Reservations? Or take our chances in October?

We will be visiting Munich, Innsbruck, Salzburg and the surrounding areas during the third week of October.

Hotel reservations for the first 3 nights and our final night in Munich have already been made.

As far as the middle 4 nights; how busy are the Bavarian and Tirolean hotels that third week of October? Should I make reservations or can I try out my high school German (Haben Sie ein Zimmer frei...) at hotels and guest houses along the route that look interesting?

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If you are traveling by car, you should be OK making arrangements for accomodations as you travel, you have a large range of possibilities. If you are traveling by train, I wouldn%26#39;t want to lug baggage around while looking for a place to stay on the spur of the moment, although tourist offices can probably help.

For Salzburg itself, I always recommend staying in the old town (for its lovely ambience) where you cannot drive around looking for a hotel. Of course, you could park and look for one, or just make reservations beforehand.

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high school German works. If you have an idea of the cities you want to stay in I would recommend making the reservation in advance. I have been running around at the last minute without a room more than once.

What part of VA?? Virginia Beach here.

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October is pretty slow around here. Pretty cold, but not cold enough for snow.

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Thanks for the tip marcopolko. You provided me with excellent advice over two years ago when I was planning a trip to Bavaria so I am glad to see you are still actively helping people on this site.

We will have a car. I was originally planning on spending two nights in Innsbruck. At issue is to make the reservations in Innsbruck and drive the 90 minute autobahn route that Mapquest first suggests, or take the local roads and stop in a village on the way down from Munich (Steingaden, Oberammergau, etc) and take our chances.

bwelsted, I live in Richmond, Virginia and I appreciate the advice. Virginia Beach is one of the few places south of DC with a decent German deli.

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Hi,

You say %26quot;At issue is to make the reservations in Innsbruck and drive the 90 minute autobahn route that Mapquest first suggests, or take the local roads and stop in a village on the way down from Munich (Steingaden, Oberammergau, etc) and take our chances.

First, if you know when you%26#39;ll be in Innsbruck, I%26#39;d suggest making a reservation.

We%26#39;ve traveled to Bavaria and Austria many times in October and the one trip we didn%26#39;t make a reservation (by Innsbruck) we looked for quite a while. We never did that again. With a reservation, you%26#39;ll be able to take a leisurely drive from Munich to Innsbruck.

Second, we can highly recommend the Gasthof Badl in Hall in Tirol, about 15 minutes from Innsbruck. We stayed here 3 times since 2001.

www.badl.at

From Munich to Innsbruck I%26#39;d stop at the Ettal Monestary and see the church and then stop in Mittenwald for an hour or two.

Hope this helps.

Paul