Germany Trip Report
 

We recently returned from Germany (Sept 13-26) after spending 13 days in this beautiful country. We had a great trip and many thanks to all who gave advice and who wrote trip reports that were most helpful in the planning stages.

We have traveled extensively in Italy and France and love both of those countries. We had never been to Germany and worried that we would be disappointed in comparison to France and Italy. But such was not the case. We loved it there. The people were friendly, the driving easy, particularly compared to France & Italy, the towns and cities beautiful and the food was surprisingly good.

We received many recommendations to use the trains but we enjoy the freedom of having a car and found it very easy to get around. We easily found parking in the larger cities with no hassles. Our favorite town was Rothenburg (a lot of people criticize this town for being too commercialized but we thoroughly enjoyed it and were glad to make it our base for 4 nights.)

Weather:

Traveling during the spring & fall seasons can be wonderful. We prefer these times of year as there are fewer tourists and better chance of temperate weather. We had beautiful warm weather, mixture of clouds and sun most days and temps in the 60’s and 70’s, just perfect for sightseeing.

Castles:
Our favorite castles were Burg Eltz, Marksburg & Rheinstein

Hotels:
Our favorite was the Romantik Hotel Markusturm in Rothenburg.

Cochem: Villa Vinum – beautifully restored 19th century home converted to a small intimate hotel right in the center of town overlooking the Mosel; beautiful room overlooking Cochem Castle. The proprietors were friendly and very helpful.

Bacharach: Bacharacher Hof – small hotel with good food; this was the least favorite of the hotels we stayed at

Heidelberg: Garni Kurpfalzhof – family run hotel just outside the town center; easy to drive into town from this hotel; we had a suite with separate bedroom, living room and small kitchenette, large bathroom. Breakfast is excellent and Volker is wonderful to deal with.

Bad Wimpfen: Neckarblick Garni, easy 5 minute walk to center of town; nicely furnished room and good breakfast buffet

Rothenburg: Romantik Hotel Markusturm; 500 year old family run hotel; beautiful large room and gigantic bathroom with all the amenities; breakfasts and dinner was excellent; highly recommend

Our itinerary (see attached link to our blog for our daily exploits)
Day 1: Cochem: Fly into Frankfurt, drive directly to Burg Eltz and then on to Cochem
Day 2: Cochem: Visit Cochem Castle and boat ride to Beilstein
Day 3: Bacharach: Marksburg Castle and Bacharach town visit
Day 4: Bacharach: Boat trip to St. Goar and then drive to Rheinstein Castle
Day 5: Heidelberg: Visit Heidelberg castle and town
Day 6: Heidelberg: Schwitzingen, Speyer
Day 7: Bad Wimpfen
Day 8: Rothenburg: stop at Schwabisch Hall on way there; Night Watchman’s Tour
Day 9: Rothenburg: tour town
Day 10: Rothenburg: day trip to Bamberg
Day 11: Rothenburg: day trip to Nuremberg
Day 12: Wurzburg Residenz and town center
Day 13: Frankfurt and then home

Our Blog and Photo Album:
This is the link to our blog if you are interested in reading what we did day to day

http://winnick-germany2012.travellerspoint.com/3/

Enjoyed your blog and pictures. As I traveled along with you, I thought of my trip to many of the places you were. Good memories. Thanks for sharing.

Have been to all of the places on your trip (except Nuremberg) and also enjoy traveling in September. We really love Germany and have travelled there often in the last decade or so. Glad you liked it as well.

I enjoyed reading your blog and looking at your pictures, and reminiscing about places I have been - I've visited most of the places on your trip in October 2007. And yes, autumn is a wonderful time to visit Germany, for the weather, and all the beautiful flowerboxes overflowing with colors. BTW, you have some great castle shots, and I enjoyed looking at the food pictures. German food is very yummy, and surprisingly affordable.

Robyn :)>-

Thank you irishface,Betty's, and artstuff for your comments. Glad that our journey brought back fond memories of your trips to the area.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I enjoyed your trip report, blog and pictures, especially since we were in Germany at the same time! We also stayed in Bacharach for two nights, took the boat to St. Goar and climbed up the forest path to Rheinfels Castle. Our trip started in Munich and ended in Amsterdam and we traveled by train. I agree that this is the best time of year to travel.

You mentioned that the Bacharacher Hof was the least favorite hotel. Was there anything wrong with it?

Yes, I was interested in why you weren't as fond of the Bacharacher Hof as well. We stayed there on our last visit. It IS a little noisy with the windows open because of the train but the room itself we thought was quite nice and roomy and the food very good.

BevK: Thanks for your comments; glad you enjoyed the blog; funny that we were there the same time. Are you planning to return any time soon?

bigtype & bettyk: We liked the Bacharcher Hof fine; the room was nice but the bathroom was very small and we did hear the trains. We also thought the food was good. In comparison to the other hotels we stayed at on this trip, this was our least favorite but again, it was a fine choice.

winnick, your opinion is about the same as mine. There was a power outage the morning we were to leave. Not the hotel's fault as it was more widespread, but it was no fun having to walk down 3 flights of stairs with luggage!!

We also stayed at the Neckarblick in Bad Wimpfen. It's been awhile ago now, but I remember there were some lovely views from the hotel. Bad Wimpfen was a big surprise. I knew little about it beforehand, but it became one of our favorite places in Germany.

Your photos and blog brought back many memories. I am really looking forward to our Danube River cruise in May.

bettyk: Have a wonderful time on your cruise. I'll look forward to seeing your trip report.

We were also pleasantly surprised with Bad Wimpfen and found it be the most charming town. We would definitely recommend that town to anyone traveling in the area.

Nice blog and photos. You were killing with the pictures of your meals. I will have to return soon.

Gary

What an awesome blog - you got the balance of detail and entertainment just right!

Lavandula

Nice report! I was glad to see so colorful and hilarious photos!

Thanks Gary_Mc, Iavandula, & JimmyRri for your comments. Glad you enjoyed the blog and particularly the food pictures!

Loved reading your blog.Looks like you had beautiful weather too/
Thanks for sharing. Bookmarking for later.

Photos were great too.

Winnick, we really enjoyed your report and blog. We're planning to visit Germany and Austria in September, 2013. Thanks for sharing your ideas with details of hotels, etc. We, too, are planning to rent a car. Meantime, we're keeping our eye on Fodor's for ideas. Thanks, again!

Even I didn't think Germany as beautiful as you are sounding. And Italy always been a great place to visit, so it will be a little difficult to assume that.

Thanks for sharing it.
http://www.hotels2stay.net