Starting in Munich/Bavaria, wedding in Cologne, fly out of Frankfurt
 

Hi everyone,

We are flying to Germany to attend a wedding in Koln (Cologne) over labor day weekend. We have 8 days excluding flight days. We have booked a ticket to fly to Munich at the start and will ultimately depart from Frankfurt after the wedding. Our plan was to focus on the Bavarian region and rent a car. I am having a little trouble putting together the big picture and wanted to seek out some advice. I feel that we should nail down the hotels asap -- meant to do it sooner.

by the way - having trouble with umlauts in the post - excuse spellings

Aug 28: Red-eye from US
Aug 29: arrive Munich in am, night 1 in Munich
Aug 30: night 2 in Munich?
Aug 31: Fusse or similar (e.g. Reutte)
Sep 1: Fusse or similar (e.g. Reutte)
Sep 2: Fusse or similar (e.g. Reutte)
Sep 3: Drive to Cologne (route??) Night 1 in Cologne - rehearsal dinner in evening -- don't need to arrive until late afternoon
Sep 4: Night 2 in Colgne - tour Dom etc, wedding in evening
Sep 5: Night in Frankfurt (What would be a good day trip before sleeping in Frankfurt?)
Sep 6: morning flight out

My husband and I enjoy the charm of exploring small little towns. We are seasoned travelers and not afraid to drive around. We also enjoy exploring larger cities (more Munich than Frankfurt or Cologne; lower priority vs. the small towns). We are both active and would like to do some hiking, biking etc.

A few questions:
(1) In particular, I would like to seek input about how crazy the congestion is around oberammergau due to the Passion play (should we avoid that town only or the entire area?)
* Should we target Berchtesgaden & Salzburg instead of this region to avoid the Passion play congestion (again, I don't know how far the congestion extends)

(2) How would you advise getting from Fusse (or other town in that region) to Cologne by car -- what region would you drive through? (Should we plan to go via Baden-Baden? Heidelberg? (or other less touristy off-the-beaten-path places) Other? My understand is that the drive would be about 5 hrs without stops? I assume that a car would give us the most flexibility and that we would be able to stop and explore along the way

If necessary, we could cut the 2nd night in Munich and add a night somewhere in the Black Forrest or Rhine region.

(3) After the wedding in Cologne, we'd like to do a day trip somewhere that ends in Frankfurt, which we are less interested in exploring. Suggestions for which town to see?

(4) Should we ditch the car at some point or keep until Frankfurt?

I was originally planning to visit Dachau as a side-trip from Munich but after seeing some posts here may strike it from this particular visit.

Many thanks, in advance, for your help. We are high energy people -- but I realize that I have a tendency to overpack itineraries and want to get some real-world input.

Thank you!!!!

Laura

Hi everyone,
After reading posts here, i have come up with 2 new ideas.
(1) consider staying in Heidelberg (or Mainz) night before flight home from Frankfurt (11:20am flight)
(2) For the trip from Fussen to Cologne, considering adding an overnight stop in Rothenburg. This would require shaving off a day in either Munich (currently 2 nights at start of trip) or Fussen (currently 3 nights)

Can't wait to hear responses. Thanks so much, in advance, for your advice!

Laura

Good to see you rethought driving straight from Fussen to Koln - 5.5 hours of highway driving.

I would suggest shaving the day from Fussen. It is less than 2 hours from Munich and after seeing the castles, which you could do the day you leave Munich,.........

Fussen to R od T is maybe 2.5 hours and then another 3 - 3.5 to Koln, so it is good middle point. R od T is at it's best in the evening and early morning.

If you have a morning flight, Heidelberg to FRA is just under an hour with no traffic and you are going to be driving it on a Monday morning. What time would you have to leave and everything go perfectly to arrive at FRA 2 hours before your flight? Staying near the airport might make things easier. You can alway tour all day until late and then head to the hotel. If you don't want an airport hotel, Mainz might work, too.

Hi Aramis,

Thank you so much for your response.

In response to your question, my flight leaves frankfurt at 11:20 am. I assume that we would want to be at the airport by 8:30 (?) to drop off rental car and get to airport 2 hrs in advance. I have no idea if there is substantial traffic from Heidelberg to Frankfurt on a Monday morning in early Sept. You raise a good point that we could always go late the night before for peace of mind.

Thanks so much, again, for your input.

Laura

Agree with taking a night away from Fussen... 2 nights are enough to see a lot in the area. R o T is a super cute town!


Can't help with Heidelburg - FRA traffic on a Monday morning. But, how about staying the last night in Mainz and taking the train to FRA?

You might want to stay in Frankfurt. The Rhinegau Wine Festival is taking place the first 2 weeks of Sept. along the Fressgasse. This borders the area in front of the Alte Oper.

30 vineyards from the Rhine, present around 600 new wines for the season, as well as all the yummy food that goes with it. This is a popular festival.

Frankfurt does have some very good sites that you might want to visit too, as well as some excellent museums. There are lovely, charming hotels in some of the pretty, older neighborhoods, like Westend, Sachsenhausen or Bornheim. Contrary to popular belief, not all of Frankfurt was destroyed. There are some wonderful medieval churches here, one dating back to 850, the coronation cathedral for the Emperors, as well as many Jewish historical sites.

An alternative would be to stay the last night in Cologne and turn in the car...you can easily take an ICE train from there directly to the FRA airport...trip time is 57 minutes.

Füssen - Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a fast trip if you stayed on A7 all the time. Which would be a shame since there are many options for short stops in between where you only have to drive a few kilometers away from the motorway.
A7 runs more or less parallel to the Romantic Road, so you could look on the Romantic Road website to see if anything there triggers your interest. There is no real need to take the Romantic Road itself to get to Rothenburg since it's not a scenic byway but only connects scenic towns or sights.


For example:

Ottobeuren abbey (Hardly any tourists from overseas go there, while all of Oklahoma is at the Wieskirche)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottobeuren_Abbey

Dinkelsbühl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinkelsb%C3%BChl


Taking the ICE from Cologne to Frankfurt airport on your day of arrival could be a good option.
You could return the car once you get to Cologne. The train is fast, and you can check in your luggage already at Cologne main station (only if you fly with Star Alliance, but not 100% sure, so you'd need to double check that).
The morning commute on the freeways around Frankfurt can be pretty heavy.

Dinkelsbuehl rocks.

Thanks, everyone! You were all extremely helpful.

I will plan to stay in Fussen for 2 nights and Rothenburg for 1 as you suggest. If time allows, it makes sense to make some detours (e.g. Dinkelsbuehl) en route to Rothenburg.

Based on your guidance, I am also going to probably stick with Frankfurt on the last night and leave Heidelberg late the evening before our flight. That way we won't have to second guess potential rush hour traffic in the morning.

You are all fantastic to give me such thorough and prompt responses!

Laura

There are lovely, charming hotels in some of the pretty, older neighborhoods, like Westend, Sachsenhausen or Bornheim. Contrary to popular belief, not all of Frankfurt was destroyed.