Germany- Blackforest and Bavaria- itinerary help
 

Hi all,

My husband and I are traveling with another couple to the Bavaria region and Black Forest for first time in the last week in June for 16 nights. We are in our mid 30s n wanted suggestions or recommendations on the following itinerary based on your expertise. We are pretty adventurous , like to enjoy the culture, meet locals n love to eat esp desserts.

itinerary
Fly into Zurich June 27 n then take train to freiburg
June 28-freiburg or any other recommendation in black forest?
29- Freiburg
30 drive from Freiburg to mittenwald via Fussen to see neuschwestein castle on the way
July 1 mittenwald or should we stay in fussen
2 mittenwald
3 mittenwald
4 Munich
5 munich-prien
6 Munich-dachau
7 Munich
8 drive or train Munich to Stuttgart
9 Stuttgart
10 drive or train Stuttgart to Heidelberg
11 Heidelberg
12 Heidelberg to Frankfurt
13 leave Frankfurt to fly home

Questions
1. Places we should add or eliminate in Bavaria or Black Forest - Rothemburg?
2. Recommend hikes or adventure
3.. Any festivals during this period
4. Recommend best area to stay in each location
5. Hotels? Bed n breakfast?

For now, the only part of the itinerary which is confirmed is our flights flying Zurich n out of Frankfurt.

We are flexible in changing our itinerary depending on your suggestions.

We really appreciate you taking the time to help us and look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Bijal

tubingen just south of Stuttgart is one fine old town seemingly not that destroyed by war - a primo university town that may make a nice smaller town base for whatever you want to see in a
Stuttgart that is too big and modern for many. Be sure to check out the Bauhaus housing from the 1920s that is a signature attraction in Stuttgart!

I would stay in or near Fussen overnight, as it is a lovely village, with plenty to enjoy around it. Also, that gives you time to visit the Schloss Hohenschwangau on the same day as you go to Neuschwanstein (about 2km apart). And you could take the cablecar up Tegelberg for great views of the castle & valleys. This area will be super busy in late June, so see if you can book a castle tour time in advance via your hotel. We stayed at Hotel Mueller a few years ago, and they organised that for us. On your way to Mittenwald, you can stop off Linderhof Palace and the Ettal Abbey too. I really enjoyed the Romantic Road villages such as Rothenburg & Dinkelsbuhl, but they are not exactly 'on your way' between Freiburg and Fussen. Maybe you could stop there on your way from Munich to Heidelberg. Any reason for Stuttgart? Others may disagree, but I would prefer to spend more time in those small villages and Heidelberg.

"Fly into Zurich June 27 n then take train to freiburg
June 28-freiburg or any other recommendation in black forest?
29- Freiburg"

Freiburg is a pleasant enough city of 1/4 million residents at the edge of the Black Forest, but the Flack Forest is much more about rural life, and to appreciate the BF vibe I would instead take the train to one of the more typical Black Forest towns.

Haslach is a well preserved historical town northeast of Freiburg with numerous half-timbered buildings and a nice town square and town hall. It's a stop on the Half-timbered House Road and well located for short outings to other villages.

Photo: http://www.haslach.info/wp-content/u...-kinzigtal.jpg

Haslach orientation map: http://www.black-forest-travel.com/haslach/haslach.gif

Haslach is a KONUS town - like 130+ other smaller Black Forest towns, Haslach offers free train transport within the Black Forest to its guests. So in a few minutes you could be in some of these other interesting Black forest destinations:

The old walled town of Gengenbach: http://www.stadthotel-gengenbach.de/...innenstadt.jpg

Schiltach: http://www.evaway.fr/s3/evawayus/pho...4-78-58-CD.jpg

Alpirsbach (Monastery, brewery): http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...rttemberg.html

Hausach/Gutach - neighbor towns, home of the Vogtsbauernhof open-air museum:

http://www.black-forest-travel.com/p...bauernhof.html

The Black Forest Railway with its double-decker trains is a treat in itself:

http://www.black-forest-travel.com/p...t-railway.html

You could then visit Freiburg before leaving the area and pick up your car for the trip into Bavaria.

In my post above I neglected to include a link that explains the KONUS program:
http://www.dreisamtal.de/en/service/konus.php?lang=en

Added to what Russ recommended, you might also consider Triberg and/or Staufen. Also, from Freiburg you could do a day trip to Colmar, France.

Hi all!

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it. You all have definitely given me a lot to look into n research further. We definitely enjoy smaller villages over cities so skipping Freiburg n Stuttgart May not be bad idea. I am going to read through all the links n i m sure I will be back with more questions :)

Feel free to message if you think of something in addition to your comments above.

Thanks again!

Regards
Bijal

I spent a lovely day and a half with a police officer/pilgrim from Stuttgart when our paths crossed while she was walking the the St James Way (eventually ending in Santiago) and I was walking King Ludwig's Way. I asked about visiting Stuttgart as a tourist and she laughed and said "why would you do that". It seemed like it was akin to someone coming from Europe and going to Cleveland. I haven't been though, so just anecdotal.

I'm particularly fond of Gasthaufs in Bavaria - it's generally a pub/restaurant with rooms upstairs. The ones I've stayed at were all family owned, very reasonably priced, had great food and were a great place to meet locals. They come up in Google maps if you search for 'hotel'.

Here's one I'll be staying at in May - http://www.unterbraeu-diessen.de/

In case you didn't know, if you use the Chrome browser it will come up when you go to a foreign website and ask if you want the page to be translated which is super useful.

I agree with Hez - the family-owned 'gasthofs' are great. Usually spotless, reasonably priced, and include a good breakfast spread. We have stayed in Rothenburg in the Gasthof zur Sonne, and in Dinkelsbuhl in the Hotel Eisenkrug. Both were central in the village. Rothenburg has a nightwatchman's walk each evening at 9pm - all good fun!

Bijal- sounds like my kind of trip. Here are a few comments ...
1. There is no reason to spend a night in Heidelberg then drive to Frankfurt the night before returning unless you want to . I have left Heidelberg around 7AM several times and driven to FRA to catch a 10AM flight the same day.
2. I would second the comments of PalenQ, Rosemaryoz, and Hez and skip Stuttgart unless you wanted to visit the MB factory or attend the Volksfest (which is in Sep/Oct). Munich to Hiedelberg is less than a 4 hour drive if you don't stop.
3. It will most likely be less expensive to rent a car with 4 people than ride trains. A car also gives you a lot of flexibility and the right car can ease your luggage worries. I only recommend trains for long 1 day legs like Amsterdam/Paris/Munich/Nice (Although I once drove Vienna to Koblenz in one day during the summer).
4. Russ' description of the KONUS card is very useful in the Black Forest. You don't have to worry about a designated driver if you use the train to sightsee.
5. Mittenwald is pretty laid back. I prefer Garmisch- a lot more to do. Day trips to Ettal, Wies Church, and Linderhof are easy from Garmisch or Mittenwald.

At any rate, this sounds like a wonderful trip. Have fun and enjoy!!!

((B))

In smaller towns and villages, don't stay in hotels - stay in the smaller establishments. See www.bensbauernhof.com for good examples.

if you decide to stay in Füssen here is a list of thinks to do :
For One Day Stay

Neuschwanstein Castle

Hohenschwangau Castle

Bavarian Museum

Marien Bridge

Pöllat Gorge Waterfall (check the link for more info)
http://www.new-swan-stone.eu/2014/01...waterfall.html
Alpsee Lake


Two Days Stay


Tegelberg Cable Car , Toboggan (4km)

Füssen Town

Kristalltherme Schwangau (3km)
http://new-swan-stone.blogspot.de/20...blog-post.html

Linderhof Castle (50km)or in your way to munich