starman_deluxe

Tacking on a vacation after a business trip from June 15-19 (I'll be in Prague before those dates for more tourism). This is obviously pretty last minute. I wouldn't have a car and would plan on using Munich/Salzburg as a base, with a few side trips (perhaps Rothenburg, Nördlingen, Regensburg, Neuschwanstein Castle).

The weather forecast looks bad (rain every day). Because of this, should I consider finding a different destination? The length of time, bad weather for views, and no car in Germany would detract from the experience?

sparkchaser

I guess it depends on what you want to do. If you wanted to see museums, then go for it. If you wanted to walk around and sit in Biergartens, I'd pass.

June 15 is 9 days away, the weather may turn out to be not bad.

Fussgaenger

You'll spend too much time on ground travel if you try to hit all those small-town destinations you mention. You only have 4-5 days. Munich and Salzburg alone would use up most of that. The train to Rothenburg from Munich takes 2.5 - 3.5 hours each way!

If you want to see some smaller places, I'd strongly recommend focusing just on Regensburg (UNESCO World Heritage old town) and other places to the north (maybe Rothenburg, but very touristy.) Bamberg (Also UNESCO WH) is excellent - more charming than Salzburg and plastered with brew pubs and brewery/restaurants. Nuremberg has much of what Munich offers and IMO is more fun and more easily navigable. If you stayed in Nuremberg (less than 4 hours from Prague by direct IC Bus, the German Railways' alternative and not bad at all) you could day trip by train to Regensburg, all the other towns I just mentioned, AND even Munich; these places are all just 1-2 hours away.

sparkchaser

The benefit of Nuremberg is that from there Rotheburg and Bamberg are both very easy to do day trips.

And excellent point on the DB bus service from Prague to Nuremberg.

traveller1959

Forget the weather forecast. Everything that exceeds 3 days is totally unreliable.

Right now, it is not bad in Germany. Although we currently have rain every day, it is mostly a 20 minute shower in the evening, with beautiful sunshine the rest of the day.

Since it is too warm to wear a rainproof jacket, we usually have a foldable lightweight umbrella with us.

sla019

>The benefit of Nuremberg is that from there Rotheburg and Bamberg are both very easy to do day trips.<

Ok, Munich is one of the biggest german cities, Nuremberg is medium size (500.000); Munich offers world class museums, Nuremberg does not (the Germanic Museum, however, is well worth a visit). On the other hand, Nuremberg offers many historical attractions, and other interesting old world towns are not far away: Bamberg 50 min, Regensburg 1h, Würzburg 1h, Rothenburg 1:15. For Bamberg and Rothenburg, you can use the a local VGN ticket (»Tagesticket Plus«), which is valid all the day round or all the weekend (e.g., for the price of E. 18.70 you could go to Rothenburg on Saturday and to Bamberg on Sunday, cf. http://www.vgn.de/CFF6B06F-C0B4-11D7-AE44-00034709FE0C), for Regensburg and Würzburg use a »Bayern ticket« (valid from 9am on weekdays, all day on weekends). Accomodation is cheaper than in Munich.
Meanwhile the wheather is fine.

sla019

The link above doesn't work. Search for "Transport for Greater Nürnberg" at www.vgn.de.

sparkchaser

http://www.vgn.de/CFF6B06F-C0B4-11D7-AE44-00034709FE0C

Macross

Munich has the BMW tour which is wonderful. You can get on the train for a day trip to Garmisch or go north to Nuremberg. I would not worry about weather. Plenty of places to pop in and out of in Munich and is a great city.

sparkchaser

Love your name, Macross.

deladeb

Please ignore the forecasts. We were supposed to have bad weather each day last year in Germany and Switzerland. Not just rain but thunderstorms. Perfect all week.