Im thinking of visiting Bavaria?

anyone been before and where and when is the best to go and what did you visit there

I visited Bavaria last year. My husband and I stayed in the Garmisch and Partenkirchen area, but travelled into Austria and up to the Munich area as well. We were there in April and it was lovely. The cherry and apple trees were in full bloom and the weather was perfect - long sleeve or light jacket weather.

You should visit the 3 castles of King Ludwig III, they are absolutely breathtaking! Ride the cable car up to the top of the Zugspitz (the tallest mountain in Germany) and take in some snow skiing, if you are so inclined.

If you are up to it, and not everyone is....you can visit and tour Dachau Concentration Camp near Munich. It is NOT for the faint of heart, though. You can take a guided tour and will see a film that will absolutely break your heart and make your mind boggle....a note though, no one under the age of 12 is allowed. We were deeply moved by the visit and even though it was horrible, we believe we are better people for having experienced it.

Happier things to do: plan to dine Al-Fresco a lot if it is not winter, as many, many cafes offer outside dining. Do NOT order a anything "carpaggio" unless you like RAW BEEF...not rare, raw! You can learn from my mistake :-). Do try the struedel and the schnitzel. And be prepared to drink beer at room temperature. If you like iced tea........forget it!! They don't serve it, but every restaurant I was in served me the best European hot tea.

Try to get to Innsbruk, Austria where you can visit the Swarovski Chrystal Factory, stunning! Also in Innsbruk there is a section of the city called "Old Town" which is filled with shops on cobble stone streets where no cars are allowed. Beautiful.

There are many, many historical churches and monasteries all over Bavaria, where you can take guided tours. Even if you are not "religious" the art and architecture are well worth the visit.

When asking in English for the restroom, it is referred to as a "water closet" and the signs on the doors read "W/C". In Bavaria, the locals do not say "Gutentaag", they say "Christgott", which means "Christ's Day" or "Guten Morgen", which means "Good Morning".

We are a military family and stayed at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, which is for government employees and military only, BUT go to their website for a great list of activities. We took every tour offered and without that resource, wouldn't have known where to start. The URL is below.

Have a wonderful time.

Hi,
Bavaria has many nice places to visit: the capital Munich, Nuernberg, Regensburg, the Bavarian Forest, several lakes, the Alps, Castle Neuschwanstein, Passau and much more.

If you're short on time you have to visit Munich and Castle Neuschwansteinl.

http://www.inside-munich.com

I'm living right now in Bavaria (US Army). It's such a nice place. They have here so many lakes, mountains, castles.
Also the big cities: Munich, Ravensburg, Passau, Hof and some more.
The best thing is get some book about Bavaria or look at the Internet. People are friendly, good food and right now the October fest in Munich.
Have fun by searching.

I'm a native Bavarian; just tell me what you're interested in, and maybe I can give you some hints and suggestions as to places you can visit besides the Munich area. If you like winter sports, for example, a visit to the Bavarian Forest ("Bayerischer Wald") might be interesting in Winter; we have some nice little mountains here like the "Gro脽er Arber" and the "Hoher Bogen". (You can check it all out at Google maps.) Bavaria ist the southermost state of the German Federal Republic, and the biggest, too; and it has lots of landscapes you can visit. Nuremberg (in German spelling, N眉rnberg) is a beautiful town, with a famous castle and the "Christkindlesmarkt" (christmas fair) in December. The people there are nice, and most of them do speak English. Unfortunately, Nuremberg is mostly famous for the Nazi trials ("N眉rnberger Prozesse"). Regensburg ("Ratisbon") is also very nice, located at the river Danube, and dating back to Roman times, being founded as a Roman army camp "castra regina" by the Romans several centuries ago. The Pope is from there, and even if you're a non-beliver, the Regensburg cathedral ("Regensburger Dom") is worth a visit.

There's quite a lot of smaller towns which I can't enumerate and name them all. Just try for yourself, and trust your feelings. Of course you could visit Neuschwanstein castle; but in my opinion, it won't give you the real feeling of what Bavaria is all about. So much depends on how much time you have, and whether you have a car or not. So if you give me some details, maybe I could give a more educated guess than right now.

Bavaria is so vast and different its hard to tell you what to do because Its a big capital. If you are thinking of Bavaria I would suggest Munchen for the museums, christmas markets, being close to Tirol Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. Also, Garmisch Partenken is beautiful for skiing , visiting the Ludwig castles, drinking the monk beers and liquors. If you are closer to nurnberg you can also head to Prague, Karlovy Vary, and different parts of Czech.