Bavaria

Holidays by Destination Europe Germany Bavaria Attitudes to Kids 

As Germany's prime tourism destination, Bavaria knows how to cater to families. It is staying ahead of the game with a programme called Kinderland which lists members who provide child-oriented facilities, childcare, and plenty of children's activities.

Classification for family oriented apartments, hotels, farmhouses and camp sites is based on more than 80 criteria. For hotels these include family rooms, play areas in and outside, children's menus, smoke free zones, electric socket guards, blinds and curtains to darken the room, buggies to borrow, baby rucksacks for guests' use, nappy buckets, bottle warmers, baby listening, changing mats and the like. There are also standards for childcare, activity programmes, and options like table mats for the children to decorate, and paddling pools. At camp sites restaurants must offer at least three different vegetarian children's meals, provide children's cutlery and crockery, small lavatories or lavatory seats, and safety equipment like child gates.

Offering at least 40% of the suggested features qualifies for a three-bear rating, 65% qualifies for four bears, and five bears may offer as many as 90%.

The number of members is growing and they include theme parks, petting farms, and leisure pools. In addition two regions (the Bavarian Forest and Alpsee Grunten in the southwest) and 17 communities have been designated as child friendly.

The web site, Kinderland lists members and offers ideas of what to do and see in a specified area, and if you search on a particular attraction, can provide details of family-friendly accommodation nearby.

Play

A number of hotels, particularly outside the towns, offer play areas, as do smaller resorts and even towns. In Passau for example there is an extensive play area on the land where the rivers Danube and Inn join up. The games often incorporate designs and ideas which have not yet reached the UK.
Child-friendly resorts offer regular and even daily children's activities during July and August - details from the local tourist office or in the literature with the bear symbol. Even non German speakers can enjoy themselves at these - particularly given that most adults running this kind of thing speak at least a little English.

Baby Changing Facilities

Reasonably common at tourist attractions, particularly in the Kinderland resorts, these are also found for example at motorway service areas.

Buggies

In towns there is plenty of suitable paving suitable for buggies, but in villages and small towns you may well find yourselves walking along busy roads without a pavement so something larger and therefore more visible would be safer. If taking mountain walks and hikes a three-wheeler or baby backpack would be preferable.

Breastfeeding

Although long-term breastfeeding rates (at nine months) are roughly similar to those in the UK, initial rates are far higher so there is much more expectation of breastfeeding. And while Bavaria is a more conservative part of the country, there is a genuine undercurrent of Germanic liberalism to support breastfeeding mothers.

Babysitting

On offer at Kinderland hotels and some others as well.

Baby Stuff

Brands are largely the international ones and include some of the eco-frendly and organic ones as well such as Weleda for baby products and Hipp. Prices vary with supermarkets still the best place to look, but smaller in-town stores also carry good ranges. Pampers Midi 56 €9.95; 50 Moltex 50 super €3.99.