need help with Germany road trip
 

MY husband and I will be doing Europen delivery on a BMW at the end of February. We will be picking up the car in Munich on a Monday morning, and will drop it back off in Munich that Friday.

We want to enjoy driving around in the car, while seeing some highlights in Germany.

Here is the plan. If anyone has any feedback, please chime in!

SUNDAY AM: Arrive in Munich. Explore city, have some beer, early night.
MONDAY: pick up car in AM, drive to Nuremberg, Dinklesbuehl, and Rothenberg. Spend the night in Rothenberg.
TUESDAY: drive to Baden-Baden, spend the day there. Evening and night in Strasbourg.
WEDNESDAY: drive to Fussen area, see the castles and Garmisch area. Spend night in or around Fussen
THURSDAY: drive back to Munich, spend some time in Dachau, wlk around Munich, night in Munich.
FRIDAY: BMW factory tour, return car, more time in Munich.
SATURDAY: leave for US.

Thanks for any tips!

Well, this sounds like a good tour with a lot of relaxed driving through the countryside. You may meet some snow on the roads, so check the weather report for road conditions.

In München, I recommend Augustiner on Neuhauser Straße, for a beer and a hearty meal. Certainly the most sophisticated of the traditional beer halls. http://www.augustiner-braeu.de

You can make Nürnberg, Dinkelsbühl and Rothenburg (spelling!) in one day. If you are prepared to explore sophisticated German cuisine have dinner at Mittermeier!http://www.mittermeier.rothenburg.de/ISY/

If you are driving west, you may spend a little more time in Strassbourg than in Baden-Baden. You may drive through some of the picturesque wine villages near Strassbourg (e.g. Obernai, Boersch, Ottrott are close to the Freeway).

When you are in the Füssen area, the "musts" are Hohenschwanstein, Linderhof castle and, on the way back, Wieskirche.

In München, see all the traditional architecture. You may also visit the Dorint Sofitel Hotel Bayerpost which is something like a Design temple. Try to have a look at the pool! Visit also the restaurant "Lenbach" at the Lenbachplatz. It is something for the eyes, and the food is good too. http://www.lenbach.de/

Monday looks a little hectic. Nuremberg alone is worth at least half a day. Trying to squeeze Nuremberg, Dinklsbuehl and Rothenburg in one day would be difficult. The drive from Munich to Nuremberg takes about an hour and a half, and the drive from Nuremberg to Rothenburg takes about an hour.

If it were me, I would probably drop Nuremberg and concentrate on the towns on the Romantic Road; Dinklsbuehl and Rothenburg. I really enjoyed Nuremberg but trying to see all three in one day, and actually experience and enjoy each one, is a little unrealistic.

Good luck!

Tracy

I agree with tcreath. I never found Baden-Baden all that great-great. Strasbourg's nice but you would be going waaaaaaay out of your way to visit there on this trip. I would drive to Nuremburg and overnight there, then leisurely travel the Romantic Road. See Rothenburg, Dinkelsbuhl and then overnight in Nordlingen, another walled-town.

Or drive on and spend the night near the Wieskirche. This place looks particularly charming: http://www.scholderhof.de/. We tried to reserve rooms during the Christmas season but they were full. If you do go, please let me know what you think.

Thanks for the tips! It's funny that you mentioned this place: http://www.scholderhof.de/, Zeus. I emailed them earlier today to see if they had any openings. I will let you know if we go there.

How far is Strassbourg from Baden-Baden? I was under the impression it was very close by.

Zeus, I thought you said in another post you'd only visited Baden-Baden once and barely remember it. At any rate, how long ago was that visit? It has spruced itself up considerably in the past few years. So if your one and only visit was several years ago, your impression may not jibe with the BB of today.

Baden-Baden is a very attractive resort town, built for relaxing not for conventional sightseeing (no major monuments, etc., although it has quite a striking [newish] modern art museum). It's a town of nice restaurants, cafes, parks, shops and of course the spas. If you want a day of just hanging our or you want to try the spas (you should try one of them if you can), it's a very nice place to visit. Otherwise, you might want to go somewhere else. We go to BB three or four times a year and always enjoy ourselves.

We didn't find it a taxing drive from BB to Strasbourg. The drive was less than an hour last time we did, as I recall (for comparison, the EC non high speed train ride between the two is only 35 minutes).

Btilke - Man, you ARE observant. True, I was in downtown Baden-Baden only once, but we blew past it a number of times on other trips. I'm basing my personal disinterest primarily on the exact same things you brought up: It's not really a sightseeing or historic spot. If you're into relaxing, that's cool too. For my wife and I money and time are tight so we try to maximize our investments. We try to see and do as much as we can. I got the impression that the original poster was looking to put together a Highlights of Germany tour for themselves. If I were an European visiting New York, I wouldn't go out of my way to see Saratoga when there are so many other "more American" things to see and do closer to the City.

Were I a millionaire like yourself, I'd spend time in the spas too! And since rdoshi is picking up a Beemer maybe they too are independently wealthy.

:))

We're back from our trip, so I'm reporting back.

It was cold! But we had a great time.

The best thing about the trip was the BMW Factory tour in Munich- that was really neat.

The far we stayed at near Fussen (http://www.scholderhof.de/) was very nice. Christa (the owner) was very nice, and she had a great dog. The only thing was that it was hard to find. We were right out front, and didn't even know it. But worth going to.

In the other towns, we did not have hotel reservations, and ended up in a couple Ibis hotels, which were fine. In Rothenburg we stayed in a nice little inn called Gausthaus Uhl.

All in all a great trip.

Can you tell me more about the BMW tour - can you book online or do you have to call? Do you remember the available times and can you catch a train to the site?
Thank you

My husband and I are signed up for a BMW tour in mid May. We will driving from Rothenberg to Munich that day. Can you suggest a hotel near the BMW plant? Thanks.