We will be in Germany and Austria between May 8 and May 23. We have the first and last night hotel reserved so everything else is flexiable.

Tues 8 Rent car at Frankfurt airport (with GPS). Travel to Karlsruhe and the ZKM Museum. Then to Baiersbronn where we have a hotel room reserved.

Wed 9 Travel through the Black Forest visiting Ruhestein, Freudenstadt, Alpirsbach, Gengenbach, Gutach Open Air Museum, Triberg Falls, Furtwangen Clock museum, and Sankt Peter. Stay in the area of Hinterzarten or Titisee.

Thur 10 Take the train from Titisee to Freiburg through Hells Canyon. Drive through the Black Forest from Titisee to Gundterstal, Staufen im Breisgau and Todnau. Continue on to Meersburg for the night.

Fri 11 Zeppelin museum (and ride if weather is right) at Friedrichshafen. Drive to Fischen and then on to Reutte in Austria.

Sat 12 Go up Zugspitze from Ehrwald, Austria (weather permitting). Then drive on to Oberammergau and visit the Linderhof and Abbey of Ettal and spend the night in MIttenwald.

Sun 13 Drive the Alpenstrasse to Berchtesgaden. Do the Eagles Nest Tour and/or salt mine.

Mon 14 Konigssee boat ride and then drive to Heiligenblut and see the Grossglockner Glacier.

Tue 15 Drive south from Heilgenblut through Lienz to Bad Gastein and on to Hallstatt.

Wed 16 Drive to Salzburg and spend the day and night there

Thur 17 ASCENSION DAY Ludwig's Cheimsee castle at Herrencheimsee and on to Landsberg am Lech

Fri 18 Drive to Fussen and do the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles, Wieskirch and wonder up the Romantic Road back to Landsberg.

Sat 19 Take the train into Munich and spend the day.

Sun 20 Drive to Dachau. Back to the Romantic Road and hit Friedberg, Donauworth, Nordlingen to Dinkelsbuhl for the night.

Mon 21 Finish the Romantic Road – Feuchtwanger, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Rottingen and on to Wurzburg,

Tue 22 Drive to Mainz and turn car in. Take the train to Bingen and catch the Rhine cruise to Koblenz. Train back to Mainz where we have a hotel room for the night.

Wed 23 Train Frankfurt airport and home.

QUESTIONS
Is Gengenbach worth a 30 minute drive each way to see?

What will be closed on Ascension Day?

Will we have problems get B&B's and/or hotels without reservations?

We have 4 of Ludwig's castles on the list. Should we cut 1 or 2?

What else should we cut out?

Is Saturday the good day to see Munich?

My critique?

In my opinion, there's too much driving and too many one-night stops.

I suggest focusing on two or three areas (maybe four), stay for a few nights in each and explore from there.

Hi S,

It's a lot of driving, but if you like that it's a good itinerary.

>Will we have problems get B&B's and/or hotels without reservations?

Maybe, maybe not. You're still early in the season.

For most of your trip you know where you will be spending the night.

It would save you time on the road if you made your reservations now.

For those places where you might be at A or B, I suggest that you make a list of possible places in each of your towns so that you can call ahead the night before.

We will be missing each other by about a day in Austria.

Enjoy your visit.

Hey ira - have a great trip!

You left out the Mosel River, my favorite area of Germany. Not to speak of Burg Eltz, one of my favorite castles and a real one.

Ira, Thanks for the suggestion for making a list of lodging in the area.

Mimar, When we did a Benelux trip we did the Mosel River but not the castle. With so many other things to see we are skipping that area this trip.

TuckH, The total driving is about 1600 miles, which I am thinking is too much. I just need to figure out what to cut out.

>I just need to figure out what to cut out.< I'd cut the Black Forest, though my wife comes from there and I know it quite well. I'd also cut the Grossglockner, only because it's such a long deviation.

If this were my trip, I'd head to the Garmisch area by way of Rothenburg (for a night or two), and spend a few nights there (Mittenwald say). Then I'd move on to the Berchtesgaden area (which includes Salzburg), again for a number of nights.

In each case you can see most all of those places you've listed by doing relatively easy daytrips. IMO, it's more efficient (and relaxing) to have a home base to return to each evening.

Hi S,

>The total driving is about 1600 miles, which I am thinking is too much. <

We did a 10-day drive through France in 2005 and put 1650 miles on the car.

My Lady Wife didn't mind the driving at all.

PS,

I try to keep the driving down to no more than 4 hrs pd.

Fri 18 Drive to Fussen and do the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles, Wieskirch and wonder up the Romantic Road back to Landsberg.

This is a LOT in one day - we just did the castles last week. Spent the night before in Fussen, so only had a 5-minute drive there in the morning and we still spent from 8:30am until 3:30pm just seeing the two castles and having lunch in town. You'll be there a lot longer than you think.

We were in Meersburg last week and stayed at Gasthaus Brigitta. It's about 10 min. walking distance from downtown Meersburg and the prices are very reasonable. Very clean too. It's not a ***** hotel but exactly what we were looking for. We ate at the pizzeria close to the dock. It was very good.

We loved Meersburg but didn't stay long at Friedrichshafen. We enjoyed Lindau more so.