frances_hawkins

My husband and I will be flying into Budapest on Aug. 30, 2010 and taking a one-week river cruise on the Danube. We will end the cruise in Passau, Germany on Sept. 6th.

We would like to stay over in (mostly) Bavaria for about a week. We are thinking about renting a car and some of the places we would like to visit (not in any particular order) are Regensburg, Rothenburg (spend the night), the Garmisch area and then the Berchtesgaden and Salzburg areas. Also, I am wondering if it makes any sense to travel any part of this itinerary by train or bus. Does it make sense to travel from Passau to Regenburg, then to Rothenburg, down to Garmisch and then to the Berchtesgaden area to end the trip? I haven't yet checked airline flights back to the U.S., but we would be close to Munich or Salzburg airports at the end of our trip.

I have gotten much good advice from other posts and would very much appreciate any advice you can give me. We feel like driving would give us a lot of freedom but don't know if it is a lot more expensive than traveling by train or bus. Also, if we drive, can we rent a car in Passau or should we go to Regensburg and Rothenburg by train or bus and rent the car in Garmisch?

Thank you all so much in advance for any help you can give us!

logos999

You can rent in Passau and give the car somewhere else in Bavaria without extra fees. From Passau go north to the Bavarian Forest /Bohemian Forest. (Spiegelau etc.) It's not far, STAY for at least one night, it won't get better than that! From there to Rgegensburg /Rothenburg is a good idea.

Actually your itinarary makes a lot of sense, unlike many others here DO NOT take the train, you'll miss everything. It not a very densely populated area after you leave Passau.
Do youself the favour and explore it!

logos999

From Regensburg, follow the Danube, Walhalla (visit), Weltenburg (Beer), north of Ingolstadt, Kelheim, Kipfenberg, Eichstätt (Museum), Riedenburg, Beilngries, Greding, Pappemheim, Weißenburg (Roman stuff)!

frances_hawkins

logos999, thank you for your response. I am going to have to get a much better map since I can only find Ingolstadt and Weissenburg on my map. I assume that all the places you listed are somewhere between Regensburg and Rothenburg. How long would it take to see the places that you mentioned? We are only planning to stay one week. Also, any suggestions for a good map?

Thank you again for your help!

logos999

You can visit all those places in between Regensburg and Rothenburg one or two days. You won't be able to see everything anyway. I woud visit at least the prehistoric museum in Eichstätt and have a beer at Weltenburg monastary.
You can get inexpensive but good maps at www.amazon.de. They ship to north America for little money. During most of the trip, follow the river Altmühl, but do also visit Dinkelsbühl.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...2/Altmuehl.gif

swandav2000

Hi frances_hawkins,

Before you give up on taking the wonderful trains here in Bavaria, check out your itinerary at the German rail site:

www.bahn.de

I absolutely love using trains here -- they run frequently and go just about everywhere. It is a lovely, relaxed, and civilized way to go. You'll also get the opportunity to see actual locals and residents when you're on the train.

Of course, trains are more green, too! Many folks who live outside of Europe rarely get the opportunity to use a really workable rail system, so if this is your chance, you may want to jump at it!

The only thing they are not suited for is quick travel, you know, getting to three or four places in a single day. Train travel is best to see one or at most two places in a day.

Anyway, have fun with your planning!

s

Russ

Bavaria is an ideal area for train travel. Like Swandav says, trains go almost everywhere. All your destinations are served. Here's a map that backs that up and will help you plan:

http://www.bayern-takt.de/media/PDF-...Gesamt0608.pdf

The "Bayern Ticket" daypass for trains and buses in Bavaria will get 5 people around for 28 Euros per day, which is about what you'd pay for 4 gallons of gas alone:

http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/pri...r-ticket.shtml

The ticket covers travel to and from Salzburg too.

Logos suggested Weißenburg, Eichstätt, and Pappenheim, all 3 near one another and indeed interesting destinations, and all connected by train, which is how I visited them a few years back. However, I cannot explain Logos' comment that you'll "miss everything" if you go by train.

I've driven around Bavaria. The roads are generally very good, and it wasn't a horrible experience, but when you look at the costs, the parking or lack thereof, the traffic tangles, the pick-up and drop-off procedures, the radar-controlled speed zones, and the driving fatique you'll experience with the long distances you're planning, it doesn't add up well.

On the train, you can both sightsee and relax, have lunch and a beer, or peruse your travel guidebook. And you can be very spontaneous with the daypasses, as trains run every hour or more frequently between most destinations. You've got a ticket, so just hop on.

The only advantage I see with your itin for the car could be in Berchtesgaden; the Königssee and Eagles Nest and other sights outside of town can generally be reached by bus, but the car is likely faster. (Still, you can't drive to the St. Bartholomä pilgrimage church on the Königssee, which is only reachable by boat.)

logos999

Well, not a chance seeing many of the more interesting places by train. Just not possible! Those that advocate trains just haven't seen those places. Don't make that mistake too.

Paul1950

It is a matter of what you want to do on your vacation: Sometimes a car is better; sometimes a train; sometimes a combination of the two. If you just want to get from one city to another without stops between, then the train is definitely the way to go. If you like to visit some out of the way places or if you like to stop on a whim because you see something interesting along the way (which much of Bavaria is excellent for) then a car is better. It depends on what you are looking for out of your trip.

frances_hawkins

Thank you all so much for your advice. If we rent a car, my husband is the one who will drive so I will show him all of the above replies and discuss it with him.

norrisken

I agree with logos999 and Paul1950 says it perfectly. I'm a car person for sightseeing and being able to stop and visit on a whim. Some of our best adventures have come unexpectedly. You can't stop at a flea market and buy lace while on a train. But we have used trains to travel around when the goal was to get from point A to point B.
We've driven in the area multiple times and it's a wondeful area. Riedenburg, the bridge at Essing. I remember the first time there, I stood on the bridge looking back at the town, wondering if the people there realize how beautiful it was. We go back in Sept! Logos999, I may be wrong but we stopped at Weltenburg a few years ago and the beer was great but the bread was better. But I may be confusing the bread with another place west of there.

logos999

Well, the bread didn't have a lasting impression on me. But usually when it comes to bread, I remember the places where it was of low quality. It's difficult to get good quality bread nowadays. Given the few bakeries where it's still decent, I usually shop at Hofpfisterei.

cwn

We will be in that area this fall and will rent a car for our 8 day loop, Frankfurt to Salzburg and back. We rented a car this past May and did a longer three week loop along the "Romantic Road" to Tuscany and back through the wine region from Frankfurt, had a ball. The country side is wonderful.

The train may be a little cheaper than a car rental, but the distances are short compared to the US and the small car that we rented just sipped at the gas...gas has not been a major expense for us even buying it by the liter. The villages are small and easy to drive in or around. You will be past the peak of the travel time so that will help too.

The main advantage to the car for the traveling you are planning is you can stop for a picture or unplanned visit where the train doesn't stop. Also you don't have to deal with "what to do with suitcases" while you wandered around a village between the overnight stops. Plus you don't have to haul the cases around a train station, up and down stairs in some cases. Mind you, we travel with a carryon each and a camera case, but dealing with even that little bit is a pain!

We love the trains and have used them in the past, but to us they are better suited to long distance travel between cities and day trips out from a major city, where a car isn't a good idea.

Hey, thanks guys, for the touring tips...I added them to the file for our fall trip.

norrisken

cwn,
I don't mean to hijack this thread, but my wife and I are fyling in and out of Munich next Sept and want to do a driving tour into Tuscany and back. Could I ask you what places you visited/would recommend? We've been as far south as Bolzano before.
logos999, I ate spongey whitebread until my first trip to Germany.

cwn

Norrisken,

Our trip to Tuscany last May was planned on the fly...that is, as we went along. We hadn't planned to go to Italy on our trip until we were staying in a cottage outside of a Margerat River in W Australia in Jan, the frist month of a five month trip around the world. The cottage onwer told us about their place in Tuscany and it sounded to good to pass up! We had always wanted to rent something and explore Tuscany.

We did a trip report with day by day detail and pictures. If you want to read about what we did, please go to our blog:

www.aroundtheworldin132days.blogspot.com

Click on May on the right hand side and scroll down to May 14 and read up. We go into France before we head back into Germany on May 28 at Trier.

norrisken

Thank you! We have two weeks starting Sept 2. We have no set plans except to head south into Italy for awhile, staying where ever we can.

Paragkash

Hi Friends,

I still have the same question.
Car or Train in Bavaria..
I had posted a thread on this and got very interesting answers for both options.
It takes 5 to 6 hrs to reach Fussen fron Berchtesgaden by train/ public transport.
The car (acc. to Michelin) takes 2.45 hrs and one can visit Garmisch, Lindau etc. enroute.
Fussen to Lindau by public transport takes 3.30 hrs, vis-a-vis 1.30 hrs by car.
One disadvantage with a Bayern pass is that you cannot start befor 9 am on a weekday.

I am still thinking...
don"t know what to do..

robertino

Just drive. Trains are good for long trips but a car is much better for a detailed, interesting itinerary. Try getting to Wieskirche or Vierzehnheiligen using public transportation. My guess is that it's possible, but it would take forever and would also be a scheduling nightmare.

Another point, alluded to above - how would you get from Garmisch to Fuessen by train? Do you want to go all the way uip to Munich, change trains, and then down to Fuessen? It just isn't efficient.

Also, if you're moving around a lot, it's a lot easier to put luggage in your car in front of your hotel than it is to drag your luggage to the train station.

And the roads are excellent. Just stay to the left! Enjoy!

robertino

Yikes! To the right!

logos999

Everybody in rural Bavaria has a car. The reason is simple. When trains run every 2 hours with many of the smaller stations already been closed, you just can't get anywhere fast.

It may be sad, but it's intentional. Trains are for cities and a few main routes only.