Priority of sights in Germany
 

My wife and I are planning a trip to Germany for this summer, after the World Cup. My itinerary looks something like this:

Days 1, 2 and 3 - Munich (Residence, Nymphenburg, the two art museums, Dachau camp, beers in the evenings, Hofbrauhaus, etc.)
Day 4 - Trip to Fussen for the two castles there, Neuschwanstein and Hochenschwangau. Maybe sleep in Fussen, do the castles in the morning and then try to reach Linderhof in time for visit.

Day 5 - Herrenchiemsee (from Munich)

Day 6 - Linderhof (from Munich or Fussen)

Day 7 - Wurzburg or Rothenburg

Day 8 - Stuttgart

Day 9 - Ludwigsburg Palace

Day 10 - Sigmaringen Palace and Hohenzollern Castle as a day trip from Stuttgart (not sure if I can do them both in one day)

Day 11 to 14 - Black Forest, in a village 20km from Basel (day trips to Basel and Lucerne, and I don't know what else - will stay at some friends and we'll spend some nice time in the area).

Day 15 - return to Munich for our evening flight back.

We will do all the travel by train (lander tickets and where possible, booking tickets in advance for special offers). Moreover, the destinations mentioned are easily reachable by train.

I am not sure that I will be able to go for 15 days, and my questions are:

If I had to skip something, what would you recommend that to be?
Could I combine anything of the above from two days into one day (I don't think so, but...)?
How different are Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee from each other? What has one to offer and what has the other one, that makes them different from each other? Which is more worthy to see? Shall I skip one of these two castles or should I do both of them?
Neuschwanstein is out of the question - won't skip it, long time dream, even if only for the looks of it.
Is it possible/ feasible to do Ludwigsburg Palace in the morning, return to Stuttgart and visit Hegel House and the State Gallery in the same day? We usually reserve the evenings, after 5 or 6pm (when museums close), for walks in the towns/ cities, take in the atmosphere, check on the local beers, etc.

Our interests are palaces and castles, art museums (impressionism, old masters, etc.), history, nature....

Thank you for taking your time to read this.
Gabriel

I'm almost certainly the wrong person to answer this, given your stated devotion to Neuschwahstein, but here goes.
1* Given the itinerary, I'd omit Wurzburg/Rothenburg, though I like Wurzburg a lot.
2* I thought the external view of Neuschwanstein was fine, but inside it was a dud.
3* Linderhof is a Ludwig folly worth visiting, probably more so than Herrenschiemsee.
4* Your time in Munich and Stuttgart will be well-spent: plenty of attractions therein.
5* Visit one of the many spas in the Black Forest area, preferably the day before you fly home. It will put you in good shape for the trip.

I enjoyed the interior of Neuschwanstein very much--it's true that not all of the rooms were finished, but those that were are quite interesting. Wish they could have allowed more time inside.

Oh, and Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee are very different from one another.

Thank you for your replies.

Adeben, I will probably skip Herrenchiemsee and go to Wurzburg for a day and from there to Stuttgart. You somehow tipped the scale.

Rufus, if there is something worthy of any mention inside the castle, the better, of course. I was able to appreciate empty interiors of various ruins of castles in UK, so how much more will I appreciate the interior at Neuschwanstein if it is as you say. Thank you for your tip.

Does anyone know whether it is doable to sleep in Fussen and visit the castles there in the morning, then go by public transport to Linderhof to tour it in the same day?
If not, I'll just do it next day. I'm only thinking if I have any chance to gain another day.

Does anyone know how long it would take for a visit at Ludwigsburg, including a walk in the gardens? 3-4 hours?

Thank you.
Gabriel

If you stay in the village of Hohenschwangau (where the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles are located) and make your reservations in advance, you can easily see both castles in the morning. That would leave the entire afternoon for travel to and touring Linderhof==but I don't know what sort of transportation is available to Linderhof.

We rented a car for that portion of our trip.

Glad to read that Wurzburg is now included! I'll be back there myself in early September for a brief stay in order to have another look at the Residenz. Generally speaking, I prefer other forms of architecture to the Baroque, but the Residenz is a masterpiece. The supervising architect was Balthazar Neumann, and all of his existing buildings in Germany are worth a visit.

I visited all of Ludwig's castles and Linderhof was my favorite. We also rented a car in Munich for that portion of our trip.

Thank you again for your tips.

Yes, Adeben, the Residenz is what attracts me in Wurzburg and after that I'll take advantage of being there and do some walking around town (plus the necessary beer, of course - gotta try them all :) ).

Thank you for subscribing to Linderhof, Uptowngirl! Making it much easier to decide which one to choose.

More questions, now...

I will have two days between leaving Munich and reaching Stuttgart (by train only). One day is reserved for Wurzburg. Where shall I go the other day? Nurnberg, Rothenburg, any other place?
So the options are Rothenburg - Wurzburg - Stuttgart or Nurnberg - Wurzburg - Stuttgart.

At a first glance, in Nurnberg would be Durer's House (of some interest for us) and a castle (which doesn't look very appealing). Is there anything more to Nurnberg than this? How much of old town charm is there to it?
I don't know what I could see by touring the Nazi plateau, or the tribunal halls where the processes were held, or visiting the Art Bunker from the WWII. What is their worth? How interesting are they?

About Rothenburg I read praises nearly every other post, which makes me lean towards it.

gabrieltraian, DH and I loved Nuremburg. We flew into/out of Nuremburg in May when we vacationed in Germany/Austria. We only spent the last day in Nuremburg but were very pleasantly surprised by how interesting the town was. There definitely is some charm to the historic center, and its actually quite large. Just walking around was interesting enough. We made it to the castle (it was fine,) walked into the cathedral and then did some shopping. The area is also filled with great restaurants. I don't think one would need a lot of time there, but it would certaily be worth a day or two.

We also loved Rothenburg. If you can fit it into your itinerary, I highly recommend a visit. Sure it can get crowded, but the city is a pleasure to stroll around in. If you go, definitely take the nightwatchman's tour!

Tracy

The palace on herrenchiemsee is the largest of all the Ludwig buildings >200 rooms. It is the most elaborately decorated of all, including Linderhof, and it was designed to have an interior which closely mimics the interior of Versailles which it does.

You will definitely need most of a day to get there, take the steamer across the lake, take the tour, etc. The fountains outside are also quite impressive but they are not on the scale of those at Versailles and there aren't nearly as many.

I am not saying that it is <b>better</b> necessarily than Linderhof, just more elaborate and different. IMO the least attractive inside is Neuschwanstein but, of course, it is dynamite to look at from the outside.

Herrenchiemsee is a big favorite amongst the Germans and when you go there you will see why. A lot of tourists don;t take the time to see it but I would very strongly recommend you make that jaunt especially if you like all things Ludwig. That said, be sure to visit the treasury in the Residenze for the carved carriage collection which makes that thing Queen Elizabeth has to ride in look like a VW in comparison!

Enjoy your trip.

Rothenburg is a matter of personal taste. It is really pretty and well maintained, so very photo worthy. But it is sooooooooooo touristy--the old city is totally a creature that feeds off the daily deluge of tour buses. Not unlike a Busch Gardens idealized version of what an old German town should have looked like--but bursting with souvenir shops.

But it really is pretty and photogenic--we did take a lot of pictures.

I'd omit Stuttgart.

Thank you again for your replies.

Intrepid, you have put my thinking (plans) into turmoil. I mean in the good way. There are so many places to see, but unfortunately I have to restrict the scale of this trip.

I thought that there was something special about Herrenchiemsee, that's why I put it there somewhere on the list.

I cannot ignore Stuttgart, as that will be my base for Ludwigsburg, Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern Castle, which are part of the must sees on this trip. And from there I'll move down south to my friends, close to the Swiss border.

Given my itinerary, Wurzburg is a bit out of the way and I would combine it with Nurnberg to make it easier. But if I add Herrenchiemsee or Linderhof, Nurnberg would be the least appealing of all (for me), and that would leave Wurzburg the farthest point on the itinerary.

I hope I'll make out something workable.