We really enjoyed the time we spent in Rothenburg. If you stay the night you will be there after the day trippers have left. You can walk around, have a nice dinner, take the watchman tour then the next morning you can walk around a bit (the park is lovely and relaxing) before heading on to your next destination.

In order to visit the Hohenschwangau castle near Füssen you should better be there early in the morning - it is the most crowded place in whole Germany. But the drive from Salzburg is very long - about three hours. This looks like a difficult day, if not impossible.

You can purchase your tickets ahead for the castles, if you choose.

http://www.hohenschwangau.de/543.html

Hi,

While we've never been to a spa, check out Bad Reichenhall, less than 30 minutes from either Salzburg and Berchtesgaden.

www.bavaria.by/spa-thermal-pools-in-bavaria/a-spa-rupertus-therme-bad-reichenhall-bavaria

We prefer to stay in the Berchtesgaden area for our visits to Salzburg. It's less than a 30 minute drive between the two. We've stayed over a dozen nights in the Berchtesgaden area on 4 trips during the last 6 years.

While we've only driven the "German Alpine Road" from the Reit im Winkl area to Berchtesgaden, it wasn't "all that" in my opinion. Nothing really special along it you won't see (or drive) anywhere else in Bavaria. The best (most scenic) part was closer to Berchtsgaden. That's not a bad thing, as the scenery in Bavaria is gorgeous in general, just nothing out of the ordinary. Simply my opinion.

IF you go with Bad Reichenhall instead of Baden Baden, you could possibly spend more time "in the Alps", meaning Berchtesgaden area, Mittenwald/Garmisch area, even the Innsbruck area, etc.

Paul