I seem to get more confused by the minute with this whole trip. I have the Rick Steves book and we're going to look for another book this weekend. We are flying into Frankfurt on Sat am and out of Munich a week later on Sun am. We're renting a car. We've decided to stay in St. Goar Sat and Sun night and leave early Mon morning - heading down the Romantic Road. That is where our decisions end! What would be the best places to stay and do the Munich/Bavaria part? It is going to be during Oktoberfest so I doubt we will get a hotel in Munich but I'm having a hard time figuring out a very close place to stay. We're happy to take a train in and out of Munich but I don't want it to be longer than 30min or so after Oktoberfesting all night! I want to see Dachau and have a day to see the city as well. We also want to see the alps and hike and do Ludwig's castles. Is there a place we can stay that would be convenient to get to Munich by train and drive to castles and hiking in the alps? Or stay near Munich 2 nights (if so WHERE?!) and then stay in Fussen? I also definitely want one night in Salzburg. I also think it's best for us not to finish in Munich because it will be harder to get into the tents on the weekend and we'll have to be in line earlier and longer.

Please pity me and help even thought I've provided so little!

Hi D,

Exactly how many days in Germany, 8 or 15?

Have 8...would love 15.

by train from Muenchen to the east Rosenheim about 40 min and Prien a Chiemsee about 1 hr, west Augsburg 35 min, Tutzing 30 min (on Strarnberger see also s6 bahn),or any towns along sbahn 8 from airport to munich center or get on munich transportion site select towns along sbahn routes. You might like S5 Herrsching on Ammersee as Andechs is about 2 miles from s bahn.
http://www.mvv-muenchen.de/en/index.html.
We are going to Oktoberfest also but into Munich and out of Frankfurt.
How many nights are you in Germany? That is alot to cover in 8 days. I suggest you get a map out and use a circle route for the things you can't pass up in bavaria.
Also there are alot of winefests in rhein and mosel towns in sept. Is this the end of Sept? If it is you could go to Stuttgart beer festival. We are going to both festivals and had no problem getting a room in Stuttgart. I made Oktoberfest hotel reservations last September. Some places were already full.

Check out www.bensbauernhof.com/ for lots of info on places to stay in Bavaria.

This is very helpful and just what I need. My husband has been hogging the guidebook and thought Fussen would be a good place to see Munich from! A 2 hour train ride back and forth would give us time to get good and drunk but little else. He was fine with that but I’m definitely dragging him around Munich anyway. We’re going the last week of September. It’s last minute because we weren’t planning on taking another vacation this year but you know how that goes. I’m going to look into some winefests in the rhein area. We have 2 full days there (1 disoriented post flight) and so far we’re just taking a ferry down part of the Rhein and biking back. I love Reisling and have not tried Ice Wine..yet. The book we have does have a great loop for the castles and that area. Stuttgart sounds wonderful but I guess we’re already too pressed for time. In the end I know somethings will be cut out and some things will be cut short but we have to do the best we can. I originally thought we’d head down the Romantic Road and stay in Rothenberg but St. Goar is calling to us so we will just be able to pass through that area. I don’t think I can not go to Dachau but maybe we will go ourselves and do the audio tour at our own pace instead of a longer guided one from Munich. With two weeks I could really do some damage but my vacation time is limited.

St. Goar is a pleasant town and Burg Rheinfels is worth a visit. You might want to reconsider and leave St. Goar Sunday afternoon and stay in Rothenburg or Dinkelsbuhl Sunday night - it is a pretty long drive, 250 km +. Also, it is still early and you should be able to find a room in Munich for Octoberfest. When you say you want to visit Dachau, do you mean the camp? The city itself is not much IMO. The camp is about a half day at the most. What struck me most about the camp was how small it was considering the number of people held there at any one time. If you want to see Ludwig's castles you can of course base in Fussen but I prefer the small towns nearby such as Schwangau. There are some very nice small (and not so small) hotels there. If you cross into Austria to drive in the alps you will notice a very large gas station just over the border. The gas is significantly cheaper there than in Germany, so gas up. Have a great trip. I made one similar about a year ago in about the same time with my son who is a castle nut. Its is do-able but be prepared to put in some serious driving time.

This is all so helpful!

Betsy - will check that link for sure.

b1 - We do want to see the castle ruins. The reason we are thinking 2 nights for there is because we may be tired to do a whole lot on the first day. We love to hike and it looks like that area would be great for that. And then there's the wine...
We can't wait for the castle ruins! Rothenburg is not out of the question for sure yet. Once we have some good maps and start really plotting our course we'll make the call. I keep reading about that Night Watchman's Tour. For Dachau I do mean the camp.

I will try to get into someplace in Munich but we would need to park the car. I've read that Hotel Uhland has parking but they are full. Do you know of any other hotel I could try, or where we could dump the car while in Munich?

I was able to get a reservation at Carat Superior in Munich for Sunday, September 24. I made the reservation about two weeks ago through Venere. You might try them. PJK

Dohlice- I took a second look at your plans and have had some second thoughts. I did not notice at first that you want to include Salzburg as well although it is certainly a worthwhile destination, it's about a 3 hour drive from Fussen.
Figure about an hour or so to drive from Frankfurt to St. Goar. If you want to go from St. Goar to Rothenburg that is about 3 hours too. From Rothenburg, I might go a bit further south to quickly see Dinkelsbuhl and then pick up the bahn for the rest of the trip south. You will be passing Munich on the way. Dachau is not very far from there if you want to see it on the way, but it is a detour. A few hours is sufficient for a good appreciation of the camp. On the last road that you will be taking to Neuschwanstein (after the Y in the road) there are several smaller hotels. One has a nice outdoor restaurant - you can't miss it - and it is a very good place for a reasonably priced Bavarian dinner. The hotel is pretty good too, not fancy but nice. The castle is about a mile further ahead. Neuschwanstein gets all the publicity and the setting is spectacular, but Germany has many castles that are more interesting inside. For example, Burg Elz (sp?). Unless you want to explore along the Rhine from St Goar and see a castle or two on the way, you don't need more than a couple of hours to do Burg Reinfells. You can drive up from the town in a few minutes or take the tram from the pedestrian area. Perhaps see the town and rest on Saturday, do Reinfells in the a.m (but check if it is open on Sundays). One last thought - I don't know your budget, but Burg Reinfells has a hotel on the castle grounds. You could stay there and "kill two birds with one stone."

If you have Rick Steves book, that should be all you need. You can have total confidence in the info he gives you in every area. He tells you exactly where and how in all areas.

Actually, the Fodor guide to Bavaria is very useful--if you're getting another book, consider it. It has excellent coverage of the major regions and sights.