Germany and Austria in one week
 

Hello!

We just made a last minute trip to go to Germany and Austria next week (Friday, May 6- Sunday, May 18.)

Flight in: flying overnight on Friday to Frankfurt getting in for Germany's morning on Saturday
Flight out: out of Frankfurt on Sunday morning

Help me do an itinerary for one crazy week in these two countries. We love seeing as much as possible and are find staying somewhere new every 1-2 days.

Definitely want to see:
Germany:
Bavarian/storybook village
Castles
(no preference on Germany cities, really there for the aesthetic and cuteness)
Austria:
Vienna
Salzburg

Will probably be traveling via train
Let me know what you think! Thanks!

Flight update
 

Update: now flying out of frankfurt as well on that sunday

I think I'd ask why are you flying to Frankfurt when you want to south east Germany and Austria especially the Eastern end of Germany?

Assuming you are booked to fly here without the chance to change I'd look at two alternatives

1) Drive to SE Germany asap or
2) Change your plans and holiday in Western Germany where there are lots of nice castles and Beethoven was born in Bonn.

The driving on the motorways between Frankfurt to Bavaria and then to Austria are tough driving especially on Mondays and Fridays, there is no way around them and you need good advice from locals or your car rental company on which roads are most clear of maintenance etc.

Once in Austria you will need a motorway certificate, talk to your car rental company about where to get them.

Sorry I missed the point about taking the train.....

More and more convinced that you need to redesign your holiday plans to be based around the Mosel and the Rhine which are easily accessed from Frankfurt. use bahn.de to plan actual details but read seat61.com to understand how to use the system first. Trier, Worms, Warzburg, possibly Ulm should be your objective.

Hi kathryn12,

Do you have any Bavarian villages in mind? If not, some to consider are Oberammergau (but with the Passion Play going on this year, it will be overrun), Mittenwald, and Füssen (or Fuessen), which is near the palaces of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. You may want to consider Garmisch-Partenkirchen as well, as it's in a good location to see all of those towns & palaces, but it's more of a pretty town than a storybook village.

For your train journeys, use the German rail site at www.bahn.com. Best deals on tickets are sold about 3 months in advance, so the cheapest tickets may be sold out, leaving the more expensive ones available. Also, the cheapest tickets cannot be changed or cancelled, so it may be a blessing to make your arrangements now.

Let us know as your plans become more concrete, and we may be able to help more.

Have fun as you plan!

s

Rothenburg ob der Tauber would be a good choice; accessible by train from Würzburg.

https://flic.kr/p/7wfpY3 https://flic.kr/p/7wfpMU

How about something like this:

May 7: Land at FRA, train to Wuerzburg - there are direct trains with no changes, so it is an easy trip, overnight Wuerzburg
May 8: In Wuerzburg - with possible day trip to Bamberg or Rotheberg obT, overnight Wuerzburg
May 9: Morning train to Fuessen - afternoon sightseeing in Fuessen, overnight Fuessen
May 10: Visit Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles, overnight Fuessen
May 11: Morning train to Salzburg, afternoon sightseeing in Salzburg, overnight in Salzburg
May 12: Morning train to Vienna, afternoon sightseeing in Vienna, overnight in Vienna
May 13: In Vienna
May 14: Morning sightseeing in Vienna, afternoon train to FRA
May 15: Flight home from FRA

This will be a whirlwind trip, but it will allow you to see the things on your list .

Although the above plan is doable, you will be spending an awful lot of your time on trains rather than on sight seeing.

Yes, definitely a lot of time on trains. It isn't an itinerary I would choose for myself, but for someone who wants a fast-paced itinerary and doesn't mind spending a fair amount of time in transit, it could work.

Two things worth a stop on the way from Frankfurt to Rothenburg ob der Tauber:

Miltenberg... beautiful old market square, picturesque streets and alleys, lots of half-timbered houses
Weikersheim Palace and Gardens... depending on weather, gardens could be spectacular

On the way south from Rothenburg odT, we enjoyed Ulm although it's more of a city than a town/village.

Farther north, we enjoyed Bamberg, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and Bayreuth. This area is famous for its beer.

I'd leave Austria for another trip. There's too much to see in the limited time you have, especially if you drive the more interesting secondary roads rather than main motorways.

Oops. I missed that you were thinking of traveling by train. You need to speed some time searching train timetables... to find which "storybook" villages actually have train service and how much time it takes to get from point to point.

I'd still leave Austria for another trip. Salzburg to Frankfurt Airport by train takes 6 hours. From Vienna, about 7 hours, although there is an overnight train (about 8 hours) with sleeping cars and no changes that arrives Frankfurt Airport at 4:00 a.m. on that Sunday. You could fly VIE-FRA, but check fares.

I think this version would only work if you were already familiar with these places and we not getting off an international flight with no previous knowledge of the countries and transport conditions. It is efficient like a tour bus and may work for experienced travellers. For instance, the first day might well be spent in Würzburg (and I think this is actually a very good suggestion) but I would not expect to see all too much before you conk out and sleep it off with jetlag. Then you would want a day to see Würzburg town and the Residenz, so that is your second day, missing out Bamberg or RodT (both are not possible and with the length of time it takes to get to RodT, I would say it is probably Bamberg that might be a more likely day trip). So you would have to choose either the Residenz (your castle) or Bamberg. The rest of the trip is not too bad, but a bit fast-paced and no wiggle room if someone gets sore feet or gets sick and wants a morning to themselves. Which might be OK for a short time. Better for you would be flying into Munich and out of Vienna, or worst case, Frankfurt and Vienna.

Or ... do as bilboburgler says and make this a trip focussed on the Rhine and Mosel, which has all your castles, has fabulous wine, a boat cruise, easy train access and is close to Frankfurt. If your flight plans are already set in stone, you should definitely think about this shift. This can be a lot more flexible if you need discretionary time and a week would be perfect there.

Lavandula

Is there any way to change your flight to Munich? Even if it was $300 more to do it, you would save on wasted travel days and cost of travel back and forth to Frankfurt. It would add at least one day of sight seeing to your trip and your last night could be spent still seeing Germany, rather than on a train.

From what you have described, Munich and Bavaria generally are where you will want to go while in Germany. It was by far my favourite city I visited in Germany - the people are incredibly hospital, the food is amazing (pretzels big enough to put your arm through the bottom to hold it) and the landscape and architecture is utterly divine. From Munich you can also access Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau as someone else has suggested. I did an organised tour to both of these places in a day trip from Munich (which also included bike riding around Swan Lake) and it was incredible.

I didn't go to Salzburg and regret not going so I can't comment on it, though you'll find it quicker to get to Salzburg from Munich than Vienna.

I also agree with the previous commenter re changing flights - Frankfurt is a business oriented city and to avoid wasting time I would fly in to Munich.

If you want something a little different, I would highly recommend Hamburg too. You don't need long there and it is a nice mix of old and new architecture (cleaner than Berlin) and is a really lovely place to visit (and catch a show if you like musical theatre).

Agree with some of the added comments" You are probably flying in/out of the wrong airport to enjoy Bavaria and Austria unless you want to spend countless hours on trains. Munich Airport would save you a ton of time. And with only a week for your holiday you will be losing so much valuable time. If you have to stay with Frankfurt airport consider changing your plans to enjoy the Mosel Valley and Rhine Valley villages. Numerous picturesque villages with colorful half timbered houses, numerous castles and great foods and wine. Check out Cochem, Boppard, Traben-Trarbach, Bernkastel-Kues, Beilstein, Trier, Koblenz, St. Goar (with a beautiful castle overlooking the Mosel) . Also reachable is one of Germanys finest castles Burg Eltz. Although not a beautiful as Austria in my opinion, Luxembourg is also reachable by train in 2 hours or so from the Mosel. Your last night should be in Mainz prior to you flight home. A beautiful town on the Rhine and only about 30 minutes from Frankfurt Airport by train.