sdfamily

I'm trying to plan a trip to Germany for next fall. We'll be using miles on American, so I'm trying to figure out an itinerary that works. If I change planes in LHR, we can fly into MUC and home from FRA. Otherwise, we would fly in/out of FRA nonstop from DFW.

Oh, we're traveling with three kids (12, 9, 4). I think we'd prefer to travel by train and just rent cars for day trips. We have 12-13 nights.

Our priorities are:
Bavaria
Salzburg area
Rothenburg
Rhine/Mosel

Flying into FRA
Rothenburg - 2 nights
Salzburg area - 4 nights
Fussen/Garmisch - 3 nights
Cochem - 3 nights
Frankfurt - 1 night before flight

If we fly into Munich from LHR it would look like:
Salzburg area - 4 nights
Fussen - 3 nights
Rothenburg - 1 night
Cochem - 3 nights
Frankfurt - 1 night before flight

Does this look feasible by train?
Would you eliminate one of the areas? Maybe just do the Rhine/Mosel and the Salzburg area with Rothenburg in between.

My husband and I have both been to Munich before.

Thanks!

Bird

Yes - your trip is feasible by train. A car would give you more flexibility, but I happen to like taking the train in Germany. Very civilized. (And you might bump into Heidi Klum.)

swandav2000

Hi sdfamily,

Like Bird above, I love using trains here in Germany. I moved to Garmisch-Partenkirchen last Oct, don't have a car, and get around just fine. I've visited Rothenburg (from Frankfurt airport) as well as Salzburg, without wheels, and again got around just fine. I know there is a bus to Füssen from Garmisch, so again, you'll be just fine. Haven't been to Cochem however.

I really don't think you even need to rent a car for day-trips!

In case you don't have the rail sites, here they are to help with planning:

www.bahn.de (German rail)

www.oebb.at (Austrian rail)

You probably won't need the Austrian rail site, but there are some regional busses that don't show up at the DB site. Doubt you'll need them, but -- just in case!

Also be sure to use the correct spelling for Füssen (or Fuessen) or else you'll go to the actual town of Fussen.

Have fun!

s

traveller1959

Option 1 has the problem that the train ride from Garmisch to Cochem is at least 7 hours with 3 changes of trains - will be a pain especially with the kids and baggage. Option 2 works better.

For train connections, use www.bahn.de

nytraveler

I hate to say it - but that looks like a roa trip to me.

I'm sure it could be done by train - but the cost for 5 people - as well as organizing all of those train trips seems a lot. Have you checked out schedules on bahn.de?

bettyk

Avoid LHR if possible and fly thru DFW on AA to Frankfur. We have done this on our last 4 trips.

I like the "Rhine/Mosel and the Salzburg area with Rothenburg in between" plan. You could probably include Bamberg in that plan as well.

Palenque

Yes anywhere in Germany is feasible by train - two trains an hour between key cities and even good service to smaller towns. Consider the German Railpass and you just hop on any train anytime - no reservations required or needed IME - though if i wanted five seats together i'd go first class - esp with kids those ages. For great dope on German trains and railpasses: www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/ - and you can also consider the online specials on www.bahn.de - the German Railways web site - if you want to lock yourself into specific trains on specific dates and can't change tickets perhaps then you could perhaps save some money over a railpass. But the key of a railpass in Germany is that you can use it on any train anytime (few exceptions are the ICE Sprinter trains that an average tourist will never come across and a few private charter trains run by companies like Connex - but still the zillions of trains you use it on - compared to full fully flexible fares the railpass is a great bargain - but again depends on what itinerary you decide on and distances, etc.

sdfamily

It does look like a road trip. I spend so much of my time in the car as it is, that I'd like to take advantage of the trains.

I did check out some of the times at bahn.de. Option 2 does work better as far as train times and connections.

Maybe just splitting the time between Rhine/Mosel and Salzburg with Rothenburg in between is the answer. Less traveling from point to point. We did a similar trip in Spain - splitting our time between Granada and Sevilla and that worked great! Kids were not cranky and we had plenty of time to explore.

We could do:
Rhine/Mosel - 4-5 nights
Rothenburg - 3 nights (day trip to castles with car)
Salzburg area - 4-5 nights
Frankfurt - 1 night

Looks much better?

Russ

Agree with Bettyk. Garmisch and Füssen (very overtouristed) add a lot of mileage and make the trip to Cochem that much longer. Do your alpine exploring around Berchtesgaden instead; you can tour Würzburg's Residenz palace while in the Rothenburg area as well. And spend a little more time in the Mosel/Rhine area - it's VERY kid-friendly. Biking along the Mosel is terrific. At Burg Rheinfels in St. Goar, kids can climb around on the castle ruins rather than stand quietly on a guided tour. And in Cochem, take time to see the falconry show at Reichsburg Castle, right in town - it's great. Cochem has a waterpark (Moselbad) should the kids want some typical kid-fun stuff as well.

Throughout Bavaria, take advantage of the Bayern ticket daypass. It'll get the 5 of you all around (on the regional trains) from Salzburg almost to Frankfurt (Kahl, anyway) for 28 Euros. A similar daypass (Rheinland Pfalz ticket) exists for the region between Mainz and Cochem. When traveling between Bavaria and Cochem, a route that crosses 3 different states, look into the "Quer Durchs Land" pass or the "Happy weekend" pass on Sat or Sun.

Mainhattengirl

I would take that non-stop flight. With 3 kids and jet lag to boot, you will be glad that you did.

bobthenavigator

With 5 I would drive that itinerary for sure.

Palenque

well i am not sure - five in a typically small European car can be tough too with kids that age - and German trains i believe even have family compartments on high-speed trains or at least rambunctious kids can run around, a bit.

Plus in the U.S. kids are always doing family trips by car - a train trip may be their only such chance to do one - due to the paucity of trains in the U.S.

joannyc

I don't know that I'd eliminate Neuschwanstein... I think the kids would love it! But, you don't need 3 nights in Füssen.

sdfamily

Palenque - that's just what I was thinking. We always do trips by car/RV in the US. I think the train would be much easier.

Now I'm thinking ...
Fly into MUC via Chicago and Brussels, or just fly to FRA and take train (it's about the same amount of time)

Train to Prien (stay 4-5 nights). I picked Prien because it was on the rail line between Munich and Salzburg. Day trips to Berchtesgarten, Salzburg, etc. by train.

Train to Nurmberg - stay 3-4 nights, day trips to Rothenburg, Bamberg by train

Train to Cochem - stay 4-5 nights, day trips to Trier, Rhine by train

Leave FRA on 2pm flight SAN via ORD

Maybe on the way to Nurnberg we'd be able to nit Neuschwanstein or as one of our day trips from Prien.

I don't think we'd need railpasses. If can I book the main point to points that are not covered by the day passes (e.g. Nurnberg to Cochem) online ahead of time. Then, use Lander tickets for the other days. As far as I understand, I can go online and for 5 euros, book seats on specific trains. By booking seats we would be able to reserve a parent/child compartment (on some trains).

Although traveling by train without a railpass requires a little more advance planning, I've looked at the bahn.de site enough to feel comfortable with the planning and booking of the trains.

Palenque

Although traveling by train without a railpass requires a little more advance planning, I've looked at the bahn.de site enough to feel comfortable with the planning and booking of the trains.>

At least you have all the info there to compare and if you can nab the 29-39 euro trains yeh and if you do not require flexibility - i would make seat reservations - i think not included in the online ticket prices but not sure if you want five seats together or the family compartments (if they exist on trains you are taking) - you can do this online as well - at the same time you book (again not sure but think seat reservations are not included in online fares automatically - someone please correct me if so!)

And as they say in Germany Have a Gute Fahrt - or good journey (hope i did not use that above!)

olijoc

Hello,
We just spent 13 nights in Germany (in July) with a 14 year old. We travelled by train; this was our itinerary:
Flew into Frankfurt
Train to Cochem, spent 3 nights
Train to Bacharach, spent 2 nights
Train to Rothenburg, 2 nights
Train to Mittenwald, 3 nights
Train to Munich, 3 nights
Flew to Scandinavia but will leave that part out.

Most of the train rides were pretty doable EXCEPT for Bacharach to Rothenburg (5 hours, 5 train changes and track changes and no escalators, up and down many steps) and the trip from Rothenburg to Mittenwald (same # of hours and train changes). Less than 1 minute to get you and your luggage on/off train. We loved Rotenburg (our 2nd time there) but unless you really want to see it, it's difficult to get to by train. Maybe if we had gone there via a different route...

The Rhine and the Moselle River Valleys are very beautiful. I would try to centralize where you stay, if possible, as too much train travel gets old pretty quickly. It depends where you want to go and what you want to see.

As for the train travel...it was allright for us but a 14 year old is able to do it, I don't know how you would manage with a 4 year old. There are usually many stairs to navigate if changing tracks without the use of an escalator. I would do train travel again without hesitation, however, I don't think I would do it with 2 children the ages of your 2 youngest. Without changes, on a short train ride (maybe 1-1 1/2 hours) it's not bad.

nixrtkls

How much did a trip like this cost?

Palenque

Most of the train rides were pretty doable EXCEPT for Bacharach to Rothenburg (5 hours, 5 train changes and track changes and no escalators, up and down many steps) and the trip from Rothenburg to Mittenwald (same # of hours and train changes).

Well yes check schedules as Bacharach to Rothenburg need not be so so hard

the best route would go by local train Bacharach to Mainz - then ICE to Wurzburg - then regional train to Steinach and shuttle train to Rothenburg

3 changes and a total of 4h 18 min - the last bit is a 14-min shuttle train from the mainline at Steinach. Mainz and Wurzburg stations IME would need no stairs or escalators. so go to www.bahn.de - German rail web site and look at possibilities so you do not travel more than 5 hours and have five changes of train (i see not such 5 changes of train on the bahn.de site so am perplexed how that came about)

Palenque

Rothenburg to Mittenwald seems yes to involve at least 4 and usually five changes of trains - mainly at small stations with just a few platforms but these stations are also less likely to have lifts and require stairs - but this is all on the bahn.de site and it even gives platform numbers in stations - like in Augsburg Hbf you come in on platform 5 and leave on platform 5 (for the time i put in) but the point is to use bahn.de and see what kind of changes are involved and where - at huge stations like Munich you rarely have to go up and down any stairs and all mainline platforms are accessed from the main station area - no needing to take stairs or lifts to reach adjoining tracks as in many stations.

sdfamily

Here's what I've researched on the train trips that we would have all of our bags with us:

Munich - Prien am Chiemsee: no changes

Prien am Chiemsee - Nurmberg: 1 change in Munich

Nurmberg - Cochem: 1 change in Koblenz or 2 changes in Frankfurt and Koblenz

These seem like good connections to me. All of the other trips would be day trips and the cities I've chosen as 'home bases' are on major rail lines (I think).