I am planning our itinerary for our trip to Germany in mid October. We will be staying in Rothenburg for 4 nights and will do daytrips to other towns for 3 of these days.

Day 1 Drive from Wurzburg, with stops in Iphofen and Bad Windsheim

Day 2 Stay in Rothenburg

Day 3 Bad Mergentheim, Schabisch Hall and Weikersheim Palace

Day 4 Here is my dilemma. Should we go to Bamberg and Nurnberg or drive to Dinkelsbuhl, Nordlingen and Burg Harburg and castle.

We could drive through Dinkelsbuhl and Nordlingen on our way to Munich but we will not be able to stop since we need to turn the rental car in to Munich by 11;45.

Any thoughts on this itinerary would be appreciated.

Bamberg AND Nürnberg in one day is too much. It's either - or, otherwise you'll bite your... ahem, the lower end of your back because you'll have to rush through without a chance to actually see anything, especially in Bamberg (which has my preference of the two). Besides, since you are in Würzburg before, I'd go to Bamberg or Nürnberg from there because it's much closer.

Conclusion: Either go to Bamberg on day 1 and do the rest of your plan on day 2-4, or stay in the area around Rothenburg on day 4 and see Nördlingen etc.

Okay, thanks for pointing out that Bamberg and Nurnberg were too much for 1 day.

We will either go to Bamberg or the Dinkelsbuhl and Nordlingen Harburg drive.

I am still undecided.
Thanks for your help! Laurie

Laurie, stop at the Tourist Information office in Iphofen (Kirchplatz 7). If I remember correctly, they have some info in English which will be helpful. Iphofen was one of our very favorite stays in Germany. One of the highlights of the town for us was the Rödelseer Tor. The other "tors" or gates were also amazing. While not in English, the Iphofen website shows some of the beautiful buildings, etc., in this lovely little town.

http://www.iphofen.de/sehenswuerdigkeiten,273.html

While we really enjoyed Dinkelsbuehl and will be visiting Noerdlingen in a few weeks, much of what you see there will be similar to Rothenburg. For something very different, I suggest you go to Bamberg.

Sounds like a great trip.

The Dinkelsbuehl Nordlingen route will certainly be more convenient as you are heading south all the way.

Bamberg, on the other hand is a much different site and since it is farther our of the way it might be someplace you want to see on this trip while in the general area.

What I mean by that is the Dinkelsbuehl and Nordlingen can be seen easily if you ever return to Munchen, but Bamberg would take more effort.

Personally, I would go to Bamberg - Dinkelsbuehl offers much the same as Rothenburg, while Bamberg is unique in so many respects.

Thank you all for your suggestions! We will go to Bamberg for our daytrip and will hopefully see a little of Dinkelsbuhl on our drive to Munich.

Betty, thank you for your advice about Iphofen. We are going to this town because of your suggestion on another thread. I hope you have a great trip, also.

Laurie