Family Holidays: Bavaria family holidays

Take the Family holiday rating 5 stars out of 5

Why

Bavaria is one of Germany’s most popular family holiday destinations. From the rolling fields and vineyards of the North, through the hop fields and Danube plain in the centre, to the forested mountains in the East and the craggy mountains in the South, there really is something for the whole family. Interesting cities such as Munich & Nuremberg, and kids will love discovering the animals and plants in the National Parks, visiting Legoland and numerous other theme parks, BMW World and enjoying Bavaria’s great outdoor activities.

Top left: Berchtesgaden
Top right: Walking in the Bavarian forest

Bottom left: Munich christmas market
Bottom right: Tegernsee

When

Any time of year...

Summers in Bavaria are generally warmer and drier than the UK, with lots of outdoor sports and activities and pavement cafes, beer gardens and restaurants.

Winters are colder with more snow, especially in the mountains. The big Christmas markets start the last weekend in November and continue until 23rd December (24th December in Munich and Nuremberg but closing early). Village Christmas markets are usually one weekend or one day during December. Christmas in the mountains is magical and uncommercialised with winter sports activities in full swing even on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Christmas to March is the main skiing season with lots of smaller villages with family friendly prices, service and activities in the mountains of Upper Bavaria and the Bavarian Forest.

How

Take the plane

There are flights from most major UK cities to Munich airport. From London Stansted you can also fly to Nuremberg. And you can also fly to Frankfurt, Salzburg, Linz and Prague from numerous British airports, from where Bavaria is very easy to reach by train or car. Check deals with British Airways and Expedia.

Take the train

Using Eurostar trains to Brussels and on to Germany it is possible to reach many parts of Bavaria from London and the South East within one day

Stay

Bavaria has a good range of high quality hotels, including one of the well known family friendly Kinderhotels, as well as various self catering options from chalets and apartments to forest bungalows. Away from the cities, accommodation is exceptionally good value, plus there are some terrific activity holidays on offer for example the Bavarian Alps Summer Adventure from Activities Abroad.

Do

Munich

– Take the Film Express through Germany’s Film City Bavaria Filmpark
– The German Museum is one of the first scientific-technological museums in the world and with an area of 50,000 square meters the biggest of all.
– Hellabrunn Zoo, situated on the plains of the river Isar, was established as the world’s first "geo-zoo" in 1928. The natural designed enclosures are the perfect setting for breeding endangered species.
– A walk across the Viktualienmarkt can be a sensual revelation. Stalls not only offer the freshest fruits and vegetables in Munich, but traditional Bavarian pork knuckles and sausages, sea food, delicious cheeses from all over Europe, herbs, honey products, sushi and hand-made straw puppets are also for sale.

Franconia

– Nuremberg is world famous for its Christmas Market in December.
- numerous picture postcard small towns with narrow streets and half timbered houses, including Rothenburg ob der Tauber with its world famous all-year Christmas shop.
– The German Toy Route leads directly to the dreams of your childhood – to toys in all shapes and sizes, to workshops and showrooms, to museums and fun parks.
– The Spielzeugmuseum in Nuremberg (Toy Museum) presents toys from classical times to the present day. In the supervised playroom "kids on top", children can play with toys or do experiments, draw or do crafts and play games to their hearts' content. English tours by appointment.

Eastern Bavaria

- Explore the medieval imperial city of Regensburg, with its 12th century stone bridge.
- Take a boat trip on the Danube.
- Discover unspoiled nature in the Bavarian Forest National Park - part of the largest protected wilderness in Europe, with a network of more than 300 kilometres of well-signposted hiking routes, nearly 200 kilometres of bicycle routes as well as cross country and downhill skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing and winter walking trails on and around the ‘King of the Bavarian Forest’, the Arber mountain.
- A huge range of outdoor activities based on and around the forests, rivers and lakes of the region including: high wire parks, swimming, kayaking, archery as well as children’s playgrounds and museums.

Upper Bavaria

– There is plenty to do in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, located at the foot of Germany’s highest mountain ‘Zugspitze’. Alpine skiing, snowboarding, river rafting, mountain biking, hang gliding, tennis and golf are all on offer.
– The whole family will enjoy spending a day in the award winning “Stone Age Siegsdorf”, Chiemgau. The kids have the chance to experience just what life was back in the Stone Age.
- forget theme parks and film sets and visit the original fairy tale castles including the ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ castle.

Allgäu/Bavarian Swabia

– Hiking and wildlife in the Berchtesgaden National Park Berchtesgarden.
– More than 50 million LEGO bricks, countless attractions and great shows at LEGOLAND Deutschland.

Eat

Every region has its own typical products. In Allgäu and in Bavarian-Swabia, the roast is served with Spätzle noodles, in Upper Bavaria with Semmelknödel, a type of bread dumpling, whilst in Franconia, dumplings are filled with croutons. The cities also have their specialities: Munich provides its Weißwurst sausages, Nuremberg and Regensburg love the barbecued Bratwurst.

Cost

Bavaria offers good value for money. You can get cheap flights with the low cost carriers. Cost for accommodation and ski passes vary depending on the season.