tuscanlifeedit

Greetings and please be patient with my too many possible trip ideas. I recently got great feedback on a possible trip to Brittany, and the comments helped me to basically eliminate Brittany from the short list.

Now we are thinking of Germany, and here are the issues.

This is a FF award trip from the US. We are thinking of flying into Munich and visiting Berchtesgaden and on to Austria for Salzburg and Hallstatt.

The issue is that we would have to return to the US via Frankfurt, because of availability on the award tickets. This would be in early August and we would hope to have 11 or 12 nights on the ground.

We could train to Frankfurt from Munich (or somewhere else) or if there is an attractive route, perhaps drive back into Germany and all the way to Frankfurt.

In Germany and Austria we want to explore beautiful scenery, see castles and churches, and pretty towns. From what I've read, August seems to be a good time to do this, but I could be warned away if there is a big downside to that time of year.

Is it reasonable to do this if we have to get to Frankfurt to get home, given the time we have? Should we do a loop south and east from Munich and return there to take a train to Frankfurt, or just keep a car and drive in a large sort of loop from Munich to Austria to Frankfurt? Hallstatt is as far into Austria as we would go.

Looking forward to reading what you have to say.

tuscanlifeedit

I forgot to add that we don't drink, so wine and beer aren't a part of our plans. We do really like to eat.

sparkchaser

Logistically, it makes the most sense to spend the first few days in Munich then renting a car for the rest of the time.

Since you want to see castles, you'll definitely want to rent a car and drive the Romantic Road.

In Salzburg, I highly recommend doing the Mozart Diner Theater in the St. Peter Stiftskeller (oldest restaurant in the world).

greg

Down side in August? For me, it is the heat. German, Austrian, and Swiss hotels, outside soulless business hotels, don't come with A/Cs. They might claim it is not necessary, but my most miserable sleepless nights in Europe were spent in July and September in hot hotel rooms in these countries where the room temp did not go below 82F until past midnight with high humidity. I now always carry a small USB fan if I visit these countries during the hot season. Sometimes hotels provide small desktop fans for hot weather weenies.

Cowboy1968

July and September are usually (hopefully) warm, but August can be quite rainy and even cool. At least during the last years.
Nevertheless, it is pretty easy to find hotels with A/C when you use the major German hotel search website hrs.com and tick the respective box for A/C.
In general I would say that you get what you look for: the quaint old inns that many visitors from overseas seem to like for whatever reason are often just that - quaint, old, and often lacking modern day features like A/C or WiFi.

tuscanlifeedit

Me, I'm OK with soulless hotels.

But what of these plans? Do they sound good? I'm thinking land in Munich (open to suggestions on Munich, no beer but we like art and history), drive south and east as far as Hallstatt, visit Berchtesgaden and Salzburg, then up the Romantic Road to end in Frankfurt.

Is this doable in 11 or 12 days on the ground?

annhig

Hi tuscan,

I can't see any reason why you shouldn't have a great trip in this area - we did Hannover to Stuttgart in September spread over 10 days and this isn't a lot different.

if you have a look at google maps, you'll see that even if you take the scenic route, it's less than 2 hours from Munich to Salzburg. Then if you take the direct route from Salzburg to Frankfurt, it takes you to Nuremberg which is only 3 hours from Salzburg, and about 2 hours from Frankfurt.

So you could easily do 3 nights in Munich, 3 in Salzburg/area, 3 in Nuremberg, and then have 2 left over for getting to Frankfurt.

I agree that AC is a good idea. We have taken to staying at Best Western hotels when we can - they are usually big enough to have A/C, have free wifi, and are all individually run so they have a bit of character.

i'm sure you'd have a great time.

sparkchaser

Something else to bear in mind is that August is school summer break for almost, if not every, state in Germany.

texasbookworm

Another (of myriad) options would be Munich to Frankfurt and on to Rhine Valley--castles, scenery, pretty towns and cities, cathedrals. The Mosel Valley is also an option. Are these "better" areas than going into Austria? Not saying that--just could see much just staying in Germany--in Munich, on to Frankfurt, around Frankfurt, up to Rhine Valley is option to consider. There are so many castles of all sorts--palaces, ruins, medieval, restored, etc.--in every part of Germany so you have to pick.

(I love the Rhine area, Koln, Mainz--and a long time ago on my first trip ever to Europe hubby and I drove the Romantic Road from Frankfurt to Munich to Bavaria to Austria (and looped back)--so it's all good.)

There will be loootttsss of traffic probably in August.
I'd get AC.
I loved using the trains, easy to do from Frankfurt to lots.
Hubby finds it pretty easy to get around by car (he's had lots of business trip experience, too) but there will be traffic.

Here are two trip report from my 2 trips to Frankfurt and area--in both cases, I spent some time in the immediate Frankfurt area and also took day trips (via train) or trips with hubby (via car) frequently.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...kfurt-area.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-frankfurt.cfm

I'll have more specific ideas if you decide to head to the Frankfurt area/s.

tuscanlifeedit

texasbookworm, it would actually be easier for us to fly in and out of Frankfurt; more availability.

annhig, thanks.

Another possibility is in to Frankfurt and out of Paris, taking in some of Germany and the Alsace region in Paris. This is all starting to drive me a little batty, but we should all have such problems as where to go on our European vacations!

My first choices for this year were Sicily and Scotland. Sicily is proving rather hard to get to, and I'm seriously disappointed that "55 masterpieces" from the Scottish National Gallery are on tour until the end of September. I don't think I want to try Scotland in October for my first visit there.

dfourh

Driving back to Frankfurt you might want to also consider taking a more northern arc: Passau, Regensburg, Nuremburg, Bamberg, Wurzburg on the way to Frankfurt. These are really stunning towns, less touristed, with decent prices and great food.

annhig

Driving back to Frankfurt you might want to also consider taking a more northern arc: Passau, Regensburg, Nuremburg, Bamberg, Wurzburg on the way to Frankfurt.>>

great minds think alike, dfourh.

vincenzo32951

I third that idea. That route takes in some of the underrated cities in Germany.

bilboburgler

I love the whole Mosel/Rhinee/Alsace area but I'm not if people who don't drink should be allowed into such a pretty area... ;-)

The following link is a bit booze-based but you could do something similar dry. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...es-of-wine.cfm you will also find that you can hire bikes in a lot of the places and ride safely into the country.

Annhig/dfourh's list is also pretty pleasant series of towns. Wurzburg and Bamburg are just wonderful.

"Alsace region in Paris" nope, what I would say is it helps you don't think of these areas as being in particular countries. There are just a bunch of cities and countryside that are lovely. I'd look at the Black Forest, Alsace, Rhinegau/RhineHessen, Pfalz, Mosel, Champagne, Ardennes

These cover four countries and have been fought over for centuries and so have centuries worth of castles, palaces and (being generally away from WW2 flight paths) most of their medievel "bits" intact (or at best just a bit restored).

I would get hold of the Rough Guide for Europe, a massive work it allows you to get a good idea of what is hidden here, one of my favorite holiday destination I keep coming back here.

tuscanlifeedit

Oh, I certainly meant to say "in France" but made a mistake when posting.

Apologies.

tuscanlifeedit

OK, now that I've taken care of that, may I ask: is the more northern tour as suggested above as scenic as the original plan of driving south of Munich? We are after mountains.

I meant to get to the library today but it didn't happen. Guidebooks are in the immediate future.

bilboburgler

No, if you want big Mountains you have to get to the Alps. If, on the other hand, you like big hills then the northern area will do fine.

Now some may disagree, but say the Vosges Mountains in the Alsace area are called mountains but are really foothills to the Alps further south. When snows come they come to the Alps first, hope that helps

dfourh

If you want mountains don't take the autobahn (E60) from Salzburg to Munich, do go up to Berchtesgaden and then take the 305 through Ruhpolding to Prien am Chiemsee. From Prien you can take the cable car up to the Kampenwand and wander around the mountaintop (you can also walk up or walk down the Kampenwand). The Chiemsee area is really nice, with Krazy King Ludwig's Herrenchiemsee (modelled on Versaille) in the middle.

The northern arc is if you want really solidly medieval town centers in really accessible fashion with pleasant drives through hilly places if you take the Landstrassen.

LSky

The only problem with flying into Munich and driving to Frankfurt to fly out is you'll be paying a drop off fee for the car.

Is this your 1st trip to Germany Tuscanlifedit? Germany isn't that big but there's a lot to see in a very small area. The areas around Frankfurt has charms of it's own. You could easily travel from Frankfurt to Munich down the Romantic Road and come back again. Without seeing the same thing twice.

It's a nice introduction to Germany.

joannyc

Lsky, I picked up in Munich and dropped the car in Frankfurt but did not have a drop charge. Is that something new In the last 5 years or so?