Cruzeirense

Four years ago, me and my wife went to Germany. Amazing!

Now, my father and mother in law (65-70 years old) were convinced by us to embark on a similar trip (23 nights).

I am helping them with the itinerary, and I wonder if you could give me some suggestions here, as always:

- Berlin - 6 nights

- Hannover - for the Messe (the Technology Fair) - 2 nights

- Koln: 1 night

- Koblenz - 2 nights (for the Mosel/Rein boat trip)

- Frankfurt - 2 nights

- Wurzburg - 2 nights (friends there) - USE TRAIN UP TO WURSBURG. FROM HERE ON, DRIVE

- Rothenburg ob der Tauber - 1 night

- Augsburg - 1 night (on the way, visit Dinkensbuhl and Nordlingen)

- Fussen - 1 night (for the castles Shwangau and Newschwenstein)

- Salzburg - 2 nights (I know it's not Germany, but my father in law loves Mozart)

- Munchen - 3 nights

SPECIFIC DOUBTS:

- Where to sleep in Hannover (the city is crowded this time of the year)?
- 1 day in Koln and 2 days in Frankfurt are enough?
- Boat trips in Koblenz are easy to book?
- Do you suggest other small cities at the Romantic Road to suggest?
- Any problem crossing from Germany to Austria and back to Germany with the same car?

Thank you so much!

annhig

ooh - this is very like another thread, which got the same answer from me - too much dotting about and too many one night stands. I think that they would be even less welcome to 65-70 year olds.

Augsburg, Würzburg and Rothenburg are all pretty close together -I suggest picking one and using that as a base. and Füssen can easily be done from Munich. so I suggest something like this: Berlin - 6 nights

- Hannover - for the Messe (the Technology Fair) - 2 nights

- Koln: 1 night

- Koblenz - 2 nights (for the Mosel/Rein boat trip)

- Frankfurt - 2 nights USE TRAIN UP TO WURZBURG.

- Wurzburg - 4 nights (friends there) - includes Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Augsburg

FROM HERE ON, DRIVE

- Salzburg - 2 nights (I know it's not Germany, but my father in law loves music

- Munchen - 4 nights includes day trip to Füssen area

no problems driving from germany into Austria and back again - you will only incur drop-off fees if you don't take the car back into Germany, and they don't mind you going into Germany - it's not the same if you want to go to the Czech republic or Poland though. but going into Austria you will need a permit for the Austrian Autobahns - buy it at a garage near the border.

Pegontheroad

I wouldn't spend 6 nights in Berlin, but maybe that's just me.

november_moon

I agree that there are too many 1-night stands. I like the revised plan to use Wurzburg as a base to see other towns in that area. We've done that, using Nuremburg as a base, and it works very well.

I really enjoyed the Fuessen area, so my choice would be to spend a night there rather than doing a day trip from Munich - enroute from Salzburg to Munich would make sense. We spent 3 nights there when we visited the area.

I haven't been to Berlin, so I don't know if 6 nights is too much, but given the packed itinerary, I'd probably take 1 or 2 nights from Berlin and put them into the rest of the itinerary somewhere - balance it out a bit.

Dukey1

I just spent EIGHT nights in Berlin, have been several times before, and found PLENTY to do that I had not done before.....BUT,
unless there are a number of specific things to be done there I probably wouldn't do 6 nights.

I would also agree that if you are DRIVING then doing Fuessen and then moving on to Salzburg might make better sense.

Do you want to stay CLOSE to the Messe in Hannover? if so, check out the Radisson hotel which is ADJACENT to the grounds.

Nurnberg might be a better base for Franconia/Northern Bavaria including Wurzburg and you can easily get to places like Bamburg, Rothenburg, etc.

Others will probably disagree but I would eliminate Frankfurt entirely, especially as compared to Berlin or anywhere else but that's just me.

Aramis

Well, doing Augsburg as a day trip from Wurzburg makes little sense - its 2.5 hours each way. And Wurzburg to Salzburg is about 4:15 hours driving.

I would add a night to Rothenburg and then stop in Augsburg on the way to Fussen. If you drove from Wurzburg to Dinkelsbuehl before heading to Rothenburg for your fist night (only adds 1:15 hours, total, to the drive, making it a 2 hour drive day), then you can head straight to Augsburg after leaving Rothenburg on your second day.

Rothenburg to Fussen is 3.5 hours and Augsburg, at about 2 hours in makes for a good midday stop.

This gets your three 1 night stops down to just the one in Fussen, which is often done by those seeing the area via something other than a day trip from Munich. You could skip staying in Fussen and drive straight to Salzburg from Rothenburg - about a 3:45 hour drive. That is a fair drive, but you don't have any other long ones and it would let you add the Fussen night to Munich and do the castles as a day trip. No more 1 night stops.

There will be no issue with taking the cat to Austria. You just have to purchase a permit (a simple entrance fee - no qualifications to go through) to drive on the Austrian highway. There are other posts that can provide details if you search.

As for 1 day being enough for Koeln and 2 for Frankfurt - many people do not stop in either of those cities on their trips to Germany - even if they go multiple times . Is there something you want to see in each of them? If not, there are other places to stay in the area that or bypassing them could make the trip more leisurely.

Cruzeirense

Thank you for the comments. Basically, I guess I will advise them to shorten in one night the visit to Berlin; to cut Frankfurt and Koln and to invest more time at the Romantic Road. For the Messe in Hannover we are trying to book a room in a house, intermediated by the Messe managers (about 80 euros each night), since hotels are expensive and difficult to book this time of the year.

BigRuss

Do more of a hub and spoke approach. Stay 6-7 nights in this area, with day trips to X, Y, repeat for 2-3 other areas. Your parents are not likely to want to keep changing their temporary abodes every bloody night.