sniperslayer

Wife and I are looking to spend 3 months in Europe from Sept 2022 to Jan 2023

Our plan is to land in Frankfurt with the goal of going to (hopefully) Oktoberfest but on the way our itinerary is open.

What I've kind of put together thus far

Frankfurt - Rothenburg/Dinkelsbuhl (Stay for first night or 2 after flight

Then from there I kind of see two different branches, Going down to Stuttgart, Baden Baden, The Black Forest, Lake Constance Then to Munich

OR, another Romantic Road Town, Augsberg? and then to Munich earlier

After Oktoberfest, we then plan to most likely rent a car and go to Berchets gaden/Eagles Nest - Neuschwanstein castle and Garmisch and perhaps Lake Constance, Zugspitze and probably take 2-3 days doing that.

I guess what im asking is, is it worthwhile to include the Stuttgart, Baden Baden, Black Forest and commit at least a few extras days for this area?

Any other input on that basic overview is appreciated as well. We are open to any method of travel including car rental etc. and are very flexible. We like high quality museums but dont really care for churches or religious sites. This is going to be a long trip and we are going to attempt to slow down compared to our usual pace (5 euro trips 3-4 weeks each in the last 10 years) so we just want to eat well, be comfortable, people watch, and pay reasonable prices

lavandula

If you do that Stuttgart / Baden-Baden route, I would skip Stuttgart unless you want to see a car factory (I think Mercedes-Benz is there), and substitute Tübingen (university town), Triberg (Black Forest), Gengenbach (also Black Forest, lots of German tourists). There are a number of pretty smaller cities there such as Marbach or Freudenstadt which don't get much tourism. Freudenstadt is a Luftkurort, which I guess you might call a spa town based on the air/climate. In that area I might consider Heidelberg (also university city, picturesque, lots of tourism) also. Stuttgart I find less appealing but you might have your reasons for going there. I have not been to Baden-Baden yet in my 30 years of visits to Germany but I understand it is very beautiful, a casino city that flourished in the 19th century.

The Romantic Road is not itself picturesque, it is a marketing technique from the 1950s to sew together a number of pretty or interesting Bavarian cities (and a very successful one at that). In that area I like Würzburg, Bamberg and Nürnberg (Nuremberg). Augsburg also doesn't get as much tourism. You will be panting and hurried if you include all these cities in a visit, even if you have 10 days here. Maybe do some reading to pick your favourites or glean some more opinions here.

I think you can do many of these by train but Rothenburg is in a rail cul-de-sac and it will take you some time to get there and get out of there again. Car is in some respects better but the streets are narrow and not car-friendly, so do your homework about appropriate parking if you will be staying there with a car.

Lavandula

ml871

Lavandula is right: ordinary overland roads could be narrow in Germany. However I think a car is still the best option if you want to "eat well, be comfortable, people watch, and pay reasonable prices". For reasonable prices you should stay outside of the big cities as you´ll rarely find reasonable prices there. As you have planned to spend some more time in Germany than the average tourist it may be an option for you to stay in the countryside. There´s a web site which shows a number of hotels and restaurants - mainly in the southern part of Germany - where you´ll find excellent food and excellent beer: www. braugasthoefe.de. These restaurants have one thing in common: the brew their own beer. Also the food is great. My favourite is Schloßgut Odelzhausen. It´s quite close to my home. Try the Schnitzel! Prices are different but always reasonable - especially in comparison with the prices in Munich.
Augsburg is not very spectacular in my eyes. The only interesting thing is the "Fuggerei". The world´s oldest social housing project of the Fugger family. They were the medieval Rockefellers. There`s not much to see in the rest of the city. If you´re interested in beautiful landscape the very south would be the best option. Especially if you´d like to go to blackwood forest. It´s only the very south where you can see the typical black wood houses, the cuckoo clocks and all that. The north of blackwood forest is a lot of nature - but nothing more to be honest (my grandmother lived there).
From blackwood forest you could go to the Allgaeu. This area is east of blackwood forest but also in the very south of Germany. Again a wonderful landscape but different to blackwood forest. The biggest cities there are Kempten and Memmingen but smaller cities (especially Fuessen) are much more pretty. This is the area where you´ll find Neuschwanstein Castle - the fairy tale castle. However I`d recommend to visit Hohenschwangau which is the neighboured castle. In opposite to Neuschwanstein it´s really a medieval castle and there´s not so many tourists there. The funny thing about it: it´s still privately owned by the Wittelsbacher family - the former royal family of Bavaria.
From the Allgaeu you could then go the the Bavarian Alps. This is the mountainous region in the south of bavaria where you´ll find Garmisch, Zugspitze and Berchtesgaden.