RosieinOz

We are changing plans somewhat and may have a car for our trip around Germany, rather than go by train. We like to visit smaller out of the way villages and "smell the roses" ( even though we are traveling in December)!
We will come into Germany from Strasbourg or the south west area and will be returning to Geneva at the end of this leg of our trip.
We figure a loop around to include Berlin and Munich and smaller towns in the black forest and romantic road and Rhine areas perhaps? Is this too much?
All help appreciated!
Rosie

Lynda_bcn

Berlin is way off the route as you describe it so if you do want to do Berlin for sure I'd consider looking for a cheap flight to/from other places on your route, esp. as it's winter driving. Germanwings and Airberlin have cheap domestic flights in Germany.
Bear in mind it'll be cold, could be snowy even and days are short so you have to plan carefully to avoid lots of "night driving". Over on tripadvisor (dare I mention it) there's an American expat who often does long posts on sights in the Stuttgart area. I personally know the southern Black Forest and parts of Romantic road, plus Frankfurt area and upper Main, all beautiful, but have visited mainly in the summer (apart from Frankfurt area as I spent a "year abroad&quot. Lots of pretty small towns east of Frankfurt such as Gelnhausen; from there not too far down to Würzburg and on to Rothenburg etc. Bamberg and Nürnberg also worth a visit.

ira

Hi R,

It is much easier if you keep all of your posts on one thread.

I have given you directions for Strasbourg-Dijon-Geneva which you don't need because you can pick up your car in Strasbourg, drive through Germany, go on to Dijon and drop the car there.

Go to www.viamichelin.com to map your route.

How many weeks do you have?

Berlin is rather out of the way.

RosieinOz

Thanks Lynda and Ira!
We thought it would be great to see Berlin...our son raves about it.
Our other option would be to Fly into Berlin then train to Prague then Munich. After that we could hire a car to do the Romantic Road and Rhine areas the only problem with that is the need to return the car in Germany before going to Dijon and Geneva... which we would have to do by train or hire again in France.
If we pick up a car in France we can get a lease car which we did last year and it was a great experience and quite cost effective but you have to lease for at least 17 days.
We are concerned about winter driving but the consensus when I asked here was it wouldn't be a problem.
Thanks again for the advice.
Rosie

Hans

I agree that Berlin is pretty much out of the way and you’d spend twice the better part of a day driving there and back (maybe 6 hours from Munich to Berlin).

December is Germany is a time of short days and even during the day light you have a good chance that it’s mainly grey. In other words, it isn’t a very good time for driving and enjoying the landscape. I think that your plan with flying to Berlin, taking a train to Prague and then train to Germany might be the better option. It might be an idea to interrupt the train travel to Munich in Nuremberg with its famous Christmas market. You could rent a car there to explore Franconia which has some real gems. You can then drive to places which aren’t main rail hubs but are easy to reach by car from Nuremberg (Bamberg, Rothenburg, maybe Regensburg, Würzburg is also close). Then drive or take a train to Munich.

If you want to plan your trip, you might want to use a route planner as www.map24.de

GSteed

Try, DW-TV. Inquire about tour routes. Today they did a special about bike routes near Hamburg.

ira

Hi R,

You are putting too many boundary conditions on your problem.

Unless you have unlimited time and funds:

You can have a car to drive through France and Germany if you fly into Stuttgart, but you have to leave out Berlin and Prague.

You can visit Berlin and Prague but you have to leave out Alsace and Burgundy.