When planning our year abroad the very first thing we set on the calendar were these two weeks in Austria and Germany. It started with a “Save the Date” from our Colorado resident Austrian, Tobias, and his fiancé, Jessica, for the end of September. Can anyone in good conscience not go to Oktoberfest when they are so close to Munich at that time of year? We lucked out, as our Seattle parenting friends Wes and Dafni (a Munich local) also felt it was a good time to visit Germany and go so far as to even host us!
This was also the easiest planning since, well, we didn’t really have to plan all that much. The wedding venue was set at the cutest mountain church and adjacent hotel in the Austrian Alps and our Germany adventure to Munich and beyond was all planned for us by our local experts. All we had to do was follow along in our slightly more banged up Croatian rental car (A wall snuck up on me in Slovenia. Stupid car with no rearview camera or parking sensors). Oh, we did have to plan a 5-year old’s birthday who had very specific, and constantly changing cake flavor and decoration preferences but it all worked out in the end!
Where Are We?
For what I’m dubbing “The Party Weeks” we spent 12 days traveling from Austria to Germany then back to Austria for a whirlwind trip filled with many friends and far too much beer and cake. We started with the wedding in Fügen, Austria before driving north to Munich, Germany to experience Oktoberfest both with and without kids. With our livers well soaked, we backtracked southeast to the hot springs area of Berchtesgaden, Germany for detox and Mae’s birthday celebration. Finally we finished our time in Salzburg, Austria for three days to show the kids where their mom studied abroad in college and sing the Sound of Music songs on location.
Enroute from Slovenia to the wedding, we drove over a few epic mountain roads, including Grossglockner Pass, the highest paved road in Austria, where the kids got to see snow for the first time this trip. Well one did, the other was passed out at nap time but Mae used her camera to take a picture for Emmett to see later, which was very sweet. We arrived at the venue, and were reunited with Adam, Cary and more of our Colorado friends (shout out for James, Ashley and Stu!) who had made the journey for Tobias and Jessica’s wedding as well. We all shared a beer and watched the sunset over the quintessential Austrian mountain valley with green pastures dotted with farms and other mountain lodges.
The next day was wedding day. We dawned our freshly acquired cocktail attire from Zara and drove to the picturesque Austrian church, where we parked in a cow pasture and hiked up a hill. The kids patiently sat through a 1 hour church service, in German, where after every song, Emmett excitedly asked “that good one, right?!”. The reception following was filled with delicious Austrian food, excellent speeches (including PowerPoint presentations) and quirky games where at one point Jessica with a blindfold was being guided around volunteers who were representing the planets of our solar system. The kids rotated eating and playing down in the hotel’s kids room until 10pm before we took them up to bed. Madeline and I spent the rest of the night alternating half hour shifts with the sleeping kids while the other danced until 1am. My favorite quote is from Mae, who noted “the wedding was so fancy that it had two soups” (two options for the dinner soup). Too bad she didn’t make it for the midnight pretzel and sausage bar! It was a wedding to remember! Congrats Tobias and Jessica!
No rest for the weary, the day after the wedding we headed to Munich to catch up with even more Colorado friends (new Munich residents: the Antognolis!) and vacation with Wes, Dafni and their kids. Graciously, Dafni’s father, who lives in Munich, let us stay with them at his flat giving us a base to explore from. Mae and Emmett were giddy to have their friends Callie and Penny to play with again, spending countless hours at the nearby forest playgrounds and river. For Oktoberfest, we did two days: one with kids focused on the carnival rides and the Oide Wiesn or “Old Market”, and one adults only with tents, singing with strangers, and of course beer. Both were awesome in their own way and definitely worth the stop.
To continue our trend of going out late and drinking followed by an ill-advised morning of packing up and driving somewhere new, we left the day after the adults Oktoberfest for the beautiful German mountain town of Berchtesgaden. We “slowed things down”, visiting kid friendly hot springs, hiking to the top of mountains and going a kilometer underground in a salt mine (seriously awesome!). The best part of the week, though, was Mae’s birthday and being able to celebrate with a few of her friends from back home. We have a full blown 5 year old now, and we are so fortunate that we get to spend this extra time with her at such a fun age.
We said so long to the Brenners and drove the short distance to Salzburg for a few days of family time before leaving for our next continent, Asia. Madeline studied abroad here for a summer in 2008 and was excited to not only revisit her favorite cities but now show her kids as well. It was quite rainy during our short time there, but we did our best to keep dry and pro tip, hotel towel warmers do a great job of drying out kids shoes. We hit all the Salzburg favorites, including Sound of Music sights, which the kids sang along with. Both kids (and dad) also loved visiting Hanger-7, the fancy Red Bull gallery complete with P-51 mustangs and Max Verstappen’s championship winning F1 car.
Favorite Experiences
Places
Here were some of our favorite activities from the trip! I put these on a map at the end of the blog along with our accommodations if you want links and more information.
- Austrian & German Playgrounds – Across both countries the playgrounds were top notch. These might not be on TripAdvisor’s “Top 10” list, but a good playground that burns kid energy is priceless. These ones had water features, zip lines and Ninja Warrior courses, which I also partook in.
- Oktoberfest with Kids – Oktoberfest is as much about the beer as it is a folk festival with food, carnival rides and activities for the kids. The kids loved the snacks and rides around the Oide Weisn and the whole area was generally less crowded than the main beer tents. We were able to get a table at one place inside with live music, where the kids all danced up next to the stage. Oh, and the pictures of Emmett in leiderhosen are priceless.
- Berchtesgaden – Cute town, restaurants with views, salt mine, 360 degrees of epic mountain peaks, and spas… what more do you need??
- Wattzmann Therme – The Berchtesgaden area of Germany is known for its hot springs, or thermes, and the Wattzmann Therme had several great pools for kids and adults. There was a wading pool that all four could stand and crawl around in. For the adults there was a timed water slide with leaderboard and tons of sauna facilities. And when I say tons, I mean like +10, each with their own specific temperature and aroma therapy going on. If you’re “lucky” you will get to be in the sauna during one of their programs where an employee waves hot eucalyptus steam in your face that melts your soul.
- Salzburg – Salzburg is fantastic city to walk around in. Every side street you go down is worthy of its own postcard. We really enjoyed going about without any particular agenda, stopping whenever we felt like a snack or the kids asked for chocolate enough time for us to relent. The Mirabell Gardens and fountains were a great spot to let the kids roam and enjoy pretending to be one of the many statues found around the grounds.
Food (& Beer)
Here were some of our favorite foods and restaurants we visited. Obviously this leg of our trip involved a lot of beer, for good reasons. The Hefeweizens, Hellas and Dunkels are some of my favorite beers of all time. The price and peer pressure made it very easy to have a second… or third. For food, it was mostly a lot of delicious sausage and potatoes and Madeline’s daily pretzel.
- Oktoberfest Food – While the centerpiece of Oktoberfest in undeniably the beer, the food is equally as impressive. The pretzels just taste better here and Madeline was able to find some great veggie goulashes. For us carnivores, the choices were more plentiful and I had a hard time choosing between the half-chicken or the massive schweinshaxe ( I went with the latter because YOLO).
- Kneifelspitze (Mountain Hut Hike) – One of the coolest things about hiking in Austria or Germany is many trails lead up to a mountain hut with delicious food and, of course, beer. The “things taste better when your hiking” mantra goes double for these places. We did have to bribe the kids every 15 minutes with a piece of chocolate to get them to the top, but the views were totally worth it!
- Steigl- Keller Restaurant – While not the main Steigl Brewery, the Steigel-Keller Restaurant is closer to the Salzburg central square and had the best dumplings (semmelknoedel) of the trip. The inside is a cross between a hunting lodge and a beer hall with the nicest staff. Madeline took me here the first time I visited Salzburg with her, so it has a special spot in my heart. Now I can augment that with our walk as a family up the hill to the restaurant in the clouds at 6pm as all of the church bells rang out in the town below.
Family Moments
- The Wedding – Obviously a highlight with epic dancing, TWO soups, and the kids somehow ended up with 3 desserts and their favorite: schnitzel and fries.
- Berchtesgaden Salt Mine – The salt mine was incredibly family friendly. It featured matching outfits, mine cart train, wooden slides (poor Emmett was not a fan), a boat with a light show, salt rocks, and the fun of pushing ALL the buttons on the English audioguide.
- Mirabell Gardens Theater – The kids and Madeline gave an epic ballet/frozen/sound of music medley performance from the stage hidden in the gardens. I was the (lucky?) solo audience member.
- Mae’s Birthday – This one had to make the list. Mae turned 5! She eventually settled on having a German cheese cake with blueberries, candy and Elsa as the decorations. We were fortunate to not only have our Seattle friends, but James and Ashley there as well, having been in the area for Tobias’ wedding. Nails were painted, presents were opened and Mae (in crown and new Elsa dress) celebrated her 5th birthday far from home. We can’t say thank you enough the Brenners and Nelsons for making it such a special day for her.
- Per Emmett (2 Yr Old): Favorite moment was “Callie” – Emmett has a bit of a crush on Callie who he says is his “best friend”. Unfortunately, Callie really just wants to play with the older girls so it’s Emmett following Callie, following Mae/Penny around.
- Per Mae (4 Yr Old): Favorite moment was “Playing with Penny” – Mae was overjoyed to be reunited with one of her friends from Seattle. They pretty much played Anna and Elsa for a week straight.
Tips & Lessons Learned
This is where we put all of the things we learned along the way about traveling in the region as well as traveling with toddlers.
About Austria and Germany:
- Oktoberfest with Kids – It sounds insane but yes it is doable and even enjoyable. I mentioned it above, but the Oide Weisn is the way to go, but we did get kicked out of the main food/beer halls at 7pm, which was fine since they were still allowed out on the grounds where we could get snacks and go on the rides, including a much enjoyed Ferris wheel.
- Driving – Driving in Austria & Germany was easy and Google maps had good navigation. Only warnings I had were 1) You need to purchase (online) a Vignette (e-toll) for driving in Austria and 2) The Autobahn speeds were tricky and it changed all the time from unlimited to 100 km/hr, then to 120 then to 130 then it was just crossed out signaling going back up to unlimited. I didn’t get a ticket so I guess I did it right?
- Salzburg Transportation – Salzburg is easy to navigate and the bus system has great accessibility, allowing us to stay in a cheaper accommodation just down the river. We had our car, but it remained at the hotel for 95% of our time there.
- Hiking Signage – Like our experience in Slovenia, Austria/Germany didn’t have the best signage for hiking routes, so make sure you know roughly which way you are going. Also, it may say it’s a 1hr hike but double it for little legs and also for the fact that parking lots are often full by the time we got to the trailhead.
About Traveling with Toddlers:
- Warning When We Aren’t Keeping Something – If you’re going to give your kids something that they won’t be able to take with them, warn them wayyy ahead of time. We bought the kids balloons (unicorn and “wee woo” car) at Oktoberfest but couldn’t take them in the car with when we drove to South Germany. In what I’m calling the Great Balloon Meltdown of 2025, all four kids lost it for a solid 10 minutes in the echo-chamber of a stairwell when we broke the news that the balloons had to stay.
Closing
And so concludes our very long “layover” in Europe. We explored apple orchards, alpine towns, hot springs and harvest festivals, all while crossing paths with friends from across our lives back in the USA. It went by quickly, and while sad to say goodbye, we are ready for our next adventure in Asia. Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Japan await. Thanks for reading along!
I smiled the entire time I read this. Love the places, the people, and could almost taste the experiences! Jealous but also so happy for y’all! 🙂
Thanks Kelly! We miss you guys and know how much you love a good Oktoberfest!
It was SO GREAT to be able to spend time with your family in Munich! All the best on your continued travels.
We loved seeing you too! We will let you know when we travel back through Europe!