I'm looking for insight on places to stop/stay on a 10-14 day roadtrip in southern & western Germany in September. If you've been to any of these places (or others not listed that you love) could you let me know if you recommend it? Any recommended activities or experiences there, or elsewhere? I think that we will be flying in/out of Frankfurt.


In particular, where in the Rhine/Mosel areas should we stop? Where should we overnight vs just stopping for a few hours? Where to stop/stay for a boat tour?


Looking into these places but open to others:

Rudesheim & Wiesbaden
Cochem & Burg Eltz
Heidelburg (& Speyer?)
Bernkastel-Kues
Bacharach
Trier
Lake Konstanz, . Reichenau Island, Mainau Island
Passau
Frankonian Open Air Museum in Bad Windsheim (?)
Vogtsbauernhof open air museum (?)


So far our itinerary is:
Arrive Frankfurt - immediately train to _________?? and pick up rental car (not immediately after our flight)
________________________
2 nights Fussen or Garmisch-Partenkirchen, castles, Wieskirche
2-3 nights Munich (not during Oktoberfest)
2 Berchtesgaden/Salzburg (might stay in Salzburg and take bus to Berchtesgaden)
1 night Hallstatt (though maybe day trip instead)
3-4 nights Vienna
2-3 nights Budapest
2-3 nights Prague
1 night Regensburg (should we daytrip instead of staying?)
1 night Bamberg
1 night Rothenburg ODT, maybe stop at Nördlingen or Dinkelsbühl to/from here
1 night Wurzburg (I think this is a must visit... I think it might be good to drop the car here and take the train to the FRA airport)


I think we will have a car for everywhere in Germany except Munich, but train for everywhere else. Except Hallstatt might be hard to get to without a car...
**Not sure yet whether we will take a train from Prague to Regensburg, or rent a car and see how expensive it is to drop off in a different country, or instead take a flight from Frankfurt to Prague at beginning of trip when we arrive in Frankfurt. Or, fly into a different city from JFK that has a nonstop flight then fly to Prague. Or, skip Prague entirely. I haven't worked out the details yet as you can tell.


Thankful for any help/insight you can offer!

(sp I'm sure I spelled places incorrectly. forgive me)

I would spend more time in Vienna and Prague, probably eliminate Budapest. 5 nights Vienna, 4 nights Prague. I think you are doing too much moving around.

Hard to advise as we don't know what you want to do, look at mountains, go canoing, visit historical figure's birth homes, museums, wine tastings etc etc? A clue...

Of your list
Rudesheim yes if you are interested in wine
Cochem, possibly but really just high density accom and restaurants with lots of other tourists
& Burg Eltz, yes a good walk and not a bad fairy tale castle
Bernkastel-Kues, the wine museum is fantastic in Kues, Bernkastel is a photo op
Trier, Roman remains, good shopping, Karl Marx, wine centre a bit big but not a bad visit

Hallstatt isn't hard to get to without a car, but it can be time consuming. Parking in Hallstatt is very limited, so you might want to sort that out in advance.