Bavaria (Summer)

Bavaria is the Germany most people picture, with its snow-covered Alps, painted house fronts, onion-domed churches and crystal blue lakes. Part of the tourist picture is traditionally dressed women in dirndls and men in lederhosen clicking foaming steins of beer to zither music, and while few wear the traditional clothing, the rest of the picture is what visitors will find. Throughout the landscape weave the stories of King Ludwig and his tragic cousin, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known affectionately as Sisi. Ludwig's fairy-tale castle at Neuschwanstein and his glittering palaces at Linderhof and Chiemsee, along with the woodcarving town ...

Bavaria is the Germany most people picture, with its snow-covered Alps, painted house fronts, onion-domed churches and crystal blue lakes. Part of the tourist picture is traditionally dressed women in dirndls and men in lederhosen clicking foaming steins of beer to zither music, and while few wear the traditional clothing, the rest of the picture is what visitors will find. Throughout the landscape weave the stories of King Ludwig and his tragic cousin, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known affectionately as Sisi. Ludwig's fairy-tale castle at Neuschwanstein and his glittering palaces at Linderhof and Chiemsee, along with the woodcarving town of Oberammergau, the ski center at Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the home of the Expressionist Blue Rider school at Murnau on the Staffelsee form a line of attractions at the foot of the Alps. The year-round train and cable car to the top of Zugspitze, Germany's tallest mountain, offer some of Europe's finest Alpine views. North of Munich, Bavaria includes the beautiful, stately Danube cities of Regensburg and Passau.

About the Expert

Barbara Radcliffe Rogers has written or coauthored more than 30 guidebooks, including The Portugal Traveler, Drive Around Portugal, City Spots Munich, City Spots Helsinki, City Spots Stockholm, Eating New England, and the Maine section of Thomas Cook's Independent Traveller USA.