wanttogo

We would like to travel to Germany in May 2009. Our plan is to fly into
Frankfurt and out of Munich. We want to spend about 6 nights in Munich at the end of the trip with
day excursions by train to other places of interest nearby.

My question concerns the beginning of the trip. I have heard good things about Wurzburg and that would
be a good starting point from Frankfurt. Other suggestions for locations that are accesible by train are needed. We are in our mid-60's, love history and scenery, and would like to keep hotel costs at the beginning of the trip to $150.00 or less.

born2wonder

I have stayed in Wurzburg after arriving by plane at Frankfurt. Train takes about 90 minutes if I recall and requires no transfer.

I have also stayed in Bamberg after arriving by plane at Frankfurt. Train takes about 2.5 hours and requires a transfer out of Wurzburg.

Both cities have modest hotels for 100 euros or about 150 USD.

In my opinion, there is no comparison between the two. Bamberg is one of the most authentic, historical, intact cities in Germany. Beautiful architecture, and fantastic breweries. It is the quintessential German town. It would be a great city to spend your first days in and is worth the extra one hour of train travel.

PalenQ

www.bahn.de has all the schedules - the German Rail site and prices with some discounted online options - a good way to link with the English schedule page of the bahn.de site is to go to www.budgeteuropetravel.com and on their home page is a link right to the English schedule page where you have two boxes, from and to and put in the date and time you want to travel and it gives all the trains. The reason i refer to the budgeteurope site to link is that the home page referenced gives several tips on how to use the bahn.de site as it can give you a wealth of info if you know its intricacies.

wanttogo

Thank you both for your suggestions.

Taking the train to Bamberg from Wurzburg may be a possibility. The site that PalenQ recommended is a good start.

Pat

Maudie

Apart from all the good info you will get on this board I have a great book called Daytrips Germany by Earl Steinbicker that I found on Amazon. It is one of a series.

His idea is to use, say somewhere like Munich, as a base and gives lots of day trips that can be done either by car or train. He gives a map of each place which includes a walk that hits the major sights. We will also be in Germany in May and I am finding this book quite a useful resource. Maybe you can find it at your library and have a browse to see if it suits you.

Good luck with your planning.

PalenQ

For train travel in Bavaria investigate the bargain Bavaria Pass, good on all regional trains (but not ICE and fastest trains) as well as city transports - sold at stations by the day and i think up to five adults or such can travel all day for pennies really.

LarryinColorado has written a lot about this on Fodor's in the past. Search for Bavaria Pass.

TexasAggie

I have visited Wurzburg a number of times and studied there for 6 weeks in college. It's a lovely town.
The train station in the FRA airport has a direct train to Wurzburg that takes about 1.5 hours. The train runs often. Whenever I am flying in and out of FRA, I always use Wurzburg as the overnight base.

Within Wurzburg, don't miss the Residenz and Hofkirche and Court Gardens, the Old Main Bridge (Alte Main Brucke), Festung Marienburg (Fortress), the Kapelle with it's 12 stations, the center of town with the old Town Hall, and the Burgerspital and/or Jusliusspital restaurants/wine taverns/wine shops.

TexasAggie

P.S.
Bamberg is also a wonderful town. It is not quite as convenient to FRA though, as you usually must make a connection in Wurzburg to get there.

Larryincolorado

For more information about the Bayern-Ticket to which PalenQ referred, go to www.bayern-takt.de, the official website of Bayerische Eisenbahngesellshaft, the organization (ÖPNV) the runs the regional trains in Bavaria. Click on "Englische Version" in the banner, then in the red box that says "27 Euro".

wanttogo

Thanks again for the replies to my
posting.

Maudie, I have just ordered a copy of
Daytrips Germany. It should arrive next week. I am sure that having it will be a big help.

Pat

PalenQ

The Bayern Ticket can be used on many nice day trips from Munich - Fussen and Mad Ludwig's Castles, Garmish-Partenkirchen from where a mountain train treks up the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak, to Rothenburg, Bamberg, Regensburg - a trio of wonderful old towns, to Prien where you take boats to Mad Ludwig's Versailles of Bavaria - Herrenchiemsee Palace on an island in the lovely Chiemsee lake, to Berchetsgaden and the Eagle's Nest (not sure if it is good on buses from the B'gaden train station up to Hitler's old Alpine perch and lookout though), Dachau in suburban Munich, and even to Salzburg, Austria, one of Europe's most gorgeous towns IMO - a Baroque wonder - even though a few miles inside Austria the Bavarian Pass takes you there as Salzburg is considered to be a German station for tarifaction purposes.

Had not seen Larry around for a while - he is a great repository of German train travel and especially all the deals like the bargain Bavarian Pass.

TravelingMan61

Spent 2 years in Wurzburg while I was in the Army 30 years ago. Been back numerous times. Here is a great hotel right across the street from the train station.
www.hotel-regina-wuerzburg.de 108 euro with breakfast. The BW and I consider it our second home.

Vttraveler

How many days do you want to spend before the Munich part of the trip? I agree with those who say either Würzburg or Bamberg would be a good base. They are both beautiful cities

If you want to visit Rothenburg, too, Würzburg would be more convenient for that. in Würzburg I would also put in a plug for the Mainfrankisches Museum

Maudie

I am sure the book will open up some wonderful possibilities for you. I just did a terrible thing, something I have never done before - I pulled the book apart!!!! I have put it back together again as our own little mini guide book with all the places we are going to. It sure took some courage to do it.

wanttogo

These replies are wonderful!

We will have 7 nights to spend before we get to Munich. Is it possible to visit Rothenburg as a day trip from
Wurzburg? I am thinking that we could spend 2-3 nights in Wurzburg, 2 nights in Bamberg, and maybe two nights in another location before we get to Munich.

Pat

Vttraveler

You could certainly visit Rothenburg as a day trip. Many people advocate an overnight to experience the city with fewer tourists and take the Watchman Tour. I have only gone during the day myself

I lived for several years in Eichstätt in the Altmühl valley north of Munich. It is a well known destination for German tourists but less visited by US tourists. Lots of hiking and biking options in addition to a cathedral, a castle beautiful Baroque architecture and interesting natural history (fossils)
As noted in another post, Regensburg would be another wonderful stop. It has the added advantage for history buffs of being an old Roman garrison town.

Larryincolorado

The trip from Würzburg to Rothenburg takes just over an hour by train with an 11 minute change (plenty of time) in Steinach. The last train back to Würzburg leaves Rothenburg at 8 PM, too early for the Nightwatchman's tour, but it would give you about 9 hours in Rothenburg.

If you want to take the Nightwatchman's tour, you need to spend a night. You could do that on the way to Munich.