Germany Itinerary Fine Tuning
 

We are planning a trip in early September, to see our daughter, who now lives in Leipzig, Germany.
We got an excellent price on flights when we bought them in the fall. Flying in and out of Berlin, but now that I've done some research we really want to focus more on the southern areas. Here's the basic framework for our itinerary so far. Would love any suggestions or ideas for things we shouldn't miss around the areas we plan to see, or thoughts on car versus train. Thanks so much. Your help is appreciated.

Sunday, Sept 3
Fly to Berlin

Monday, Sept 4
Arrive Berlin and take train to Leipzig
See sights

Tuesday, Sept 5
Leipzig
See sights

Wednesday, Sept 6
Take train from Leipzig to Wurzburg
Rent car and drive down Romantic Road
Stay in Rothenburg ob ter tauber

Thursday, Sept 7
Drive down Romantic Road, stopping at
Dinkelsbuhl and Nordlingen. Spend night in Nordlingen.

Friday, Sept 8
Drive down Romantic Road to Fussen, stopping along the way at DONAUWÖRTH and maybe Landsberg or Ottobeuren. Spend night in FÜSSEN.

Saturday, Sept 9
Visit one of the Castles. Telebergbahn, Alstadt. Spend night in FÜSSEN

Sunday, Sept 10
Drive from Fussen to Garmisch-Partenkirchen via Reutte, Austria. Take the Enrwald to Mt Zugspitze
Stay in Garmisch or drive to Mittenwald and stay there

Monday, Sept 11
Take train from Garmisch-Partenkirchen (or Mittenwald) to
Munich. Visit Beer Gardens
Spend night in Munich

Tuesday, Sept 12
Explore Munich: Marianplatz, Viktualienmarkt, English Garden.
Spend night in Munich or consider overnight train to Berlin? Is there one?

Wednesday, Sept 13
Take train or fly from Munich to Berlin
See Berlin Wall, Holocaust Museum
Spend night in Berlin

Thursday, Sept 14
Be at airport early to fly home

"Would love any suggestions or ideas for things we shouldn't miss around the areas we plan to see, or thoughts on car versus train."

Days 6-9: The Romantic Road is one of those overrated tourist routes - tourist flypaper - with a catchy name, one that allows you to see a few nice old-world towns, but also one that ensures you will miss a good number of Bavaria's true highlights.

It seems your goal in Würzburg (a Romantic Road town) is to pick up a car, but in fact it's a good place to linger. One of Bavaria's UNESCO World Heritage sites is there - the Residenz. And there are several other towns with a UNESCO designation you should consider as well:

http://www.bavaria.by/unesco-world-heritage-sites

Besides Würzburg, I would be even more reticent to leave out BAMBERG. The Wieskirche might be worth including as well.

Besides Rothenburg, you can actually find some very nice old-world towns elsewhere in the Würzburg neighborhood. Between Würzburg and Rothenburg, consider Sommerhausen, Ochsenfurt and Marktbreit, all hugging the Main River.

Martbreit: https://www.marktbreit.de/?id=82

All 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLUgpoQIFHI

East of W'burg is the outstanding wine town of IPHOFEN:

http://www.stadtbild-deutschland.org...c9f79c137e80a7

Bad Windsheim has an excellent outdoor cultural museum:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...e_Francon.html

Pappenheim:
http://www.treuchtlingen.de/fileadmi...us-ch.link.jpg

http://www.pappenheim.de/Historical-...7b1e38d.0.html

Train vs. car: The Wieskirche isn't served by train (connecting bus) but the other destinations I've mentioned (except Sommerhausen) are, and would make nice stops on the way to Munich - and give you a more diverse experience, IMO. Train service in Bavaria is extensive, efficient, and cheap.

Map of Bavarian rail lines: http://www.bayerwald-ticket.com/wp-c...ayern_2012.pdf

If you are sold on specific Romantic Road towns, you can probably visit them by train too. Würzburg, Rothenburg, Nördlingen, Donauwörth, Landsberg, and Füssen all have train stations. The trains don't follow the Romantic Road exactly (it's a road) but you can probably see these towns easily enough by train if you wish.

If you are sold on specific Romantic Road towns, you can probably visit them by train too.>

Or easier the Romantic Road bus - from Wurzburg to Fussen hitting all the towns on the road of touristic interest including the Weisskirche.

There used to be a night train between Munich and Berlin and I think still may be - checkwww.bahn.de/en to see. For lots on trains and night trains check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Personally just a day in Berlin is not worth the hassle. Spend the extra day in Munich -maybe go to Dachau if into that sort of thing and fly home from Munich.

"Or easier the Romantic Road bus..."

The Romantic Road bus trip would take you only to the Romantic Road towns and is designed to travel to all of them in a single day. The route itself is not very scenic. If you get off anywhere it stops, you will have only a few minutes in most cases for sightseeing in these towns- and if you stay longer, you will have to wait 24 hours for the next bus - the only bus that day. For these reasons - and because it's a bus - I don't recommend it.

If you were to use it on ONE day only to travel from ONE Romantic Road town to one other specific town... and if your destination town has a train station, where you have some real transportation options... and if there were no town you wished to explore on the way to your destination town - then it might be handy if it leaves at a favorable hour. But I guess you can see that the stars would need to align absolutely perfectly.

Dresden is a must see. Berlin deserves multiple days.

the bus does give commentary in English en route- I took it over two days with a stop in Rothenburg but if you want to explore at your own pace get a car - trains to many of those towns are cumbersome or take regular buses if available.

Car would be great -do as planned IMO.

Sincere thanks to everyone for your thoughtful suggestions. I was a little worried we might be overdoing the "adorable old fashioned German town" idea by visiting a lot of the places on the Romantic Road route. I appreciate the suggestions for alternate ideas to give the trip some variety. We will likely still stop at a couple of the little towns but not make it such a key part of the trip. We had originally planned to rent a car and drive, but the idea of moving from town to town all by train is one I will research. (Understood the exact route of the Romantic Road is not serviced by rail)

Our main goals are to spend time with our daughter while enjoying beautiful scenery, great beer, and experiencing the flavor of German culture.

Great advice above, agree with everything said, certainly you might like to look at Dresden and then follow the Elbe down towards Czech into the Saxon Alps.

Wurzburg is the base of Franken wine and well worth a taste.

We will likely still stop at a couple of the little towns but not make it such a key part of the trip>

Yes there are a zillion cute small towns in Germany that are not on the Romantic Road and the road itself is not very romantic.