Bavaria is Germany at its most spectacular and most quintessentially German, a region of such extraordinary beauty and cultural richness that it feels almost too perfect to be real. Nestled in the far south of the country, bordered by Austria and the Alps, Bavaria offers a landscape straight out of a fairy tale — and indeed, it was here that the fairy tales were born. The castle of Neuschwanstein, perched dramatically on a rocky hillside above the village of Hohenschwangau, was the inspiration for the Disney castle and remains one of the most photographed and visited buildings in all of Europe. But standing before it in person, surrounded by the Alpine scenery and with the turquoise waters of the lake shimmering below, you realize that no photograph has ever done it justice. Munich, the Bavarian capital, is a city of enormous energy and enormous beer steins — the Oktoberfest festival, held every autumn in the city’s famous Theresienwiese meadow, is the largest folk festival in the world, drawing millions of visitors from every corner of the globe to celebrate Bavarian culture with traditional food, music, and of course, extraordinary quantities of beer. The Bavarian Alps, with their charming ski resorts, crystal clear mountain lakes, and picture-perfect villages, are equally magnificent in every season — whether you are skiing in winter, hiking in summer, or simply driving through the landscape with the windows down, breathing in the fresh mountain air.
