Free guide
Bavaria with kids
Bavaria strung four very different days together for us in one week: a gorge you walk through on a plank bolted to the cliff, the castle every postcard is of, a Lego theme park with that same castle rebuilt in bricks, and a walled town best seen an hour before anyone else is awake. Here is the route in the order we drove it, what each stop is like with a seven-year-old in tow, and the wet-weather day we kept in our back pocket.
Adapted from Germany & Austria 2023 — the full loop, two weeks, Tirol and Bavaria in one drive.
01 · Partnachklamm, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Upper Bavaria · Garmisch-Partenkirchen
What it's like. A turquoise river squeezed through a slot canyon, with a narrow walkway pinned to the rock the whole way and tunnels to duck through. We arrived in Garmisch under low cloud and mist, which felt like a wasted day right up until we were down in the gorge and the sun started slanting in from directly above. It is busy — this is one of the most visited things in the region — but the crowds move in one direction and the drama does not thin out.
How to get there. Drive to the Partnachklamm parking above Garmisch-Partenkirchen: about 5 km and a quarter of an hour from the town centre. From the car park you walk in to the gorge entrance, and the gorge itself is a there-and-back, so you decide how far you go.
With a kid. This was the single easiest sell of the German half. There is a railing the whole way, our boy held it and pointed at the water for a solid half hour, and the tunnels are the sort of thing a seven-year-old will describe to a grandparent later. Mind the boardwalks — they are permanently wet, and so is anyone walking under the spray.
The afterwards. We came out of the gorge and found a Sommerrodelbahn — a summer toboggan run on a metal track — and sent him down it with mountains behind. A gorge and a luge in one day is a good ratio.
Fog on the drive in, sun down in the slot. Don't cancel a gorge day because the valley looks grey.
- ⏱️ Time needed: half a day, gorge and toboggan run together
- 👶 Best for: roughly 5 and up — it's a walk, not a hike
- 🎒 Bring: rain jackets regardless of the forecast, and shoes with grip
- ☔ Weather call: the one stop on this list that is better in poor weather
02 · Neuschwanstein, the Alpsee and Füssen
Bavaria · Schwangau and Füssen
What it's like. The drive west toward the Alps delivers the view everyone has already seen: Neuschwanstein on its wooded hill, with Hohenschwangau and the Alpsee below it. We stopped for the view and did not tour the inside — that is a booked, timed, queued affair, and we had a seven-year-old and a good lake right there. We do not regret it, and we are telling you so you can make that trade deliberately rather than discover it at the ticket office.
Where we actually spent the time. Füssen, a few minutes down the road from the castles, and much the better base. Cobbled pedestrian streets, one of the town's white-and-gold Baroque churches, and the shop where our boy walked out in a full blue Tracht outfit with a feathered green Alpine hat, which he then wore for approximately the rest of the trip.
The lake. A swim off a wooden dock rounded the stop out. The Alpsee sits right beneath the two castles, which means you can look up at Neuschwanstein from the water — a better castle photo than most of the ones taken from the bridge, and a much better afternoon.
The castle is a photograph. The town below it is a day.
- ⏱️ Time needed: a full day, castles-from-outside and Füssen together
- 👶 Best for: any age — nothing here needs legs
- 🎒 Bring: swim things; the lake is the part kids remember
- 🎟️ Good to know: interior tickets are timed and sell out ahead — decide before you drive, not in the car park
03 · Legoland Deutschland, Günzburg
Bavarian Swabia · Günzburg
What it's like. A full theme-park day, and the one stop on this route that exists purely for the child. Günzburg is a straight run up the autobahn from Füssen and the park is signposted from a long way out.
The bit that surprised us. Miniland — and specifically the Lego Neuschwanstein, which lands completely differently when you saw the real one two days earlier. There is a miniature railway running through it that our boy watched for longer than any ride he actually queued for.
The rest of the day. A log flume, walls where kids build into a giant mosaic, and a pirate splash-battle ride we rode just as the storm clouds arrived — which, in the end, was the right way to ride it.
Where we slept. An Egyptian-themed holiday park the night before: hieroglyphs on the buildings, fake palm trees to climb, an extremely pleased seven-year-old. Arriving at a theme park from a themed hotel is a lot of theme in twelve hours, and it worked.
Do the real castle first. The Lego one is a punchline that only works in that order.
- ⏱️ Time needed: one full day, gates to close
- 👶 Best for: about 4 to 11 — it is pitched younger than the big coaster parks
- 🎒 Bring: ponchos; the water rides and the weather both get you
- 🅿️ Getting there: roughly an hour and a half from Füssen by car
4 more sections, including What we'd tell you before you go
The rest of the guide — Rothenburg ob der Tauber, The drive, in the order we did it, The rainy-day plan and 1 more — opens right here when you drop your email in.
One email when a new guide ships. No drip campaigns, no passing your address on.