atfox1

Days of travel are Aug 17-Sept 7.
10 days southern Germany (excluding Munich) Fly to Warsaw (mandatory) from Munich Aug 28-Sept 2, and then do 5 days in Munich…Home
Renting a car for first 10 days. Canadian couple early 30’s, first Europe vacation, need help with Itinerary for 10 days in southern Germany. We like the idea of staying in Pensions or smaller hotels. Want to do Rhine, Romantic Road, Mosel valley, Museum’s, Castles, eat great food, taste amazing wine and beer.
What towns do I make my base camp?…How many days are sufficient for each area? (10 days to take from Frankfurt to Munich)
Any advice?

atfox1

I forgot to add Bavaria as a must stay and see priority.

dugi_otok

Fly into Frankfurt
1-2 nights on the Mosel (Beilstein or Cochem)
2 nights on the Rhine(Bacharach or St Goar or Boppard)
Drive the Romantic Road to
2 nights Fussen or Hohenschwangau)
3-4 nights Alpine village (Garmish-Partenkirchen or Mittenwald)
0-1 night Munich
Fly to Warsaw

Note: During your 5 day stay in Munich, take a day (train) trip to Salzburg, Austria

sparkchaser

@affox: isn't Southern Germany pretty much only Bavaria? Well, Bavaria and Baden-Wurttenberg.

A day trip to Nuremberg is suggested if you are into WWII history -- the Documentation Center is most excellent.

atfox1

I'm not sure if that was meant to be a dig at me, I called it southern Germany as on google maps all of those places I mentioned were classified as southern Germany. I might be wrong so I apologize for the misconception. I'm not an expert, which is I have posted the question on here. Thank you very much spark chaser for your recommendation and your correction.

dugi...thanks also for your input. (Salzburg is on most def on the list)

Anyone else have ideas? All info is appreciated!!

Thx

Travelforbeer

atfox-

We're glad to see you scaled back your original (overly) ambitious itinerary.

dougi_otik has laid out a pretty good itinerary. Can you walk for an hour with your health problem? If so, Berg Eltz is a good castle to visit while you are in Cochem. I would suggest one modification to dougi's itinerary. Stop in Rothenburg for 1 or 2 nights on your way south on the Romantic Road. (The RR is really not that special IMHO.) And 4 nights in the Fussen / Garmisch/ Mittenwald area is probably sufficient since they are all within an hour or so of each other. Also, if your flight from Munich to Warsaw is an afternoon flight you don't need to spend a night in Munich as it is only a 2-3 hour drive from Garmisch to the Munich airport.

Have a good trip...

atfox1

You rock travel for beer yes I can walk lol. I am currently doing 2.5 km 's a day. So I should be hiking mountains again soon!!!! Or at least by the time I get there! And.....your right. I was toooo ambitious (first time want to see everything and anything syndrome). Honestly it was scouring these forums that made me see the light.

I want to have a fairly relaxed non-rushed holiday where I can soak up the sights, drink kick ass wine (in moderation) and watch my husband guzzle copious amounts of ale. I think I can attain this objective with a scaled back vacation.

Burg Eltz is a must see I will agree. It is high on my list of things to do.

Cheers

Fox

weikeljd

Hi Fox,

I like dugi's suggestions. If you decide on Bacharach, be sure to hike up to Burg Stahleck. It is beautiful with great views of the Rhine & Surrounding valley. It is also the best hostel I've ever stayed in if you are up for roughing it...nice little wine bar where the guests congregate in the evening to try the local whites too. If you do Garmish, be sure to take the cable car up to the top...but don't eat in the restaurant up there. Hohenschwangau & Neuschwanstein are definite must sees. I'll also second Travelforbeer's recommendation of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It is a great walled city on Romantic road where you can actually walk the entire top of the wall...very cool! We stayed at Gastehaus Raidel and it worked for us. Quaint rooms for a decent price and a good location. North from Rothenburg is Dinkelsbuhl, another walled town worth doing a quick walk through...I really liked all of the doors in the wall there.

If you want to see pics from my trips, check out my sets on Flickr. www.flickr.com/photos/weikeljd/sets

Semester Abroad - Some Garmish pics
Eurotrip 2002 - Rhine River including Bacharach
Eurotrip 2008 - Romantic Road & Castles

Have a great trip!

Travelforbeer

FYI- Dinkelsbuhl is South of Rothenburg...

weikeljd

Right you are, sorry about that...couldn't remember the order I hit them in.

SusannahT

Votes here for Rothenburg & Fussen. In addition to above castles - Linderhof & Herrenchiemsee, both Ludwig castles. Both great.

Oberammagau has great frescoes on houses but can get crowded.

Russ

"Want to do Rhine, Romantic Road, Mosel valley, Museum’s, Castles, eat great food, taste amazing wine and beer.
What towns do I make my base camp?…"

If you have 5 days in Munich I suggest you visit points south (Füssen and Garmisch have been suggested) at that time. Stick with a points-north-of-Munich plan for the first 10 days.

Big Cochem and Burg Eltz fan here. Cochem's Reichsburg Castle has a fabulous view and an excellent birds-of-prey free-flight exhibition.

http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/28323...rg_cochem1.jpg
http://www.falknerei-reichsburg-coch...how_attack.jpg

Cochem's a great base for Eltz and if interested in Trier (Roman ruins and archaeological museum.) Cochem has a wine fest from Aug. 22-26.

There are 800-1,000-year old castles on the Rhine as well. Many are in private hands but Rheinfels (St. Goar, ruins) and Marksburg (Braubach, intact, excellent) are easy to visit and tour.

Visit the villages (Linz, north of Koblenz; Bacharach, Oberwesel, Boppard, and St. Goar south of Koblenz) for more old town walls and towers, half-timbered buildings, etc.

Transatlantic flights can make your first day pretty useless as you adjust to the time change. I would suggest NOT driving on Day 1 from Frankfurt for reasons of safety and comfort. You can catch a train from the airport station to your first base. Cochem is a LONG trip from FRA and I wouldn't make that my base (unless I were headed to Trier.) I would instead suggest Bacharach, Oberwesel, or St. Goar on the Rhine - you can be there in 1 hour from FRA, and there are DIRECT trains to Oberwesel. Pick up a car thereafter in nearby Koblenz (or since the area's train service is so excellent, scenic, and cheap, get a car when you leave for Rothenburg.)

I would not spend less than 4 nights in the Rhine/Mosel region, especially since your stay includes Day 1.

Rothenburg is an especially well-preserved town. It's also soaked with tourism and inundated with international tourists. Now, the Rhine/Mosel area can feel somewhat touristy in summer, but Rothenburg (and Füssen as well) is totally over-the-top. So if you hope to get an impression of Germany on your first trip to Europe, well, you might want to spend a few hours in R'burg and Füssen but might NOT want to spend the entirety of the other 6-7 days/nights in these places.

Near Rothenburg (which is part of Bavaria, by the way) are some really interesting destinations. Würzburg has some fine beer and wine gardens and a terrific palace - the Residenz. Bamberg is exceptional - fabulous old town, great Franconian food and beer in the Brewery-restaurants (you did say food and beer, right? Ever had smoke-beer?) Go to Nuremberg for its old town and the WW II history (you said "museums" but not sure what kind.) Go to Bad Windsheim for the open-air museum:

http://www.stripes.com/military-life...useum-1.102354

BEER: Northern Bavaria is no slouch - Drive the Aisch Valley "Beer Road":

http://t3-kundenserver.de.dedi661.yo...dex.php?id=832

4-5 days in Northern Bavaria scratches the surface - then head to MUC for your Warsaw trip.

sparkchaser

@atfox1: it wasn't a dig. It just occured to me that if you divided Germany in North, Central, and South, Bavaria is most of the "south".

Bamberg does indeed have some excellent beer and if you're there, I highly recommend eating at Schlenkerla and enjoying some of their world famous Rauchbier (a taste not for everyone but their Weizen is smoother than the rest -- also, the beer is better "gulped" than "sipped" because you get more of the flavor and body that way). http://www.schlenkerla.de/indexe.html

There is a Klosterbraueri in Bamberg as well that is worth seeking. It has been around since 1533 and their Schwartzbier is pretty tasty. http://www.klosterbraeu.de/

If you guys are up for an adventure, you can partake in one of the numerous beergarten hikes around the Fränkische Schweiz ("Franconian Switzerland", an area just East of Bamberg/Forchheim that is full of picturesque villages, hills, rock formations, limestone caves, and beergartens). I am not aware of any English maps/guides for the hiking trails and whatnot but this map is pretty darn good: http://www.amazon.de/gro%C3%9Fe-Fr%C...dp/3981269349/

traveldawg

We have done the area of Southern Germany many times through the years. I am just going to give you a few ideas on places to stay once you decide where you want to go:

ROTHENBURG: We have used the Reichs Kuchenmeister many times. Ask to be in the old building. The hotel is very well located and the restaurant is good for evening dining. You want to stay within the old walls in Rothenburg and this hotel does that.

Another choice is the HOTEL MARKUSTURM. This hotel is great. It is on many of the prints they sell of Rothenburg as it is near one of the towers. A good choice, but probably more $$$ than Reichs.

GARMISCH; We have used the Hotel Hilleprandt a few times. Good location. Ask for room 1 or 2 to be downstairs and have a patio. They have a web site with photos if you do a search.

COCHEM: ALTE THORNDECKE. We stayed here last in 1997 so it has been a few years. Old place, historic and we enjoyed it.

SALZBURG: One of our favorite spots. The HOTEL BRISTOL was excellent when we stayed there in 2007. Very close walk to the Old Town area.

Hope some of these help you out. Do not forget to do the Night Watchman"s tour in Rothenburg. The English tour leaves around 8 pm at the town square. Much fun.