I have been extremely impressed with the suggestions offered up in these forums and will thank you in advance to entertain my request... We will be driving from Frankfurt to Zurich and back to Frankfurt in 10 days next May and I was hoping to get some ideas for interesting places to stop or visit. The routes/areas/towns we have an interest in already are:<BR>Frankfurt<BR>Ruedesheim<BR>Heidelberg<BR>S trasbourg<BR>Black Forest<BR>Zurich<BR>Lake Constance<BR>Romantic Road/Rothenburg<BR>Please excuse any mis-spellings of the locations, and, again, thank you for your help with this!

It's been several years, but a few random thoughts from my memory of a similar trip...<BR><BR>Neuschwanstein (sp?) castle is definitely fun to visit, the others of Ludwig's castles are also worth a visit. We really enjoyed driving some of the backroads and stopping in random rural villages in addition to the main tourist stops; there are usually small inns or &quot;zimmer frei&quot; available. If you are a bit flexible, the zimmer mode can be fun; basically they are B&amp;Bs, typically not fancy, but meeting some solid inspection standards from the local tourist agency. A phrase book comes in handy; the older ladies that usually run them often don't speak english. <BR><BR>If you have time, a detour around to the Salzburg area is very nice.<BR><BR>We didn't find the Black Forest area all that interesting (but tastes vary, of course). The Mosell valley (and the stretch of the Rhine around Coblenz) was very interesting to us.

Pam, would definitely recommend the Lake Constance (Bodensee in German) area. We stayed in Lindau in May and it's very scenic. We also spent the night in Oberwesel on the Rhine River at the Auf Schoenburg Castle Hotel perched on the hill overlooking the town and the river. Took a little detour and also drove into Strasbourg for lunch. Looked interesting and worthy of more exploration on another trip. Finally, Rothenburg is one of my favorite places, but I think you might be veering off course too much from your other areas of interest. Best to save it for another trip.

Pam, your trip is very doable for 10 days. You might want to save Rudesheim for your last night before flying home, and I'm not sure how many of those towns you plan to stay in, but I'd suggest something like this:<BR>Leave Frankfurt, drive to Heidelberg for lunch and sightseeing. Are you a walker/hiker? If so, then you might want to stay in Heidelberg in order to have the time to walk up Philosophenweg to get a great overlook of the town. If not, I'd go on to Rothenburg and spend my first overnight at Reichs Kuchenmeister, a wonderful old (1400s) hotel with a fabulous restaurant, which means you don't have to go out that evening (a big plus for when jet-lag kicks in that evening!!). Spend another day there, then start driving the Romantic Road south to the Bodensee. If you want to take the whole route, when you get to Nordlingen, wind your way over on the Schwabische Albstrasse (Hwy 466) to Nattheim and then join Autobahn 7 at Heidenheim; go south to Ulm (if you want to see the cathedral there)and on to Memmingen for the fastest route. Understand this travel will eat up an entire day, and that's with few if any stops. From Memmingen, you will arrive at Lindau on the lake. I highly recommend seeing the old castle at Meersburg, and then would take the ferry across to Konstanz, but if you'd rather go straight into Switzerland, you can do that from Lindau. It's an easy drive on to Zurich. Not sure what your plans are for staying there, but leaving, I'd go into Germany on a scenic route through Todtmoos to Hinterzarten by way of Titisee. Then go through Freiburg to Colmar, which you may like as much as Strasbourg for its &quot;Petite Venice&quot; canal layout and Alsatian architecture. Great food, too! From there, you can head back towards Frankfurt and stay on the Rhine your last night (or two). Just my thoughts, there's lots more to see/do in the whole area, but you'll have to give us some hints about what you're looking for. Best wishes...

From the BLack Forest you can get to Zurich either by going east in Germany and going by the Rhine Falls or by going south to Basel and then east towards Zurich. If the former, stop by Stein am Rhein. If the latter, there is the Vitra Museum just outside Basel but in Germany. It is a chair museum with a building by Frank Gehry. In Weil, a suburb of Basel and a couple miles from the Vitra Museum, there is the Beyeler Foundation for Modern Art. The building is a wonderful museum building, quite understated in comparison to Gehry creations.

Thank for your excellent suggestions! One further question, is there any advantage you can think of to doing this itinerary clockwise (Frankfurt-to-Romantic Road and on) rather than counterclockwise (Frankfurt to Ruedesheim)?

I think Ann's itinerary sounds great (I personally would skip Ruedesheim, it's just a tourist trap --- and not a very pretty one at that. (I grew up in Frankfurt, studied in Konstanz, and my family lives in the Black Forest now.) This looks like a fun trip!

Pam, this is my own personal recommendation, but we stayed at the Auf Schoenburg Castle Hotel in Oberwesel before departing from Frankfurt Airport the next day for London. The entire drive took about 1-1/4 hrs and part of it was spent along the very scenic Rhine. The hotel is quite lovely and we had a fabulous meal in their gourmet restaurant. Our beautifully decorated room only cost around $130. Before dinner, we had drinks on the terrace overlooking the Rhine and wished we had allowed more time at this special place. Here's their website address:www.hotel-schoenburg.com.

Pan, I absolutely agree with Betty. We always spend our last night in Germany at Schonburg. It's an easy drive to the airport from there, esp. if you get one of the flights that leave about noon, and it's a magical place to stay. That's why I suggested the clockwise trip, so you'd end up near the airport for your trip home. Either is okay, but I have to say, I also agree with Ingrid that Rudesheim would not be my choice of somewhere to stay. However, it all depends on what you want to see/do. Either Schonburg (in Oberwesel) or somewhere in Rudesheim will work for your last night, whereas going counter-clockwise will mean you have to leave Rothenburg and stay somewhere nearer the airport before departure. And thanks for the nice words, Ingrid! Best wishes for a good trip, Pam.