Route in Germany
 

We are flying into Frankfurt and flying out of Munich. We will pick up a rental car in Frankfurt airport and drop it off in Munich. These are the places we plan to visit:


** Mosel Valley/Mosel Wine Tour/Cochem
Castle (Beilstein is our base) (3 nights)
** Baden Baden/Rebland Wine Region(2 nights)
** Rothenburg (1 night)
** Neuschwanstein/Fussen/Reutte region (3
nights)
** Munich/Dacchau/Salzburg (3 nights)

Because we don't really know how the roads are between BB, Rothenburg and Fussen, it's hard to determine:

Does it make sense to go from Mosel to BB to Rothenburg to Fussen and then end up in Munich? OR....

Should we go from Mosel to BB to Fussen to Munich to Rothenburg and back to Munich?

Another option is Mosel to BB to Rothenburg to Munich to Fussen to Munich.

I know we can do Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau (and Mary's Bridge) as a day trip from Munich, and Fussen and Reutte as another day trip, but we'd like to stay at a working farm that's close to the BIG castles, Fussen and Reutte and use that place as our home base so we're not traveling from Munich each day.

If we decided to miss Rothenburg (to avoid the extra traveling to and from), we could put Salzburg in it's place, spending 1 night and 2 days in Salzburg. Then the route would be much better. Would you suggest we do this?

I would probably insert Rothenburg after the Mosel and before Baden-Baden. However, the distances are not the great if you want to take things in a particular order. You can check distances and driving times on Viamichelin:

http://www.viamichelin.com

Rothenburg and Salzburg are beautiful places; we visited both with our adult children this spring. It would be personal preference to choose between them. Either way you win.

Regards, Gary

<If we decided to miss Rothenburg (to avoid the extra traveling to and from), we could put Salzburg in it's place, spending 1 night and 2 days in Salzburg. Then the route would be much better. Would you suggest we do this?>

yes very much - since Rothenburg is out of the normal flow and to me since Salzburg is one of Europe's most beautiful cities.

Rothenburg is nice but rather Ersatz - not a real town to me but totally tourist oriented with swarming crowds to boot in season.

Rothenburg is very nice - Salzburg exceptional.

I reluctantly agree that maybe putting off Rothenburg for another time may be best. I loved that little city, but it is a bit out of the way.

If it is a choice between Salzburg and Rothenburg - definitely Salzburg. It sounds so corny, but I felt a deep connection with Salzburg and cannot wait to go back. Rothenburg was rather commercial, despite many charming streets, houses and the photos we took of them.

You don't mention it in your OP, but are you planning to see Burg Eltz as well? Please don't miss this. It was truly amazing. Also, there are some castle ruins in Beilstein, and I cannot recall the name off hand. They were fun to explore.

hi, maria,

this may sound obvious - get a map which shows autobahns etc. then your route wil become much more obvious.

then do what Gary says and use michelin to work out driving times.

we are talking germany, so no dirt tracks! [though thre may be a few cobbles here or there].

regards, ann

and talking Germany - no speed limits on parts - about half i think - on the autobahn so you can cover ground

note: stay out of the passing lanes if not going 100 mph or you'll get the wrath of driviers.

Thank you everyone for all this wonderful information. We've decided to drop Rothenburg. We'll go from Baden BAden to the Fussen area for a few days, then Salzburg for a few days and end in Munich.

Is there anything between Mosel Valley and BB and BB and Neuschwanstein that we should not miss?

And, Gary, that ViaMichelin site is a wonderful tool!

We're talking Germany, which means crowded highways and frequent traffic jams so allow enough time for driving on the Autobahn.
On the way from Baden-Baden to Füssen, go through the Black Forest, along the Bodensee (little detour but worth it) and through the Allgäu. If you can, allow an extra night to stop somewhere along the lake. Avoid that horrible A8 via Karlsruhe-Stuttgart-Ulm.

By the way, no one here calls Baden-Baden "BB".

Beilstein's partially restored castle is Burg Metternich

Hi
Have you looked at a German road map? that would be the best way to design a road trip, especially if you're planning to drive. This way you can iclude what you want to see and delete sites that may be out of the way.

I see you have 3 nights in the Fuessen area - when we were there, we spent 3 nights too and really enjoyed our time.

I wanted to mention a nice lake near Reutte called the Plansee - if you are there in the summer time and want a place to take a little swim or just hang out and enjoy some sun, this lake is terrific and a bit out of the way (not far, just off the beaten path) so it isn't particularly crowded.

Another place to consider for your stay near Fussen. Gutshof von Schluxen is a working farm gasthaus in Unter Pinswang (just on the Austrian side of the border about 3-4 miles from Fussen). They have rabbits, cows, pet deer and a wonderful place to stay. IMHO I wouldn't spend three days there. One night and two days would be plenty of time to see Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau.

Then I would go on to Wiesekirche, Oberammergau, Linderhof, Ettal Monastary and to Garmish to go up the Zugspitze. You could even throw in the violin makers village, Mittenwald which is about 10 miles from Garmish.

I don't know what your options are on the rental car but in Germany there is a 19% surtax on rent cars picked up at airports or train stations. You can drop them anywhere but you might save a ton by picking it up elsewhere.

I agree that you won't want or need a car in Munich. It has big city traffic and parking problems and the public transportation is great.

For hotels, the Uhland is a friendly family run hotel that is pretty convenient. We used priceline for one of our trips to Munich and we got the Marriott in Schwabing (a couple of u-bahn stops from Marienplatz). It is a big American style hotel in a neighborhood. We prefer to stay in places that have a little more atmosphere since that is part of the experience. Not to mention that we love the breakfasts that come with the room in most German hotels.

As you shop for a hotel look at OctopusTravel.com to kind of gent an idea. There are lots of hotels around the main trainstation.