My 10-day German itinerary needs help!
 

Greetings, thank you in advance for your help and guidance! Would anyone kindly offer a bit of advice on my tentative Germany itinerary? My head's bogged down after reading so much, I feel I've lost all my thoughts and ideas.

My wife and I (late 20s) will be flying from to Munich and leaving from Frankfurt, with a total of 10 days in Germany, in late November / early December. My wife grew up in Weisbaden so we'll end our journey there for a few days to visit old friends and family. We are into history and scenery, everyday food, not so much dancing and clubbing. We are not partiers for sure. We are fairly extensive travelers, pretty easy to please. We however will not have a car so must use trains as our transport modes (which isn't a problem, I know).

We want to take a day trip to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, hence our extra time in Mittenwald. I have, as evident of my timeline below, a few extra days with no idea of our best option. Any advice here? We could spend more time in Bavaria - maybe a night in Garmisch or even Innsbruck.

Here's my rough itinerary:

Thursday p.m.: Munich
Friday: Munich
Saturday: Munich / Mittenwald
Sunday: Mittenwald (castles)
Monday: Rothenburg
Tuesday: leave Rothenburg a.m. /
Wednesday:
Thursday: Weisbaden / Mainz
Friday: Weisbaden / Mainz
Saturday a.m.: Weisbaden / Mainz

Thank you all kindly in advance. I'll monitor this thread very often and provide any additional info that is requested.

If traveling by train, you need to check train schedules using

http://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml

For instance, from Mittenwald to Rothenburg takes anywhere from 5-1/2 to 6-1/2 hours using a combination of bus and several train connections!

We always travel by car, but I'm sure someone else can help you with train transportation.

bettyk, I had checked schedules but apparently missed something - didn't realize the Mittenwald-Rothenburg trip would be that long! I had it written down as 3 hours with one change ... I clearly miskeyed a train station on DB's site somewhere! :)

You'd be wise to daytrip between Munich and Füssen for your castle day. It's 2 hours each way.

Tue-Sat: Now that you've seen the 19th-century fantasy castles, you'd probably enjoy seeing a real medieval castle. Take a train north from Wiesbaden into the Rhine Valley for a tour of Marksburg:

www.marksburg.de

Also: Füssen and Rothenburg represent high-density tourism. Before leaving the Rothenburg area, you might spend some time in Bamberg, a wonderfully-preserved old place to the northeast with a more authentic German feel to it.

http://www.bamberg.info/en/

Russ, that's a fantastic idea (and something I was exploring this morning - the daytrip part). With this, would you find it best to skip Mittenwald or would it timewise be worth the southern detour to go there or even Garmisch for an overnight?

Re: Heading north for a day in Weisbaden; we will most likely definitely take your advice. I only wish the boats were running often but the schedule is greatly condensed in this time (understandably so). Any other areas north of Weisbaden that are great areas to explore for a day?

Oh, one point I should have made: We will obviously be interested in a Christmas Market (or Markets). I know Munich's is very famous, but any others in our vicinity we should make a point to hit?

1.) I think a trip to Mittenwald and Garmisch for a day is very worthwhile. I'd prefer to stay overnight. The "Bavarian Evening" music, traditional food and dance at the Fraundorfer Inn in Garmisch is a lot of fun. It's the sort of place you might want to linger. But you could return to Munich on a 10 or 11 pm train as well if you don't mind getting in late. It's about an hour 20 minutes each way from Munich to Garmisch.

http://www.gasthof-fraundorfer.de/en...taurant_e.html

2.) Christmas markets - of course. Spend some time in Nuremberg at the Christkindlesmarkt, either as a daytrip from Rothenburg or on your way to Munich (stow bags in lockers at N'berg station.) Nuremberg is fantastic at that time of year. The Handwerkerhof in front of the station is worth some time too. Just thinking of Christmas in N'berg makes me long for a Lebkuchen.

http://www.christkindlesmarkt.de/english/

Thanks again - you are a Godsend for me! Is the itinerary below sound reasonable to you?

Thursday p.m.: Munich (actually we arrive at 7:30 Thursday a.m., so will have a good chunk of the day to explore the center city area)
Friday: Munich
Saturday: Munich > Fussen / castle daytrip
Sunday: Train to Garmisch for overnight
Monday: Leave Garmisch, head to Rothenburg
Tuesday: Daytrip to Nuremberg for Market (Rothenburg overnight)
Wednesday: Leave Rothenburg for Weisbaden
Thursday: Weisbaden / Mainz
Friday: Head north for the day, toward Marksburg (overnight Weisbaden)
Saturday a.m.: Mainz, then head to FRA for departure

This would leave out Bamberg in favor of Nuremberg. The trip from Garmisch to Rothenburg is a hike, but one day we'll have to spend time traveling north so I don't see a way out of this.

This a more balanced, achievable itinerary in your opinion?

Sounds like a good trip to me. I never send people to the Füssen castles - the Neuschwanstein tour is disappointing - but I understand that people want to see them. Too bad about Bamberg...

Actually, you could probably see Bamberg on the way to Wiesbaden. I don't know what time you have to be in Wiesbaden on Wed. But it seems like you could stop in Bamberg for 3 hours or so on the way. Spend one night in Rothenburg and then instead of daytripping to Nuremberg, take your bags with you and stay in Nuremberg on Tuesday night. The train connections to Wiesbaden are much easier from Nuremberg. I checked the DB site and there's an 8:39 departure that gives you 3+ hours in Bamberg and you'd arrive in Wiesbaden at 15:58. The Bamberg station has lockers you can use for your bags while you sightsee.

That's a great idea - I know Rothenburg doesn't need that much time, and we won't be there in a heavy tourist season.

I understand about your reluctance for the castles - we might skip them. But, even though I know they are disappointing I think I'd regret not going and taking photographs.

Would you recommend us stay in Weisbaden or Mainz? I know they are just a few mins away. We will explore both and Weisbaden is where my wife is from, so we will see some friends one afternoon and probably explore her old school and neighborhood.

I suggest you stay where the expert, your wife, recommends. But I prefer Mainz on the whole. You might look into the Königshof, not far from the station for your daytrips.

I think she wants to stay in Weisbaden, which should work well. Seems like a very lovely place to stay.

I have a DB question: I've read many posts about railpasses and going point-to-point. It appears my best bet would easily be point-to-point, am I understanding that correct?

Oh, one more train question: I had read Munich to Garmisch and vis versa was one train. DB shows it requires 2 connections and one of them being a bus? It has the train from Munich to Huglfing, then a bus to Murnau, then a train to Garmisch.

Am I doing something wrong? That goes against everything I've ever read re: train connections between the two.