wel

Hi,

We are planning on doing a trip from Holland to Germany (then back to Amsterdam for flight back home). We'll have our 4-year old son with us and will only be making use of public transport.

The idea at this stage is to leave from Amsterdam (2 nights) to Germany where we want to go to the Black Forest and Bavaria for 3 nights each. Then back to Amsterdam 1 night and fly back the next morning. Any suggestions on where to stay in the Black Forest and Bavaria - such as Mittenwald or Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Triberg or Titisee? We would like to experience as much as possible of these regions but with the least amount of travelling possible with our young son.

Would it be best to take a train from Amsterdam to Munich and then take (I assume) another train from Munich to Bavaria (or better to do Black Forest first?) or perhaps take a night train? or rather fly?

We are leaving in less than a month and still have no idea. I should mention that budget is an issue.

Any tips, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanking you in advance.

Kirkesgaard

Okay. A bit challenging. It is certainly possible to do it by public transportation, but not ideal. For both the Black Forest and Bavaraia it would be easier if you had a car. Just from a travel distance perspective your route would be Amsterdam - Black Forest - Munich and Back to Amsterdam.
Does you schedule include extra days for travel?

Does it have to be the Black Forest? Alternatively you may try Heidelberg (good to reach with train, you can do a day in the city with the castle and pedestrian zone, take a boat tour up the Neckar valley. From here potentially take the train to Nuernberg spend a day there and go to Munich (potentially via Regensburg and / or Passau. Depending on how much travel you actually want to do with a young child.

If your mind is set on the Black Forest, you could use Freiburg as a base and do day trips from there.

Munich is the capital of Bavaria, so I am assuming you mean take the train into the rural parts of Bavaria? Possible. also potentially by bus. But it'll be more annoying with the luggage and your little child.

So, summing it up, if you want to do it by train / bus try staying closer to cities, if you want to do country side as well, how about taking the train into Munich, do a couple of days there, rent a car for four or five days and slowly drive to Freiburg and take the train back to Amsterdam. Should not be much more expensive than doing it all by train and gives you much more options.

Russ

If you really want to do this, your very best bet at this point is to get a German Rail twinpass - one pass for 2 adults traveling together (4-year-old travels free.) It's $380 for the 3-day pass in 2nd class, which will cover the three major legs: A'dam - BF - Bavaria - A'dam.

http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/germany.cfm

Whether you do the BF or Bavaria first is immaterial. You will still have ridiculously long train trips - plan to waste the better part of 2 days on the train - a lot when you have only 6.

(Munich is in Bavaria, by the way.)

A better plan that will give you great scenery, old-world villages, and much less ground travel (hence more time experiencing Germany) would be to spend your 6 days in the Rhine and Mosel River valleys.

http://www.mosel-reisefuehrer.de/mos...ightsengl.html

http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.d...php?id=318&L=3

Koblenz (train hub for this region) is 4-5 hours from A'dam instead of 10+. You can get advance sale fares for about 39€ p.p. (kid is free) each way to Koblenz or other Rhine/Mosel towns at

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Buy soon to avoid higher prices later.

Once you're in the area, regional daypasses get your family from town to town for 24€/day (Rheinland-Pfalz ticket) or get a 3-day mini-group pass for the more limited VRM area (40€ total):

http://www.vrminfo.de/en/tickets-and...eisure-ticket/

Cochem is an ideal spot on the Mosel for a base town. Boppard, St. Goar, or Bacharach are great spots on the Rhine. I would book an apartment for 3 days on each river. Our family enjoyed the Rhine View apt. in St. Goar:

http://www.loreley-apartments.de/die_4_wohnungen_en.php

Russ

Some pages of Rhine/Mosel accommodations with photos that will give you an idea of the area and prices:

http://www.bensbauernhof.com/accommo...hinemosel.html