Hi,<BR>We are a couple in late 20's planning our first trip to Netherlands/ Germany. Primarily we are interested in seeing Amsterdam and Southern Germany.<BR><BR>April 19: Arrive Amsterdam at 6.30 am. Rent a car and drive to Heidelberg. See the castle (Schloss). Overnight in Heidelberg<BR>April 20: Drive (4 hrs) to Fussen. Checkout Neuschwanstein. Overnight in Fussen<BR>April 21: Morning see Hohenschwangau castle and afternoon see Linderhoff . In the evening drive (1.5 hrs) to Dacau. Overnight in Dacau<BR>April 22: See the Dacau camp in the morning-noon. Drive (2 hrs) to Augsburg. Check out Fuggerei. Overnight in Augsburg<BR>April 23: Drive (1.5 hrs) to Rothenburg in the morning. See Rathaus and Kriminal Museum. Overnight in Rothneburg. <BR>April 24: See St.Jakobskirche in Rothenburg. Drive (1 hr) to Wurzberg. See Residenz. Overnight in Wurzburg<BR>April 25: Drive Wurzburg to Lisee (5 hrs) via Leiden Drive through the tulip fields and spend the rest of the afternoon at Kuekenhoff gardens. Overnight in Amsterdam.<BR>April 26: Return rental car (1 week rental). Train to Gouda. Check out Red Lion Windmill, Waag Cheese Exhibition, and Adrie Moerings Pottery/ Pipemaker. Train back to hotel. <BR>April 27: Visit AnneFrankhaus, Van Gogh Museum, Canal Tour/ Explore Amsterdam <BR>April 28: Train early morning from Downtown to Schipol. Flight back to America.<BR><BR>This is a fairly fast paced itinery, but our intention is to get an essence of the 2 countries. Please let me know if you think we may be better off not visiting something above in favor of something not included in our itinery which may be far more impressive.<BR><BR>Thank you Fodorites to help me plan yet again.

This makes me dizzy to even think of it. As you know it is whirlwind and I'm not sure how much of this trip you will remember, but it will certainly give you a lot of places to check off your list of things you've &quot;done&quot; if that is your main goal. Too much for me, and I'm one who likes to do a lot. But the part that bothers me the most is the 5 to 6 hour drive from Amsterdam to Heidelberg after a tiring TransAtlantic flight (if I'm assuming correctly). I wouldn't do that on a bet.

Ah, I wondered why my previous post wasn't here. I didn't realize you had posted this question twice.

Just a quick suggestion - you can most definetely do Hohenschwangau and Newschwanstein in the same day. They are really close to one another (like right there!) If you were planning on doing the tours of both I recommend just going up and looking at Hohenschwangau and doing the tour at Newschwanstein. The tour there lasts about an hour. That way you can maybe move your time in Dachau a little longer. That is my suggestion.

You need to reconsider your plans on driving from Amsterdam to Heidelberg on your first day. You're talking about driving five hours to Heidelberg. That's a long drive on your first day.<BR>I would consider staying a second evening in the Fussen area and visit Wieskirche and the churches at Rottenbuch and Steingaden.<BR>I would also drive to Dachau and then go on to Rothenburg on the same day.<BR>While there are a number of things to do in Augsburg, I would not consider the Fuggerei to be one of them. <BR>In Rothenburg, consider taking the Night Watchman tour in the evening. <BR>A daytrip to Wurzburg from Rothenburg can be made easily. By staying a second night in Rothenburg, you allow yourself a bit of a chance to relax in the middle of a hectic trip.