We've shortened our trip to Germany & Austria in the fall by several days and now need to stop overnight somewhere between St. Gilgen and Frankfurt. Had originally planned a night in Feuchtwangen but it's a little further than we like to drive in one day so figured we settle on Nordlingen or Harburg.

Has anybody stayed in either town or is there somewhere else you could recommend that would be less than a 4 hr drive from St. Gilgen?

In Nördingen we stayed in the Kaiser Hotel Sonne, which has hosted many luminaries since it opened in 1405. We enjoyed it, though as I recall, the cathedral bells rang quite a lot. However, it was pretty neat to think that we were staying in the same hotel as Charles V and Goethe and even some of our astronauts.

My strongest memory of Nordlingen was of trying to deal with a truly formidable network of one-way and/or dead end streets, as we tried to move the car from one side of the hotel to the other.

My sister--not a hardy traveler--was all for abandoning the car and taking a plane back home--that day. I had to convince her that we were just experiencing temporary difficulties.

Thanks, Peg. I'll check it out. I hope that our new GPS will help us out on this trip, but it wouldn't be vacation if we didn't get lost at least once!

http://www.stadt-harburg-schwaben.de/

I think here you'll find a page of Harburg/Schwaben hotels. Many years ago, we stayed at one of the two on the marktplatz. I seem to recall it was the Zum Straussen. Easy parking, nice little hotel. The quietest of towns with a castle and a lovely stone bridge. We drove to Nordlingen for supper. J.

Betty, how about staying AT Schloss Harburg? We haven't stayed there but the castle is amazing and the little restaurant there is lovely. Here is the direct link to the restaurant/hotel website:

http://www.fuerst-wallerstein.de/harburg/index.html

When I read your question I had the same immediate reaction as hausfrau--ie consider Schloss Harburg. I have never stayed there but have visited during the day when I lived in Bavaria. It is a beautiful spot

Thanks everybody for the links.

Hausfrau, I didn't know that the castle was also a hotel; I'll check it out to see if it's in our budget.

I sent an enquiry to the Braunes Ross Hotel in Noerdlingen. They are on the Marktplatz, probably next to the Kaiser Hotel Sonne. They quoted me a price of 65 Euro including breakfast which is very tempting.

Well I checked out the Burg Harburg website and it looks like they have double rooms for 75 Euro which is very reasonable. I sent them an enquiry to see if they have any availability for our date.

Thanks again.

Oh good! If you end up staying there you can tell us all about it.