Help w/ 3.5 days in Germany trip
 

I have 3.5 days in germany in late march/ early april but I don't know where to start. I would like to see some smaller towns, ive looked at the romantic road a little bit but I feel like I don't have the time for it. I would also like to see parts of the Rhine if possible and bavaria. Obviously not all the places are possible so if anyone has done a short trip to Germany that fits the type of things I've mentioned above I would really appreciate any guidance. This is my first trip to Germany as well.

Thanks for any help anyone can give. Any advice would be very helpful.

Can you tell us where you will be to start off? If you'll already be in Munich, for example, then exploring Munich and Bavaria makes a lot of sense. If you'll be in Berlin, then it opens up a whole different set of options, usw.

If you want to see the Rhine, I would suggest Cologne. There is a Rhine cruise that I believe starts there and ends in St. Goar. I may be a little off, but I'm close.

Germany is BIG, so to give good advice you need to say where your going to be initially. My favorite area for 3.5 days, assuming your in the Munich area, would be Fussen. Ludwigs Castles Neuschwanstein, Hohenscwangau and Linderhof, Weiss Church, Oberammergau, Ettal Monestary are all very easy trips to make from Fussen and Fussen itself is very nice to walk around. Also the Zugspitze isn't too far. You can go up the Zugspitze from either Ehrwald, Austria or Garmisch, Germany

paul

Same response as to all above: Where is 1llini07 going to enter Germany? Hard to allocate 3 days without knowing that. If they are south head to Bavaria and have a great time.

That was part of my problem, I didn't know where to fly into because I wasn't sure which area I wanted to explore. Sounds like from the replies that Munich is the preferred place.

I disagree and I LOVE Munich...but you could easily spend your entire time Rhine/Mainz/Koblenz/Bacharach etc., etc. and have avery satisfying trip without ever seeing Munich and could do it all by flying into and out of Frankfurt.

The Romantic Road is interesting but not especially romantic or that much more interesting than the average region you'd stumble upon. If you have only 3.5 days, you could fly into Munich and do some small towns south of there, or into Frankfurt (FRA) and do as Intrepid 1 suggests (or into Frankfurt-Hahn on Ryanair if you're coming from elsewhere in Europe, and you'll be even closer to the Rhein-Mosel towns.)

The weather south of Munich is going to be more iffy; your chances are better in the Rheinland. The really small towns will still be fairly dead either way.

So it really depends on what you'd like to see, I think. For the average sightseer, I think the Rheinland might be the best choice. The Rheinland's "hub" for sightseeing is Koblenz. There's Bacharach, south of Koblenz, a very quaint little place with lots of half-timbered homes; Linz, north of Koblenz, is similarly fetching. Marksburg Castle, south of Koblenz on the east bank in Braubach, has a great tour. Ancient Burg Eltz Castle near Moselkern, west of Koblenz, is the best of the castle tours in this area and a superior experience, IMO, to that of the castles near Munich. Trier, further west near the Luxembourg border on the Mosel River, is a lovely old Roman settlement with some cool ruins and nifty buildings. Midway between Trier and Koblenz is the village of Cochem, precious even when it's deadsville. Cologne to the north of Koblenz is the big metro area, amazing cathedral. And Remagen (with it's cool WW II museum) lies midway between Cologne and Koblenz.

You'll exhaust yourselves if you try to see all of this in 3.5 days, though, so do a little research and make some choices.

Enjoy your trip.

If it were me, and I had a car I would choose between the following 2:

1) Fly into Frankfurt. Spend 1 day on the Rhine. The best part is between Boppard in the north and Rudesheim in the south (these are not far apart). Take a Rhine cruise. Stay in a small town such as Bacharach or St. Goar. Spend 1 day in and around Heidelburg. Drive the Neckar Valley away from Heidelburg. Spend 1 day in and around Rothenburg and other small towns in the area.

2) Fly into Munich. Spend 1 day in Obersalzburg area around Berchtesgarden. 1 day in castle area. 1 day in Munich (or skip Munich and spend day around Zugspitze or Mittenwald or Oberammagau).

Option 1 gives your more of the "must see" things in Germany in my opinion. Option 2 has more dramatic scenery. Can't go wrong either way.