Munich and Bavaria – 8 days/7 nights

Four bases in eight days, running north to south from Franconian wine country to the foot of the Zugspitze. Wuerzburg, Augsburg, Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen each get enough time to be understood rather than photographed, and the driving legs between them are short. This is the itinerary for clients who want Bavaria as a whole rather than Munich with excursions attached.

Wuerzburg and the start of the Romantic Road

The journey opens in Wuerzburg, where the prince-bishops built a baroque residence with a staircase carrying the largest ceiling fresco ever painted and a garden that runs to the old town wall. The city sits on the Main among terraced vineyards, and its wine culture is older and drier than the Rhine stereotype suggests – Franconian Silvaner in its flat-sided bottle is worth an afternoon on its own. Wuerzburg is also the northern gate of the Romantic Road, which sets the direction for everything that follows.

Augsburg, Munich and the alpine finish

Augsburg comes next: a Roman foundation that made its money in the Renaissance under the Fugger banking family, who also built the Fuggerei, a walled almshouse quarter founded in 1521 and still lived in today. Munich then supplies the capital – Marienplatz and the Glockenspiel, the Viktualienmarkt, the Residenz and Nymphenburg, the picture galleries and the beer gardens. The last leg drops into Garmisch-Partenkirchen, two villages merged for the 1936 Winter Games, from where the cog railway and cable cars climb to the Zugspitze and the view runs across four countries on a clear day.

How the eight days are put together

• Eight days and seven nights, private throughout, with one driver-guide for continuity
• Four bases, so nights are spent in fewer hotels than the distance covered would suggest
• Guided walks in each city, arranged with local guides where a specialist adds more than the driver-guide can
• Driving legs kept short – typically one to two hours between bases
• Admissions, the Zugspitze ascent, tastings and meals beyond breakfast are quoted as separate lines so you can adjust them

Season and variations

May to early October is the reliable window: the vineyards are working, the mountain railways are running and the alpine roads are open. Late November and December turn the same route into a Christmas markets itinerary, with Wuerzburg, Augsburg and Munich all holding markets in their historic centres. Parties who want two more days can add the castles near Fuessen or a full day in the Berchtesgaden corner. Clients with only a week for the whole country should look at the nine-day Best of Germany itinerary instead; those who want the alpine part alone can take the Neuschwanstein and Linderhof excursion as a single day, or the two-day sportscar tour if they want to drive it. Arrival and departure logistics are on the Munich destination page.