather weekend; valley-station queues start forming by 9am in summer, and a same-day walk-up can mean hours lost standing in line instead of standing on a summit. Go up, look at the Alps properly for once, and come back to Munich for a last beer garden dinner before you head out tomorrow.