First, many thanks to those who commented on my first draft, which included Berlin.

I have taken your consensus advice and substituted Salzburg for Berlin.

I welcome any/all comments on the following itinerary.

Day 1: overnight flight USA to Frankfurt.

Day 2: morning arrival in Frankfurt; rent car; travel 30 km southwest of airport to Geinsheim to stay with friends; rest & relax.

Days 3-5: explore Rhine, Mosel, Heidelberg and Speyer as time and interest allows, maybe using friends house as base.

Day 6: drive to Rothenburg; spend day and night in Rothenburg.

Days 7: drive Romantic Road to Scwangau, making stops along the way; spend night in Schwangau (or Fussen or Garmisch-Partenkirchen or ???).

Day 8: visit one or more Ludwig castles; return to Schwangau for the night.

Day 9: Drive to Salzburg (interesting stops along the way??)

Days 10-11: Salzburg sightseeing, including Berchtesgaden and Konigsee

Day 12: return rental car (maybe in Freilassing, to avoid extra drop-off charge); take train from Salzburg to Munich.

Days 13-14: Munich sightseeing, including Dachau camp.

Day 15: return flight from Munich to USA.

In particular, I welcome comments on:

(1) is this a reasonable pace for a family of three (40-something parents and a 14 year old son)?

(2) Is it reasonable to do the the Mosel (maybe Cochem or Burg Eltz), the Rhine (Bacharach and/or St. Goar?), Heidelberg, and Speyer as daytrips from Geinsheim (no, not all in the same day!)?

(3) Would it be better to drive back to Munich from Salzburg, rather than taking the train? Maybe a "not-to-be-missed" sight?

(4) What is there between Schwangau and Salzburg that would make an interesting stop on Day 9?

(5) Is a rental car advisable in Salzburg, and for daytrips out of Salzburg? Would it work if I dropped off the rental car on Day 9, rather than Day 11 or 12?

Thanks for your time and willingness to share your experience and expertise.

John

Hi JS -

Great area of the world.

I think your Days 3-5 might be a little tight, but you've already alluded to that.

Very smart to stay overnight in Rothenburg. Charming at night and in the early morning when you have the town to yourself.

Where were you thinking of stopping along the Romantic Road from Rothenburg to Fuessen? I stopped in Dinkelsbuhl, and kinda drove through Noerdlingen, but I didn't think either was so great. I would probably stop in Augsburg, if at all.

I would stay in Fuessen rather than in Schwangau. Fuessen is a nice little town to walk around in at night. I stayed at the Zum Hechten and it was OK. Very inexpensive. I had dinner at the Hotel Hirsch, which looked great. I would stay at the Hirsch if I stayed in Fuessen again. Garmisch is a good choice too - and better logistically. The advantage of staying in Garmisch is that if the weather is clear when you wake up, you can dash quickly to the top of the Zugspitze, which was the highlight of all of my trips to that area combined. Another advantage to Garmisch is that while it's almost an hour drive to Schwangau, it cuts that hour off your drive to Salzburg. In Garmisch I stayed at the Fraundorfer. Eat there, by all means. Do not stay there.

There are plenty of ways to drive from Garmisch to Salzburg, none of which are very direct. I personanally would opt for more mountains and drop south past Mittenwald and Seefeld to Innsbruck (a very beautiful drive, even for this area) and then east through the Inn Valley to Kufstein. I think Kufstein is just great. There's an excellent castle, and a hotel restaurant called the Auracher Lochl that extremely atmospheric. That would make a good lunch stop. Garmisch to Kufstein should take about an hour and a half. This whole drive is nice enough to warrant keeping the car.

Here's a thought - instead of continuing by car all the way to Salzburg, how about stopping for the night in Berchtesgaden? Stay overnight, and see Konigsee and/ or Kehlstein the next day. Depending on timing, you might even get to Berchtesgaden from Garmisch in time to do the boat trip on Konigsee that first day. Drop the car off in Berchtesgaden and take the train or bus to Salzburg. I see you have scheduled 2 days for Salzburg, which includes 1 day for Berchtesgaden. With only 1 day remaining for Salzburg proper, you won't really have time to venture out by car to, say Hallstatt so you won't need a car.

If you are traveling from Schwangau (or Fussen) to Salzburg you might want to tour another of Ludwig's castles: Herrencheimesse. It is often called a mini-Versailles.

Overall your itinerary looks doable to me.

I would also recommend the Alpine drive from the Garmisch area to Salzburg/Berchtesgaden. Scenic. We do the route that includes Reit im Winkel and Ramsau. i think the other poster had you drop into Austria.

We usually stay in Berchtesgaden instead of Salzburg. The town is smaller, easier to park, etc. We drive to Salzburg for the day trips. (In case of rain always save the Salt Mine Tour to do in Berchtesgaden...all underground and fun)

I would keep the car and drive to Dachau. Easier to get there than public transportation with your baggage dragging along with you.

I too would consider the Alpine Road. You will see beautiful scenery and lots of great little towns to stop as you travel from Fussen to Berchtesgaden. http://homes.tiscover.at/project/alp...&_b=133796.

We stayed at the Romantic Pension Albrecht in Schwangau and loved it. The price was right and we had a balcony with a wonderful view of Neuschwanstein. Fussen is a very nice town as well, and it was about a five minute drive from our hotel.

We visited Herrenchiemsee and it was lovely. If you have time I recommend it. The park and lake around the palace is just beautiful. http://www.herren-chiemsee.de/englisch/park/index.htm.

We spent a week in Schonau, near Berchtesgaden, last year and loved it. If you want to tour B'gaden then I too suggest staying there. From B'gaden its an easy twenty minute drive to Salzburg. Salzburg itself is fairly compact and small and could easily be done in about a day.

Overall it sounds like a wonderful trip!
Tracy

Thanks for the replies!

I like the idea of staying in Berchtesgaden or Schonau, and commuting into Salzburg.

Also, I had not considered going to Herrenchiemsee; that may be reason enough to keep the car until we get to Munich. Or can it be a stop along a train route between Salzburg and Munich? My biggest consideration is not having to drive and park in Munich, so I want rid of the car before then.

Thanks again,
John

John,

There is a train station in the town of Prien on the Chiemsee. You can take the train from Salzburg to Prien and then continue on to Munich. Use the German rail website (http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en) and enter Salzbug and Munich and click on "via" to the left to add Prien. It will give you a list of itineraries. From there you can double click on one of them to see all of the stops.

I personally think a car is the best way to explore these areas, as you will have much more freedom and can explore some of the smaller towns that do not have stations. Besides that, the roads are great and the views are incredible; it was nice to be able to pull over and take pictures of the many spectacular vistas we had as we were driving along. We found driving in Germany and Austria to be a joy. Many prefer the train though, so I think it just depends on your comfort level.

I would advise not driving in Munich if you can help it. When you rent your car you can ask the agent if he/she can recommend a good place for you to drop that is convienent to public transportation that will get you to Munich.

Good luck!
Tracy