Bavaria-Need help with iternary
 

We and another couple are planning a trip to Bavaria from Oct 10-18. First time to Germany and the goal is to see as much as possible. We will have a car. Here is my tentative plan: <BR>Oct 10-11 stay in Munich (Already got hotel)<BR>Oct 12 (Saturday): Pick up car and tour Regensburg, Bamberg<BR>Oct 13(Sunday): Wurzburg and Rothenburg<BR>Oct 14 (Monday): Morning at Rothenburg, then drive along the Romantic Strass.<BR>Oct 15 &16 (Tuesday& Wednesday): Castles and Ruette, Austria<BR>Oct 17: (Thursday): Salzburg<BR>Oct 18: (Friday): Fly home <BR><BR>Any suggestions on the initial iternary? Any places I should skip? Do I need to make hotel reservation ahead of time during Oct? I like to stay in gasthof or small B&B, any suggestions? Thank you<BR><BR><BR>

Your itinerary sounds good. I think you can comforatably drive all of that. Do you have a place to stay in reutte?<BR>The gusthoff zum Schluxen is very nice. The Inn keeper is so polite and helpful. We enjoyed it. It is a bit hard to find, so get good directions.<BR>You should try to stop at some of the villages in the Alps on the way to SAlzburg.Also, the lake district near Salzburg is a must do.

I think that if your goal is only to see things in passing that your plan is a good one, but IMO trying to see Munich in a day and a half will be difficult (especially if you wanted to include Dachau or the Olympic stadium or any museums) and seeing Wurzburg AND Rothenburg in a day and a half is impossible. On Sunday in October things will close earlier in Wurzburg (the Fortress and the Residenz close at 4pm during that time of year)in Rothenburg most places stay open a bit later(5-6 pm depending). Rothenburg is surprisingly(I thought) large and there are so many things to discover. Make sure you take a stroll on the sentry walk. Stop in one of the souvenir shops and get a city guide, very informative and the map is helpful...actually, we pick one up in every city we go to. I hope you enjoy your tour of Germany and Austria and if you need any info on Wurzburg or Rothenburg, I would be glad to help. I wouldn't want to leave any of what you had planned out, they are all great places but I think you should consider paring down just to give yourself the opportunity to enjoy it. You have to factor in all the time you will have to spend not seeing anything, You have to figure in at "least" an hour(probably longer) for every meal you eat in a restaurant and finding parking can present a challenge at times (I would recommend parking at the Residenz and walking around from there, if you are going to the fortress, they have lots of parking up there too) and a stau on the autobahn is always a possibility. Personally, and I know others will disagree, I would leave out Bamberg and that area this time around and focus on the Romantic Strasse area.

For your goal--first time to Germany and the goal is to see as much as possible--your itinerary sounds good. You can see the highlights of the places you've selected in the time you've alloted, providing you do some good planning. Read the Michelin Red Guide city maps to be sure you know which autobahn exit to each city you need to take to get to the tourist center. Check their maps for parking near the center of the things you want to see and head for it. Have a couple of restaurants in mind to head to in the area. All of this is very doable with good maps and some good travel guides--and provided all four in your party can get up early and hit the road timely. I've recently found Thomas Cook guides to have wonderful maps with walks in city centers. If they have guides to the places you're going, check them out. The places you've selected are very enjoyable. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.

Now this is going to sound strange, but I would rather skip Wurzburg than Bamberg. As someone else mentioned, there is a great deal to see in Rothenburg, so you might consider going straight there. If I'm way out of line, please, someone, elaborate on what you loved about Wurzburg. Of course, you'll have a wonderful time with the route you've chosen. And German food and beer taste especially good in October I bet. <BR>J.

Your itinerary sounds too tight. At least for me. I visited Regensburg in June this year, Bamberg last year. I cannot imagine you could see both cities in one day. It took me more than three hours to get a first impression of Regensburg, which is extremely beautiful. I was not able to see the castle St. Emmeram and the town hall - not enough time, but I will surely come back.<BR><BR>I spent two full days to see almost everything in Bamberg - but was not able to see the nearby famous Basilika Vierzehnheiligen and convent Banz.<BR><BR>You should better skip two cities. Which two? I don't know. I guess you have to decide if you want to see romantic well-preserved medieval cities (Rothenburg, Regensburg, Bamberg) or cities, which were destroyed in World War II with rebuilt, but isolated spectacular sights (Munich, W&uuml;rzburg).<BR><BR>Ingo

I agree with the previous poster. You are way too tight. We only had one day and one night each in Bamberg and Regensburg and were very sorry in each place that we did not have another day. And, even more than Rothenburg we enjoyed the smaller villages in the Romantic Road area. Also, we spent some time in Passau and took an enjoyable cruise out of there up the Danube. Driving is going to take you a whole lot longer than you think. I'd rething my plans if I were you because I think you will be spending all your time in the car.

I agree. It's possible, but too hyperactive on days 12-14 to see much.<BR>And you're staying in 3 different hotels on 3 different nights, packing, unpacking, checking in and out, etc.<BR><BR>Suggestion: Make Rothenburg your base for 3 days and see northern Bavaria from there. You can then see Rothenburg at your leisure...<BR><BR>Oct 12: Regensburg, overnight in Rothenburg<BR><BR>Oct 13: W&uuml;rzburg (Residenz might be open 'til 6 since hours aren't cut back 'til "mid-October".) The town itself and the view of the river and fortress from there are both wothwhile, too. Stop in Weikersheim, another attractive town on the Romantic Road with another palace <BR>(www.schloesser-magazin.de/eng/wk/wkthe.htm)if you have extra time.<BR><BR>Oct 14: Bamberg. Don't drop this from your itin. Try a meal at a brew pub (Brauereigastst&auml;tte) in the old town. Do try to see Balthasar Neumann's Rococo Vierzehnheiligen, north of Bamberg near Staffelstein. Overnight again in Rothenburg.<BR><BR>Oct 15: Drive south. You shouldn't have trouble reaching Reutte (although I would think F&uuml;ssen would be far enough and equally scenic) <BR><BR>This seems better to me :)<BR><BR>Russ<BR>

Rothenburg accommodations:<BR><BR>http://www.rothenburg-info.de/rothenburg-info(e)/indexe.html<BR><BR>F&uuml;ssen accommodations if you're interested: <BR><BR>www.koenigswinkel.de<BR>(Hit "Zimmer-suche", then select "Privatvermieter" in the top pull-down box for private B&B's, then hit "Suche starten" below, and you'll get a complete list.) The tourist office can book these places for you as well should you be concerned about language issues involved in contacting the people directly.

Thanks all for the suggestions thus far. I think I'll drop Wurzburg from this trip for now and take Russ's suggestion using Rothenburg as a base for 2 nights (Oct 12 and Oct 13) and visit Bamberg on sunday . Here are two other questions: 1)Is Regensburg worth staying overnight? From what I read it seems a nice city relatively undamaged in Worldwide War II. 2) We are picking up the car in Munich on Saturday, should we get the car from the airport or from the train station? (Our hotel in Munich is the Forum hotel near the German Science Museum, therefore, not sure which location would be more convenient). Thanks.

I believe that your hotel would be near the Isor River. It is about a 5 to 10 minute cab ride to the Hauptbahnhof(HBH). <BR><BR>To get to the airport you will need to take the S Bahn and it is about a 45 minute ride from the HBH.<BR><BR>The car rental agencies are on the 2nd floor of the HBH, but the cars are in a separate building about 150 to 300 yards away. <BR><BR>Seems a tossup to me, although you do eliminate the cost of the tickets to the airport on the S bahn if you rent at the HBH.<BR><BR>Munich is not a difficult city to drive in, so if you got the car at the HBH or the airport, IMHO...no big deal.<BR><BR>US

As mentioned before, Regensburg is very beautiful. As far as I know it was not damaged in WW2.<BR><BR>It is definitely worth a stay overnight. If it is in your price range I recommend the 4star Hotel Bischofshof am Dom www.bischofshof-am-dom.de Very good local food and beer, too. BTW, talked with some american tourists there. They enjoyed their stay very much.<BR><BR>The medieval centre of the city is a large pedestrian area. You will find some patrician towers (similar to those of San Gimignano/Tuscany, but they are not as remarkable as these in S. G.) from 13th/14th century, plenty of medieval houses, narrow cobbled streets, nice shops and restaurants.<BR><BR>Must sees: <BR>Dom (church) St. Peter (guided tours)<BR>Castle Thurn & Taxis (guided tours)<BR>Basilica (church) St. Emmeram<BR>Romanesque bridge across the Danube (fantastic view of the city)<BR><BR>Very enjoyable is a boat trip on the river Danube to the Walhalla.<BR><BR>Have a great trip!<BR><BR>Ingo

Just read through quickly. Ruette, I suggest stayting at the hotel Maximilian found at www.maxihotel.com/default.htm. The Koch famiy is very lovely and Gabie is awesome. We visited there last year and enjoyed every minute of that area. We plan on returing in 2003 if all goes well around the world.<BR><BR>Good luck!<BR>

Another suggestion for Reutte (area), from a previous (old) post - - ironically, just posted two minutes ago for someone else seeking recommendations on accommodations there.<BR><BR>Author: Rex ([email protected])<BR>Date: 04/30/2001, 09:02 pm<BR><BR>Message: I think that the Rick Steves' enthusiasm for staying in Reutte is basically sound, though it has been 6 years since I stayed there (once).<BR><BR>We stayed at Alpenhotel Ernberg in Breitenwang (right adjacent to Reutte)<BR><BR>www.hotel-ernberg.at/index.shtml <BR>Tel. 0043 5672/62533 <BR>Fax 0043 5672/62533-40<BR><BR>and I give it a solid recommendation. <BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Vickie,<BR><BR>Your Forum Hotel in Munich is quite close to the subway, it's the Rosenheimer Strasse stop. We stayed in Munich in June at the Hilton, which is right across the street from the Forum. We rented our car from the Avis location downtown, saved about 15%, as I recall from renting at either the airport or train station, which are both surcharged. <BR><BR>You can easily get around Munich by subway--very inexpensive, groups of five or fewer get a group subway ticket good for 24 hours. For example, our family of four traveled from the Munich airport to the Hilton subway exit for 15 Euros. This is a 45 minute ride. <BR><BR>You can easily walk to Marienplatz from the Forum Hotel, about a mile to a mile and a half.<BR><BR>If you're trying to save some money, rent a car just as you are leaving Munich. Use public transportation from the airport and around the city.<BR><BR>

Vickie, Russ's suggestions are all excellent and I second all but the one for staying in Rothenburg and making day trips. I would personally rather pick up and move in order to spend more time in a place and less time driving out and back, but that's a personal recommendation. If you do decide to move around a bit, I absolutely recommend the beautiful Vierzehnheiligen basilika near Staffelstein, which sits on a hill facing the almost equally beautiful Kloster Banz on an opposite hill. A good, simple place to stay is the Gasthof Maintal, on the road below between both. Room w/breakfast should run about 50 euro, and the attached gasthaus restaurant has good regional food. In Regensburg, we really enjoyed staying at the Sorat Insel-Hotel, an historic monument, an old factory directly on the Danube which is now quite chic - rooms on the water about 150, and a fabulous nighttime view it is. I also think Reutte is overrated as a stop; why not stay closer to what you'll be seeing? The Rubezahl in Schwangau is very attractive, out of town in a meadow, rooms with a view of Neuschwanstein for less than 100 euro, and an excellent kitchen. Think about Oct 10-11 Munich; Oct 12 Regensburg, Oct 13 Bamberg, Vierzehnheiligen; Oct 14 Rothenburg; Oct 15-16 drive part of the Romantic Road, then join the autobahn and zip straight on down to Schwangau to see Neuschwanstein. In the a.m., go early to Wieskirche, then on to the Linderhof and into Oberammergau and Ettal before either returning to Schwangau to o'night or stay in Oberammergau/Ettal and leave for Salzburg the next morning. The distances are close, but I like to get out a bit in the evening in different places to dine, look around, see people. One caveat: October in Bavaria is a busy time because the Germans all like to get out in the mountains and see the fall colors, the cows coming down from the meadows, etc. So I'd try to make reservations as much as possible, esp. with your cramped schedule... you don't want to be driving around trying to find a bed. Good luck... it's a great trip!

Dee,<BR>Would you by chance remember the Avis Downtown location address that you rented the car? I am trying to figure out the nearest rental locations other than the one at the Train Station (Hertz or Avis) that I can picked up the car before leaving Munich. I tried to look up the address using mappy.com but having trouble figure out where and how to get to the addresses listed on the Avis or Hertz websites. Thanks.

make sure you read Karen Brown's Inns and Itineraries book (Germany,Austria,Switzerland edition)<BR>We've been to Europe approx.7 times (last year for 3 weeks with teen) and her recommendations are always reliable on the most picturesque inns and some hotels. Detailed descriptions.<BR>Last year was the 1st time we reserved rooms ahead of time due to 2 families travelling and e:mail was a god send.<BR>Karen Brown also has a fantastic website.<BR>There is a super restaurant in the center of Munich in the basement the famous Ratskeller (city hall), but the name escapes me. Terrific German food, gorgeous Teutonic decor (you'll love walking around) and good service.<BR>On your way to Salzburg, if you have time and desire, there is a darling town named Rattenberg (right off the highway) which is famous for handblown crystal glasses - lots of shops. We even purchased and had them ship approx.50 wine glasses home. Great prices (as well as shipping prices) and not 1 broke. <BR>If by any chance you decided to stay in Austria an hour from Salzburg high in the Alps is the Romantik Hotel Boglerhof,in Alpbach(tiny, picturesque town). Highly recommend the hotel. We stayed for 6 days - 2 story room with huge balcony (watch clouds float by). Realize you have a very packed schedule, though.