Traveling between Germany, Austria & Czech Republic
 

Next fall my family and I (husband, 3 kids ages 4, 8, 11) are going to travel to Europe. We are planning a 14 day vacation to the following cities: Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Berlin and Nuremburg. I would like to know if this is enough time and what mode of transportation we should use in between cities. I was thinking a car from Ramstein AFB to Munich and then Salzburg. Then a train between the remaining cities. If you can think of more economical forms of transportation, we are all ears!
Our interests are castles, architecture, traditional food and drink, and kid friendly spots. We are trying to avoid long car rides and tourist traps.
We aren't interested in hostels or chain hotels. If anyone has tips pertaining to our trip, we would appreciate them. This is my first trip to Europe and my husband's first trip there as a tourist.

You don't need a car in Munich, or Salzburg, so taking one from Ramstein to Munich and then Salzburg will not make much sense unless you want to visit places along the way. With the number of places you want to visit and the distance you need to travel to do it, you won't have time to visit nay places in between so the train seems to be your best option.

7 stops in 14 days is very tight; moving every 2 days is not an ideal pace and you have Munich, Vienna, Prague and Berlin that arguably "deserve" more than 2 days. Giving them 3 days each would mean 1 night stops in Salzburg, Dresden and Nuremberg.

If there is an odd man out in this itinerary, both logistically and for sights to be seen, it is probably Nuremberg. I can't opine on that for certain unless you indicate from where you want to depart. Presuming you can leave from Berlin, I would recommend;

Munich 3
Salzburg 2
Vienna 3
Prague 3
Berlin 3

As much as I love Dresden (visited twice already with more to come), I would try and do it as a stopover on the way from Prague to Berlin, if that kind of "break" interests you. It is smack dab in the middle of the Prague - Berlin trip at around 2 hours from each.

If 2 night stays are okay for you, then I would probably decide which major city, or cities, I was least interested in and take one night of the three from those and give one or two of them to Dresden.

If you aren't going to leave from Berlin and have fixed airport choices, let us know as that changes things.

I agree with Aramis. 14 days is not long enough for all those places. With 3 little kids you are going to be spending most of the time packing, unpacking, moving and trying to find a laundromat.

Looking back at the times we traveled with our children, many moons ago, the more relaxed trips where we spent 4-7 days in one place bring us our fondest memories.

I would make just two stops, with day trips from each: Berlin and Munich (or one of its suburbs).

This way you can adjust your daily schedule depending on the weather, whether it's time to have a rest day, etc. Both of these cities have excellent public transportation networks, and from both of these cities you can travel quite a bit afar on one of the many regional discount traintickets.

Get a map of the Berlin and Munich region, make a circle around both cities of about 100km. What lies within this radius can be done on day trips by trains.

If you can decide on what day you want to change from Berlin to Munich, you can buy the heavily discounted ICE (Intercity Express) train tickets on the Internet 92 days in advance and reserve seats on one of these trains.

For train schedules, go to www.bahn.de. There you can also buy the ICE tickets.

I have lived in Germany and also have travelled within and outside of Germany for many years, with and without kids. We have travelled by car and trains. With all the time, diet and general changes, kids tend to wear out faster than usually, but also long after the parents are exhausted.

We need to know where you fly home from as that will help with planning. Ramstein? Berlin?
Given your time frame, I personally would visit only 4 cities: Munich, Salzberg, Vienna, and Prague (or whichever city you fly home from) Four cities in 14 days is plenty since parts of these days will be taken up with travel whether by car or by train. As other posters have suggested, train travel will be easy between the cities and you definitely don't want a car in the cities (unless you stay in a chain hotel on the outskirts with free parking and take public transportation into town).