Visit to Germany
 

My wife and I are planning a two (2) week trip to arrive in Frankfurt o/a May 20, 2003 with the intent to visit as much as we can.<BR>Early on we want to visit Manderbach which is <BR>North of Frankfurt, to try to locate some of my wife's distant relatives then for a day or two day cruise on the Rhine River, then a train trip to Berchtesgarden with a visit to Salzburg, Aus or Garmisch-Partenkirchen with a visit to Innsbruck, Aus. Maybe a 3, 4, or<BR>5 day tour to either of these places. Then whatever else we may have an opportunity to see. Any help or suggestions will be greatlty appreciated, Bill

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Bill - I would recommend going to Munich for around 5 days and see some of the sights as day trips. Dachau, Fussen with the castles, Garmisch, etc. Then over to Baden Baden in the Black Forest for several days. Then to Cologne or similar for the Rhine. Then Frankurt is easy to return to from there. I tried to squeeze too much out of my last trip by including Austria and missed out on seeing more of the Black Forest and the Rhine.

Thanks Ron, I appreciate the suggentions and will surely take them into consideration in our final planning. I served 4 years in Germany during the Post War 1947-51 and saw a lot of the country when it was in shambles and this is my first return. Should I try to rent a car or do most traveling by rail?<BR>

Thanks Ron, I appreciate the suggentions and will surely take them into consideration in our final planning. I served 4 years in Germany during the Post War 1947-51 and saw a lot of the country when it was in shambles and this is my first return. Should I try to rent a car or do most traveling by rail?<BR>Thanks, Bill<BR>

Comments on the Rhine:<BR><BR>For Rhine boat timetables:<BR>www.k-d.com/engl/schiffstouren/schiffstouren.html<BR><BR>I would suggest no more than 2-3 hours on the cruise boats. It can get tedious, and if the weather isn't great, indoors, you'll only be comfortable if you're smokers. You'll enjoy getting off the boats and exploring the towns. The town of Remagen, south of Cologne and north of Koblenz, has a great WWII museum, built in the remnants of the old bridge there, that you might be interested in. Across the river and south, the town of Linz is an eyeful of cobblestones and half-timbered houses. Marksburg Castle in Braubach, just south of Koblenz, is worth a tour: www.roadstoruins.com/marksburg.htm<BR><BR>And just about all the towns between Koblenz and Bingen on the west bank of the river make for interesting sightseeing (Boppard, St.Goar, and Bacharach, especially.)

Bill, others will disagree, but I prefer to travel by rail. It is more relaxing and the rail system is quite efficient. It does limit your flexibility and you sometimes end up sitting in train stations for a time, but then you don't have to worry about getting around the big cities, parking etc. It helps to pack light. <BR><BR>If you want to travel out to the country side or go to more remote areas, then a car might be a better option.<BR><BR>Good luck.

I have done both train and car and both have advantages and disadvantages. Do what makes you most comfortable. The roads are easy to drive but the train is convenient. If I had to choose, I would pick Berchtsgaden/Salzburg. You can cruise the Rhine in a day (Koblenz is a nice stop and has good wine). If you can get to Berlin, you should. It is a fabulous city with so much history and culture. It is one of my favorites in Europe because you have shopping, museums, history, Potsdam, nightlife, good food and friendly people.

Car or rail just depends on where you plan to go and what you plan to do. If you're just going to cities served by rail and only doing daytrips serviced by public transport, there's no reason to bother with a car. If you want to go to smaller places or get off the beaten path, then a car is good. We did both on our trip in June--rail for the first part, rental car for the rest.

Thanks sooo much for all the great responses. They will help us a great deal in our planning. Couple of additional questions. 1. Does anyone know the exact location and accessability of Manderbach, located North of Frankfurt? I can't seem to locate it on the map I have from the book&quot;Germany&quot; published by Fodor's, 2002. Maybe somewhere near Dillenburg. <BR>2. Is Hitler's home still a tourest attraction in Berchtesgarden? 3. I really like the idea of doing point to point traveling by train so when you reach my destination is car rental a common availability or must I rent from a major city?

I would really lean toward renting a car and using it for the whole trip if you are not planning much time in the big cities. Especially if you are not heading out to Berlin or Hamburg, the distances are not that great. While the train system is a world ahead of the US, you still have to deal with a lot of schlepping bags around, changing trains, etc when you are carrying things for two weeks (not a big deal for the student backpackers, but ...). <BR><BR>We enjoyed the flexibility of the car. You could take the autobahn to cover ground fast (stay out of the left lane, though), or just wander along the smaller roads and just stop where someplace looked especially nice. There are lots of small B&amp;B type places especially in southern Germany (look for the Zimmer Frei signs); we found them quite reasonable in cost and comfort. If you use the little places, it would pay to have a phrase book along, as the middle-aged German ladies that you typically deal with usually don't speak much english.<BR><BR>The most scenic setion of the Rhine is around Coblenz. If you wanted more time along the rivers, I would highly recommend heading up the Mosel from there, rather than spending more time on the Rhine.<BR><BR>We enjoyed Rothenburg and the area in the south with Neuschwanstein and Weiskirk (sp?), but didn't try to spend a lot of time along the &quot;Romantic Road&quot; in between.<BR><BR>Salzburg and the surrounding area we liked very much. We stayed a few miles south of Salzburg. We drove into the town (Hallstat?) and stopped at the tourist center; We asked about the pretty village up on the hillside, and the tourist center gave us a list of 5 or 6 places. We liked it so much we kept extending our stay.<BR><BR>We didn't find the Black Forest worthwhile as a destination, but it was nice as a place to break the trip back north and to spend the afternoon in one of the towns.

Hi Bill. I don't know if you'd consider skipping Innsbruck, but if you find some extra days, let me recommend the towns along the Bodensee -- Lindau, Meersburg, Uberlingen, Wasserburg. J.

Are you certain of the spelling &quot;Manderbach&quot;? Couldn't find it in my pretty detailed Michelin motoring atlas. Also didn't come up when input at the viamichelin web site. It either has another spelling, or it's so small that it's not on the map. If the second is the case, then you'll need the name of a larger nearby town.

Found Manderbach! Between Rodenbach and Dillenburg. Go here http://www.rothaarsteig.de/deutsch/default.htm and then click on the lowest map section outlined in blue. You'll get a popup map showing Manderbach clearly.

Agree that the car/rail question hinges on what you want to do--if just visiting major cities or larger towns and not going to smaller places, then stick with trains. Otherwise, car. Or a combination of the two.

Bill - Manderbach is easily found on &quot;mapquest.com&quot;. I didn't look up driving times but it looks like it is close to the Autobahn and I would imagine only 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive from Frankfurt - and the same distance to Koblenz, where you do your Rhine cruize. Check &quot;bahn.de&quot; to see if there are any rail connections.

Bill - some more info. Manderbach has no rail link, but is a 10 minute bus ride from the train station in Dillenburg. Dillenberg itself looks very interesting with a castle overlooking the old town. It is apparently the birthplace of William I of Orange. Dillenburg is about 20-30 minutes from Wetzlar where you will have to change trains anyway. Wetzlar (1 hour from Frankfurt HBF) is much larger than Dillenburg and has more to offer as far as lodging and dining in addition to being a delightful and charming city. There are many thru trains from Wetzlar to Koblenz.

Bill, to your question 2. &quot;Is Hitler's home still a tourest attraction in Berchtesgarden?&quot;. I don't think there's much left of Hitler in this town - or anywhere in Germany for that matter. The Eagle's Nest was destroyed long ago. I read in the paper that Germany was removing all of the old concrete bunkers that made up the Seigfreid line from WWII. Soon there won't be any visual reminders of their past. (Part of the reason given was to discourage their use by neo-nazis.)<BR><BR>The town of Berchtesgarden itself is very nice - but crowded in the Summer. Another reason to travel by train - avoid the summer traffic.