My wife. three kids (ages 15, 13 and 10) and I are planning a trip to the southern part of Germany for early August. We’re from Canada, enjoy hiking, biking, would like to visit a few castles and a waterpark. This will be our first trip over seas, but we are kind of rookie travelers, thus my post.
We arrive in Munich (via plane) and are planning to spend 4-5 days in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen area (where I read there is excellent hiking and some waterfalls) before making our way to the Oberkirch area. There we’d like to visit the Schwarzwald National Park (for more hiking), and Europa Park.
Are there any sites that should be on our must see/to do list?
I’ve been doing a lot of reading/watching youtube on the different customs to try and prepare, but just wondering if I anyone has any pointers or advice?
We were planning on renting a vehicle in Munich (we got our international driver’s licenses) until we leave on a train from Freiburg. I’m a little nervous whether its necessary to rent a car, but it looks like the trains/buses don’t run everywhere we’d like to go in the south.
I’d like to book my accommodations in the next week and have been looking at [booking.com](https://booking.com) for places to stay. With a family of 5 we have to choose between two hotel room or a single apartment. If we choose to stay at hotels i like that we could choose one that has breakfast included (and/or pool), but that isn’t a deal breaker. Are hotels pretty common in Germany or should i be looking for or staying away from an apartment? Not sure what most people are doing. Is there a better service than [booking.com](https://booking.com) that I should be checking out?
Thanks for any advice!