Germany & Austria Road Trip

For our two year wedding anniversary we decided to take a road trip to southern Germany and into Austria. We had originally planned to go to Portugal (long before covid happened we had booked the trip) and it was looking like it was going to happen (Portugal was one of the first countries that the Dutch government said was ok to go to on holiday) until about 2 weeks beforehand, when the Dutch government changed their travel advice as Porto and Lisbon (our destinations) were having outbreaks. We quickly decided to pivot and rent a car to go hang out in nature - being from Oregon we were missing mountains and we figured we could do some nice socially distant activities like hiking.

This was definitely a different vacation than we’ve had in the past - instead of trying to find the most popular landmarks and tours and the best restaurants, we were focused on where would be the least crowded and where we could go with the most outdoor activities!

We also learned that road tripping in Europe is a totally different thing than in the US. A road trip in the US often has long stretches where you see very few other cars or really anything at all. I guess because Europe is so much more compact, we did not have this experience. Austin did all of the driving but I was navigating for him and we were both on HIGH ALERT the whole time. The autobahn is pretty cool but it is no joke - you really have to have your wits about you! So a 6 hour drive through Germany is much more exhausting than a 6 hour drive through Oregon.

The other thing that makes it different from driving in the US is that sometimes you come around a bend and there’s a castle right in front of you and you have to scramble to take a photo and end up with some terrible windshield glare!

Stop 1: Erlangen, Germany

This is the first place Austin ever went to in Europe, as it is very close to the headquarters of Adidas. When he worked for Adidas he was sent there a few times and he fell in love with this cute little German town. He really wanted me to see it so we made this our first stop for one night. We also took a train to nearby Bamberg to go to some breweries.

Where we stayed

Since our initial trip to Portugal had involved 9 days of free hotel stays due to our high number of IHG points, we tried to find as many hotels as possible that we could book with points for this trip too. The other upside of that is that IHG and Hilton, the 2 brands I have points with, are hotel chains that I trust to be clean and be taking the covid situation seriously as well.

For this first stop in Erlangen we stayed at a Holiday Inn not too far outside of the city center. It was immaculately clean, the front desk staff was very nice, they had hand sanitizer everywhere, and also had lines on the floor for where to walk so that you could minimize getting near other people. At all hotels in Germany masks were required in public areas, which we also appreciated.

This hotel was not doing a breakfast buffet but gave you vouchers for a bakery around the corner. This was quite the adventure as the woman at the bakery spoke zero english so we muddled through with some truly terrible German and lots of pointing. The bakery was quite nice though!

How to get around

We didn’t do much in Erlangen - it was raining but we took a nice stroll through, and then took a train to Bamberg. The train station was very close by our hotel and it was quite easy to figure out the tickets - the machines in the station had an option for English (always amazing) and just had you type in your destination and then told you what ticket to get. We did also take one taxi, which had a full sheet of plastic between us and the driver.

Where to drink

Steinbach Brewing

Austin was very excited to take me to Steinbach. It was a place he had been every time he had come to Erlangen for work. It was a very nice beer garden. We would have loved to sit outside but it was pouring rain and all of the covered tables were taken, so we ended up sitting at a table that was nice and far from other tables indoors. The beers were very good and the service was very nice. I do not think they serve food unfortunately, though we got the impression that in the beer garden outside there were sometimes food carts.

Klosterbräu

We did not plan ahead enough for Bamberg and the first place we tried to go was completely booked up for the evening. We had not thought to make reservations at a place where we only intended to have a beer. Luckily the next place had open tables outside so we were able to enjoy a beer on their patio and share some sausages and sauerkraut. This brewery is actually the oldest in Bamberg! We really enjoyed it.

Stop 2: Salzburg, Austria

The next day we got up and drove to Salzburg. We went there in January and it was one of our favorite cities so we were excited to go back.

Where we stayed

This time around, instead of the fancy hotel we stayed in on our last trip to Salzburg, we decided to stay in a Holiday Inn that was a bit outside the main city center but not too bad of a walk. This Holiday Inn was a bit older but still nice and clean. It was also pretty cheap as far as point redemptions go. It also had a grocery store right next to it which was nice so we stocked up on some extra snacks, beers, and laundry detergent so that I could wash our masks in the sink (we each had several, but our trip was long enough that we needed to wash them to reuse).

How to get around

Salzburg had an app where you could purchase a bus ticket, and their bus system is pretty simple to figure out (except one spot where we can never figure out where the heck the bus stop is - I think Google is messed up on that one and we never figured it out.) Other than this we mostly just walked as the city is really not that big.

Where to Eat & Drink

Stieglkeller

We accidentally found this place on our last trip to Salzburg as we were headed back down from the castle. We did not go see the castle again this time as we’d already seen it but we both remembered loving this beer garden. The weather was not the nicest (maybe 65F outside) so the beer garden up top was completely empty and it has lovely views of the city. We were more than happy to enjoy this beautiful beer garden all by ourselves. We both also love Stiegl beer which makes this place even better!

Urbankeller

(Keller means basement in German - I guess a lot of restaurants are in basements in Austria!). we put almost zero effort into finding this place - when we arrived in Salzburg we were starving, so I typed “food” into google maps and chose the first nice looking place with good reviews that was closest to us. We ended up coming back here twice because we liked it so much! It was completely empty the first time which we enjoyed. I got a käsespätzle that was a liiiiitttle too salty but Austin LOVED his schnitzel so I got that too on our second visit. They also had Stiegl on tap, which I might have mentioned we love ;)

Stiegl Brauwelt

Are you sensing a pattern yet? We had been to this brewery last time we were in Salzburg but due to a weird freak allergy incident Austin had no contacts in and was basically blind for the visit. We decided to go back for a late dinner for this trip which we enjoyed. We shared schnitzel (surprise) and a cheese sausage which was amazing. Our waiter was the same one as last time and he was very nice - he hyped me into ordering this crazy huge meringue dessert (he did not tell us how big it was) that I really enjoyed but Austin absolutely hated. Either way we really enjoyed the whole experience and the food there is very good!

Things to do

Kniefelspitze Hike

I had seen this hike on other blogs - it’s basically a hike up a mountain to this incredible looking beer garden, and I was so excited for it. On the day we were supposed to go it was pretty rainy and cloudy and the web cam was not looking good, but we decided to try our luck anyway as we thought maybe things would clear up. We drove to the Maria Gern church where they say to start the hike (which we had hoped to see inside of but seemed to be closed).

The hike had been rated as “easy but steep” on a few websites. I guess if “easy” means “you do not need intense hiking equipment” then sure, it was easy - but we both needed tons of breaks as it was VERY, VERY STEEP and I guess we are pretty out of shape. It was drizzling rain the whole time but the path itself was pretty. We saw a few other people on the trail but it was largely pretty empty.

Finally, after encouraging each other the whole way up (at differnet points we both tried to quit) we got to the top only to find that the beer garden was CLOSED because of the weather!!! You really couldn’t see anything as far as a view either besides fog. We were both SO BUMMED. The hike up took us roughly an hour and then the hike back down ended up being about 30 minutes.

Koningsee

We decided to go check out this lake after our hike since we were not far from it. It’s pretty touristy - there is a huge parking lot and lots of little shops lining the walk to the lake. We bought a pretzel and a poncho for me (as I had forgotten my rain coat somehow) and walked to the lake. You really can’t even see much of the lake from there - the options seemed to only be that you could pay for a boat to see more? Maybe we just missed the right place to go but we were tired and over it from our hike so we didn’t see much here. At least the pretzel was good and I rocked the heck out of that poncho.

Stop 3: Innsbruck, Austria

After our 2 nights in Salzburg we headed off to Innsbruck, which we were happy to see was not a far drive. It was also very beautiful - the tiny Austrian towns are all beautiful to drive by. We were also so happy this day because the weather finally seemed to be turning in our favor.

Where to stay

Innsbruck did not have an IHG hotel or a Hilton, but it did have a Marriott. I was surprised to learn that I had enogh Marriott points to book the AC Marriott in Innsbruck city center, as we don’t typically stay in Marriott’s but we have a couple of times. I decided to pay an extra €35 for an upgrade to a higher floor and a king bed (at home we basically have a double bed so we like to enjoy larger beds when possible!). We ended up on the highest floor with a really lovely view. This hotel was gorgeous, recently remodeled and perfectly clean. Each floor also has a small balcony (no furniture on it so we just stood but it was very nice to look over the city at night).

How to get around

We just walked everywhere in Innsbruck as we weren’t trying to go any further than that. We parked our car in the hotel parking garage and did not touch it again.

Where to eat & drink

Innsbruck felt super touristy as far as places to eat and drink and seemed to largely be European chains, at least in the city center. I would not really recommend either of the places we ended up going as they were mostly chosen for patios over quality of the food or beer and I did not love either of them. Next time I will have to do more research on where the good food in Innsbruck is hiding! At the end of the day we ended up ordering a pizza from Lieferando (the Austrian version of Thuisbezorgd also known as Takeaway.com) and eating it in our hotel room.

What to do

Nordkette Cable Car

My wonderful friend Jessica had told me, when she heard that we were going to Innsbruck, that we HAD TO go up the cable car to the top of the mountain. The cable car was an easy walk from our hotel so we decided to check it out. It was not crowded at all and they were enforcing mask wearing so we decided to go for it. We bought the ticket all the way to the top, which has 2 transfers - but on the second transfer we found ourselves in a little restuarant area with a beautiful overlook of the city. We couldn’t tell where exactly the next cable car would take us but as it was already almost 3 and the cable car stopped at 5:30 we decided to just stay where we were. We had a beer overlooking the city and then walked on path past a bunch of mountain goats to see the overlook. It was very beautiful and peaceful and we were so happy we had listened to Jessica and gone up!

River walk

The river flowing through Innsbruck is very beautiful. It is a very light color of blue which we had never seen before! There is a pretty little path along the water which we walked down from the cable car back into the city.

Stop 4: Grainau, Germany

This is the part of the trip I was most excited for. I had fallen in love with this area in photos and I was so excited for the hotel I picked.

Where we stayed

For this stop I had found the most amazing looking hotel online called Hotel am Badersee and I was IN LOVE. This was hands down the places I was most excited to stay and it did not disappoint. It was so incredibly beautiful. We had a patio overlooking the water which is where we spent most of our time.

It also included breakfast! They had a very nice restaurant. I think it used to be a buffet but because of covid it was now a buffet with glass around it where you told the person on the other side what you wanted and they served it to you.

How to get around

The hotel gives you a little card when you arrive that gets you a discount on some attractions (though I don’t know what those are) and also allows you free use of the bus. We used this to take the bus to Lake Eibsee which was only 2 stops (8 minutes) away.

Things to do

Lake Eibsee

This is the larger lake in the area (the lake our hotel is on is very small). It had a good amount of people but not overly crowded and we avoided the areas with crowds (like the lines to rent boats). We walked down the paths a bit until we found a spot with some rocks where people were swimming and decided to swim here. While we were swimming we saw there was a whole REGULAR BEACH a bit further down so we climbed back up and went and hung out there. The water was cold but bearable and it was so, so beautiful. We relaxed on the beach and looked at the beautiful view and swam and just enjoyed a nice lake day!! We even went back the next day to do the same thing again.

Zugspitze

This is yet another cable car up to the top of a mountain :) This is the highest peak in Germany. It was a bit foggy when we were up there and the view didn’t seem as fantastic as some others, but it does have the highest beer garden in Germany so obviously we stopped for a beer :) It was much more expensive than other cable cars at €60 each though!! It’s also right next to Lake Eibsee, so after your trip up you can relax at the lake!

Where to eat & drink

We spent the majority of our time at the hotel for meals. The breakfast was free and dinner was just easy there and they had a beautiful terrace to eat on. You could walk about 15 minutes into the little city of Grainau to eat but our restaurant had nice food so we opted for that instead. We also went to a grocery store on our first night and got our own beers so we could drink on our patio instead of in the bar.

We did also enjoy a nice beer garden that they had on Lake Eibsee once it had calmed down and was pretty empty :)

Stop 5: Lake Titisee

We had originally picked this as a stop to explore the Black Forest but honestly by the time we were there we were over driving and decided to just leave the car and enjoy the lake and our hotel instead.

Where to stay

We booked a room through Boutique Hotel Alemannenhof which ended up booking us a room at what I believe is a sister hotel called Nature Titisee. The reception is through hotel Alemannenhof but the rooms are on a hill a short (but steep) walk up from the hotel. Luckily breakfast is served directly at the hotel. They were sort of like little apartments with only a few rooms in each building. They also had very nice balconies overlooking the lake. It’s about a 15 minute walk from the main part of Titisee which meant it was nice and quiet. It also had a private beach on the lake. They give you a card for discounts on attractions which also gives you a free pass to take a boat shuttle into Titisee (we didn’t use the pass other than this)

Where to eat & drink

This was another one where we largely ate at our hotel, but we also learned we should’ve planned ahead. The first day we arrived starving at 2 PM - we had planned to eat on the road but it was somehow impossible to find anything to eat on the road. We went immediately to the restaurant where we learned that from 2-6 they only serve cake and alcohol! We decided to have a drink while we plotted where to walk to in Titisee to eat instead (the city is about a 15 minute walk from the hotel).

The next night, we came to the hotel for dinner at about 6:30 and learned that it was entirely booked up and we should’ve made a reservation! We were too tired to walk into the city so we asked if we could just wait for a possible table and have some beers. Luckily around 8 they had a table for us and we were able to eat dinner there, which we were very thankful for.

Moral of the story: don’t be like us. Make reservations!

Kuckucksstube

This was a hotel with a restaurant inside where we ate our one meal worth talking about in Titisee. We sat on their patio (which was conveniently very empty when we were there). Austin had a schnitzel which he said was very good, and I had a flammkuchen which is sort of like a pizza/flatbread type thing. It had hummus and some sort of paprika spread on it along with arugula and I really enjoyed it. They were also very friendly here, and I would go back if I were in Titisee again.

Things to do

Mostly we just hung out on our hotel patio, hung out at our hotel’s private beach on the lake, and relaxed. We did walk into Titisee to rent a pedal boat though and then explored the lake for about an hour and a half. It looked a lot like Oregon and we really enjoyed being out on our own little boat!

Stop 6: Heidelberg, Germany

This one was recommended by my friend Cansu. She said it was a must stop in Germany because it was such a cute little town.

Where to stay

We stayed at a Crowne Plaza (part of IHG) in the city center, which we also booked with points. The hotel was quite nice. It was across the street from a Rewe city (grocery store) which ended up being very convenient! It also had a pretty nice little bar inside, though the restaurant was closed due to covid.

What to do

We only had about a half a day in Heidelberg so we mostly just wandered around down the river and through the Altstadt (old town) area. The buildings were all super cute. The old bridge near the Altstadt area has a lovely view of the castle. Next time we go I’d love to go tour the castle as well as I’ve heard good things about it!

Where to eat & drink

Vetters

Austin picked this out as the place he wanted to have a beer and we decided to eat lunch there as well. We shared sausages with sauerkraut and a side salad and it was all very good. The beer was also very tasty. We sat on the patio and were able to watch people walking by and just admired how cute the little town was.

Goldener Hecht

After our reservations fiasco in Titisee we made sure to make a reservation for our last night in Heidelberg. Our first choice of restaurant was Schnitzelbank which is famous for schnitzel but they were booked up so we found this place on google. It was very nice! They had a nice patio that was right across from and overlooked the bridge. Austin got (surprise) a schnitzel and I had more sausages. We both enjoyed the food and the atmosphere!