I lived in Munich for close to 3 years. The garden at Nymphenburg Palace (Schloss Nymphenburg), the palace grounds, and the palace itself are WELL worth a visit. Been to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, too!

Make sure you post on the results of your travel, for those of us unable to partake. Garden travel jealousy........

As posted elsewhere, absolutely don't miss Insel Mainau, on the Bodensee (Lake Constance).

I lived in Stuttgart for a while. Ludwigsburg (northeast of Stuttgart) also has nice palace gardens, known as "Blühendes Barock" (blooming baroque) at the Residenzschloss (Resience palace). Check out http://www.ludwigsburg.de/SiteMap/Inhalte/Tourismus/Sehenswuerdigkeiten/Sehenswuerdigkeiten.en.html and then click on Blooming Baroque.

In Stuttgart itself, check out Wilhelma in the Bad Canstatt part of town; it's a zoo and a botanical garden. Check out the link below. Sttutgart also has a number of vineyards that you can walk through. There's also a Chinese garden (Chinagarten) at the Hohenpark Killesberg.

In Tübingen, check out the botanical gardens, http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/isp/sip/information/touristinfo/botangarten.html or http://www.uni-tuebingen.de.

Monica

Here is a link that might be useful: Wilhelma - Stuttgart Zoo & Botanical Gardens

Another thread to roust from its slumber.

Let's have a review from the spring/summer travelers! How was it? New, same, indifferent?

I'll be going to Germany/Rhine valley; western Austria; and northern Italy in October. If nothing else, how were the roads? Several Alpine tunnels were out of commission when I was there last.

Hi Viburnum,
We flew to Frankfurt (because it was cheaper than Munich). This was a MISTAKE if you are headed for Southern Germany. The day we arrived we spend 6 hours getting to Chiemsee, which is Germany's largest lake.

A couple of times we found road construction on the Autobahn and traffic crawled. However, we were able to take several guided tours around the area, and lots of times we went by the 'scenic route.'

Next summer we are going there again and flying to Ramstein AF Base. Generally the roads were great. Not crowded in late June. If you get down to Garmisch/Partenkirschen you will go crazy looking at flowerboxes, flower beds - flowers everywhere.

We took a side trip from there to Innsbruck and visited a gorgeous public garden where they filmed part of The Sound of Music.

The "Sound of Music Tour" was terrific. They take you by bus to many locations where they filmed and some locations where the REAL VonTrapp family lived and sang. I highly recommend this trip. It was not in the last "Hokey."

The food was excellent. Lots of organically grown fruits and vegggies everywhere. The ice cream was the best I have every eaten and I ate cones and Eis Kafe EVERY DAY! Twice a day I was in the ice cream parlors which are everywhere. I'm going back next summer to live it up again in the ice cream department. HaHa. I hope you get to go too. Write me if you have any questions.