German TI tour vs. Private Guide vs. On Your Own
 

My family and I are taking our first trip to Germany in June. We plan to sleep in Beilstein, Rothenburg, and Munich, but day trip to many other cities. I notice that many cities/towns have TI tours once a day and I am wondering how crowded and informative these are. Private Guides are much more expensive, but may be necessary in some larger cities (Nuremberg?). Or, we can simply move about at our own pace using a Rick Steves guide book. Does anyone have any suggestions for which is best in a particular city?

I am especially concerned with Wurzburg, Nurnberg, Wurzburg, and Trier.

I am also weighing a day trip from Munich to Herrenchiemsee vs. one to Neuschwanstein. The former is only 1 hour from Munich and we are flying out the next day.

Any opinions?

TTT
Hoping for suggestions.

I have no idea what TI tour is, but I do recommend sightseeing on your own. German towns/cities are easy to navigate especially where there is a walled old town such as Nurnberg & Rothenburg. The city walls will clearly tell you where most of the interesting sights are. Buy a guidebook like "DAYTRIP GERMANY" by Earl Steinbicker. It has a map & selftour guide narration for each town/city, then you can select what you want to see.

Chiemsee will require a good part of your day to see as you will need to take a scheduled ferry to the island, then a horsedrawn cart/walk to get to the palace on the island. Then you have to wait again for a scheduled palace interior tour.

Wurzburg has two main attractions(Residenz & Festung) besides its old town. It may be easier to haul everyone if you have a car or take a taxi.

Trier is very easy to enjoy as the sights are concentrated between the roman Porta Nigra and the cathedral. There is a good Park Inn hotel (the hotel chain is related to Radisson SAS)

Sorry about that DAX. TI means Tourist Information. So a TI tour is the regularly scheduled one that runs out of the local Tourist Office. They usually have one in English each day.

I guess you are saying that sightseeing on my own would work just as well as a tour with a guide, as long as I tote a good guidebook.

Although Herrenchiemsee is a full day trip, I do think that it might be shorter than heading south to Ludwig's other castles, especially since it is an hour closer to Munich. Do you agree?

I suppose it's a matter of choice. I prefer to sightsee on my own so I can pick & choose what I want to see and how long I want to linger plus I don't have to wait for a guide to start. I make copies of the city pages that I plan to visit so I don't walk around carrying the whole book.

It's been a while since I went to Chiemsee but I think it takes about the same time as visiting Neuschwanstein from Munich because of the ferryboat ride schedule. I personally prefer Chiemsee as it looks less disneyish. I also like Linderhof castle which is small but beautiful and much closer to Munich.

I just read your other posts about travelling with 3 teens. In that case you should consider taking Mike's bike tour of Munich and the Nightwatchman tour in Rothenburg. These are more entertaining than the typical TI tours. Have a great time!

BTW, if you're staying in Beilstein you should consider visiting Schwaebisch Hall (east of Bad Wimpfen). Just an hour south of Stuettgart, there is a hilltop castle complex called the Hohenzollern castle. It has a fairytale setting with a unique entry way and interesting interior(guided tours are in German only). I believe the last German Kaiser spent some of his youth there. It's just outside the town of Hechingen.

I would get at least one <b>additional</b> guidebook besides the Rick Steves. You can easily tear out the pages you don't need and leave them behind if bulk is an issue.

You do not say what your mode of transport is but as to Herrenchiemsee, the information above is essentially correct. You have to wait for the ferry at Stock but those lake steamers run all day and the trip across the lake take about 20 minutes. Once on the island itself you have the choice of walking to the palace or taking ahorse-drawn wagon/carriage.

There are periodic tours of the interior in English. The palace itself is well worth the effort IMo since it is the <b>largest</b> of all the Ludwig buildings (more than 200 rooms) and IMO is the most elaborately decorated (including Linderhof here) in that it was designed to be a miniature Versailles. The interior includes, among other things, a scaled-down Hall of Mirrors.

Herrenchiemsee is one of the most popular tourists spots amongst the Germans and you'll see fewer tourists there than you'll see at Nuschwanstein..but there will be many visitors and for good reason.

The Disney Cinderella castle was actually based on a building in France but DAX's comment just shows how far-reaching Disney images have become.