Germany/Austria Itinerary
 

My wife and I are going to Germany/Austria in mid-April. We were in Germany/Netherlands/France 2 years ago and I am comfortable driving there. We are flying into Frankfurt, picking up rental car downtown and driving to Rothenburg. Here is a rough itinerary. Please give me some advice as far as time spent in different areas and must-sees.

Day 1 Arrive Frankfurt early morning - pickup car - drive to Rothenburg - sleep Rothenburg - possibly Haus Karin

Day 2 Daytrip to Dinkelsbuhel - sleep Rothenburg

Day 3 Daytrip to ? - sleep Rothenburg

Day 4 Drive south to Salzburg area - possibly apartment at Bauernhaus Am Moos

Stay for 7 nights and do day trips to Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, Hallstat, Zell am See

Drive to Munich, drop-off car and stay overnight near airport.

Leave for home from Munich next day

This is my first post but I have been reading the forum for the past few weeks.

Let me know what you think

Seems a shame to essentially skip Munich since you are flying out of there. There are a ton of posts on here reagrding Rothenburg, Salzburg & Munich that will answer many of your ??.

Munich is also a great place to daytrip from & there are good places to stay very near the train station. Otherwise, many of your daytrips may end up going through Munich anyway.

Thanks SAnParis. I guess I wasn't really thinking about Munich, but that is a good point. Our itinerary is very flexible right now so I guess I'll talk to my wife on a stay in Munich.

Hotel Amba is right across from the Main Train Station & a block or two from the Ped. zone. We always stay there. Where was the Apt. you mentioned located ? I also topped a Rothenburg post for you, it is a great little town (once all the tour buses leave about 4 or 5). Wurzburg is another place you might consider for a daytrip.

Canuck (east or west?)

I like Rothenburg and have spent several nights at Haus Karin (tell her hi for me.) I think three nights in Rothenburg are a bit too long. However, I love Munich and would suggest spending more time there. The museums are world class and the city has a certain vibrancy to it.

I respectfully disagree. If you are staying in Salzburg for a week there are tons of great places to see. We stayed in Berchtesgaden for a week in May and loved it. The whole area is gorgeous and filled with things to do; one does not need to go to Munich or through Munich to daytrip.

If you are looking for somewhere else to daytrip to from Rothenburg, I would suggest either Wurzburg or Nuremburg.

Good luck!
Tracy

Just FYI - there is a major trade show in Munich on 4/24 through 4/28...

apparently, hotels are pretty booked up...

Thanks for all the quick replies!
SAnParis - thanks for topping and your suggestions. The website for the apt. is http://bauernhaus.ammoos.at/index.php. I saw it in searching the forums.

Bird, East- I will say 'Hi' if we stay there.

SuzieC - Thank you. We will be returning home on the 24th.

Just another hotel suggestion for Munich if you decide to spend some time there. Have a look at http://www.hotel-uhland.de/enwelcome.html

I found it recommended here and we recently stayed there. It is a little out of the way (10 minutes west of the train station/alt staat) but a great neighborhood, friendly staff and lovely facility.

There is a bus stop a block from the Uhland which is located right across from the Oktoberfest grounds. Although slightly cheaper than the Amba, I would still choose the Amba due to location (& teh breakfast). Walking from the Uhland you can encounter some unsavory streets if you aren't careful.

Another good daytrip from Rothenburg is Schwaebisch Hall.

In case you are still monitoring this post, I thought I would add my 2 cents:

We were in Austria and Bavaria for 2 weeks last July, after a brief stop in Prague. The entire trip was fantastic, but I do have a caveat:

Because the order of our trip was Prague-Vienna-Salzburg-Zell am See-Munich, by the time we got to Munich, we were very spoiled and actually didn't think Munich was very charming in comparison to the other cities. The fact that much of it was bombed near the end of WWII and then rebuilt made it seem less than authentic in places.

I must say Munich did have a lot to do for the 4 days we were there: the Deutsches Museum, the Glockenspiel, wonderful guided walking tours from Munich Walk Tours, three extraordinary art museums (we saw the Alte Pinakothek), Schloss Nymphenberg, the Frauenkirche, etc. My only suggestion would be to start in Munich and work your way through Austria if possible. In either case, however, I would recommend spending some time in Bavaria's capitol.

Oh, one last tip: there is a website called www.gemut.com (short for a German word that translates to something like "hospitality." They bill themselves as "the only English-language publication devoted solely to travel in these three countries." I found quite a few ideas on their site.

Have a great time!!

Thanks Dave. We have booked accomodations in Rothenburg to start and will go from there. I am also going to use Gemut to book our car rental. I'll post a more up-to-date itinerary soon.

Canuck

For daytrips around Salzburg:

Hallstatt (salt mine, ice caves), St.Wolfgang (codrail!), Gosau (glacier view on sunny days), Bad Aussee (see lake Toplitzsee), Bad Ischl (emperor's villa and pastry show Zauner), Gmunden (steam boat ride and great food at restaurant Hoisn).

I was born and raised in the lake region there, am now living in the USA and am currently creating a website about Austria at www.BeautifulAustria.com Feel free to contact me through the website for more tips.

Enjoy your trip.

Reinhard

Book your room in Munich as soon as possible. Two years ago, we were there when their was a big trade show and we had to book a room one hour away from the Munich Airport. And it is very heavy traffic in the early AM getting to the airport.