We're planning to travel through southwestern Germany into Switzerland and back in June. I'm having difficulty planning the trip back to Germany from Switzerland as we wish to explore along the way, so need to have the travel distances be reasonable (ie traveling time 5 or 6 hours max) to accomplish this.

So, here's how it looks now:

Arrive FRA, 3 nights in Rhine/Mosel areas.
Travel to Berner Oberland, 3 nights Grindelwald. Possible travel to either Montreux or Luzern for 2 nights. Travel back to southern Germany. We would like to travel at least a part of the way along the Romantic Road to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Stay 2 nights in Rothenburg. Then back to FRA for return flight.

We are a family of four (2 teens, aged 18 and 16). This trip we are interested mainly in the scenery, rather than museums, although we, undoubtedly, will see a few museums, esp. if we stay in Luzern.

We will have a rental car in Rhine/Mosel and Rothenburg areas. The rest is undecided, depends on route.

Your ideas and recommendations are appreciated. Thanks

Are your flight plans written in stone yet? If not, it would seem to make more sense to fly into Frankfurt and then out of either Zurich or Geneva (aka, flying "open jaws&quot. This would allow you to do an itinerary roughly as follows (it's not clear how many nights you have to spend):

1. First 3 nights in Rhine/Mosel area (which is terrific; check out the Berg Eltz castle in Mosel valley)
2. Train to Rothenberg for 1 or 2 nights.
3. Rent a car and tour the Romantic Road to Munich for 2 nights.
4. Train to Berner Oberland for 3 nights.
5. Train to Montreux for 2 nights.
6. Fly home from Geneva or from Zurich.

This itinerary has much less back-tracking and is probably a more efficient use of your time.

You could also substitute 4-6 above with these:

4a. Pick up car again after Munich, and explore Bavaria and Tirolean Alps by car for the next 2 or 3 days.

5a. Train to Luzern for 2 nights.

6a. Fly home from Zurich.

Hi DeeDee,

I think travelling from Germany to Switzerland and back again will be a bit much. Have you seen the train scheduleas at www.rail.ch or the driving routes at www.mappy.com?

If you haven't already purchased your tickets, I think you ought to get an open jaw, flying into Zurich and out of Frankfurt -- that'll save you some time. If you could do that, you could fly into Zurich, spend two nights in Luzern to get over jet lag, then go on to Grindelwald, Montreux, and on to Germany -- still a lot of road time.

s

Sorry Edward2005, I didn't read your post carefully -- I see I just seconded your suggestions.

s

Flight plans are already locked in, so there's no options on open jaw.

We don't want to alter the plans to travel to Switzerland either.

Anyone else have suggestions, especially on route from Switzerland to Bavaria to connect to Romantic Road (southern portion)?

I'm not clear on how many total days you have on the Switzerland to FRA leg of your trip. Is it just 2 nights?

Hi Again,

I did a quick route check at both www.mappy.com and www.rail.ch, and both send you via Zurich and Lake Konstanz. So, I'd stop in Schaffhausen one night and maybe Ulm or Augsburg if you need another night enroute. I've heard lots of good things about Schaffhausen -- do a text search here.

Good luck!

s

Rufus T Firefly: "Message: I'm not clear on how many total days you have on the Switzerland to FRA leg of your trip. Is it just 2 nights?"

We have planned three nights in Berner Oberland. Could add two more nights in either Luzern or Montreux. Then would still have 3 more nights.

We could also skip the extra two nights (Luzern/Montreux) in Switzerland. Then we would have 5 nights remaining.

Also, Rufus, thank you for your many helpful posts about Germany. I have found your Germany info to be very helpful planning this trip.

swandav2000: Thanks for the suggestion about Schaffhausen. I'll check that out.

Also, just to note, we have been twice to Munchen already, have seen Neuschwanstein and are not interested in revisiting those areas.

DeeDee

I know nothing about driving, but I'll jump in here anyway and suggest that you consider Lindau on Bodensee (Constance) as a halfway place to stay. It's about 3 hours from Lucerne to Lindau and another 3 from Lindau to Munich by train. That time includes one change. I have not got a clue as to if driving would be faster or slower, but I do know that Lindau is an interesting town with a lovely harbor and the possibility of boat trips to other villages and to Mainau Island. J.

On the other hand (always another hand), if you've had enough of lake towns, then S' suggestion re Schaffhausen is a good one for a small city, if you pair it with a tiny look at Stein am Rhein, famous for its painted buildings. Later, J. (Hi, S.)

Thanks jmw44!

I had been thinking about Lindau. Seems like a good stop-over location. Haven't had a chance to check a map on location of Schaffhausen, but I will.

We have been thinking of traveling only on trains in Switzerland and switching to a rental car in Germany. So...the first stop back in Germany would need to have a car pick up location and a train station. Thanks, appreciate your suggestions.