chimes0709

Hey guys, I am visiting Germany and Austria at the end of next week and need some advice for planning my itinerary. Will be arriving and returning from Frankfurt but my mom is visiting Wurzburg in Germany for a work assignment so I'll be heading straight to Wurzburg where my parents and I will meet to kick off our trip. We have 8 nights in total from when we meet in Wurzburg and here's a rough itinerary that I've put together after doing a lot of research/asking around and taking my never-ending wish list into account.

Day 1 - Friday 9 Oct - Travel to Europe
Day 2 - Saturday 10 Oct - Arrive in Frankfurt, travel to Wuzberg, stay in Wuzberg
Day 3 - Sunday 11 Oct - Stay in Wurzburg
Day 4 - Monday 12 Oct - Train from Wurzburg to Nuremberg, stay in Nuremberg
Day 5 - Tuesday 13 Oct - Train from Nuremberg to Munich, rent a car, drive to Neuschwanstein Castle, stay in Fussen/Hohenschwangau
Day 6 - Wednesday 14 Oct - Visit Garmisch (Zugspitze) and Oberammergau, drive to Salzburg, stay in Salzburg
Day 7 - Thursday 15 Oct - Salzburg, stay in Salzburg
Day 8 - Friday 16 Oct - Salzburg/Bad Ischl/Hallstat, stay in Salzburg
Day 9 - Saturday 17 Oct - Salzburg/Werfen, stay in Salzburg
Day 10 - Sunday 18 Oct - Drive from Salzburg to Frankfurt

Now, we have a couple of options for days 6 and 7

1. One option is to stay put in the Fussen area and just do a day-trip to visit Garmisch/Oberammergau during day 6 and return to Fussen at night before we leave for Salzburg on day 7.
2. Another option is that we spend day 6 in Garmisch/Oberammergau and spend the night in the Mittenwald area before departing for Salzburg on day 7.
3. A third option is that we spend the day in Garmisch/Oberammergau and drive to Innsbruck at night to walk around the town in the morning (day 7) before we leave for Salzburg.
3. And the last option is what is captured in the itinerary, i.e. spend the day in Garmisch/Oberammergau and drive to Salzburg on day 6 itself.

Would love any recommendations on optimizing the itinerary based on local experience. Is this an overkill? Are we making a huge mistake of missing Innsbruck if we don't go with the third option? Should we cancel Salzburg for Innsbruck? Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

nytraveler

Are you flying home on day 11? If not, and you are flying home on day 10, I would not risk driving from Salzburg the same day as the flight - there are just too many possible events to delay you - and you really don't want to miss you flight.

Viamichelin's fastest drive time is 5 1/2 hours - meaning you would need to allow yourself about 7 hours with meal/pit stops and potential delays for traffic or road construction or whatever. Which would mean leaving Salzburg about 10 hours before flight time - so you have time to find and drop off your rental car, check in, get through security in time for a flight to the US.

chimes0709

Hey nytraveler, great question! Our flights (to Asia - Singapore & India) are on day 10 but late evening (after 8pm). We can also consider returning the car in Salzburg and taking a train to Frankfurt if that's faster. Would you recommend that?

Fussgaenger

"Day 5 - Tuesday 13 Oct - Train from Nuremberg to Munich, rent a car, drive to Neuschwanstein Castle, stay in Fussen/Hohenschwangau"

Munich is a worthwhile place to visit - but it makes no sense to me to go there just to pick up a car. Why deal with the traffic on the way out? You can pick up a car in Nuremberg, or take the train to Füssen and get a car there.

I don't quite get the one-night stays in Nuremberg then Füssen, or spending so much time in the Alps and in Salzburg. If it were my family trip I'd want an extra day in the Würzburg/Nuremberg area to see the sort of old-world towns you can't see in the Alps. Würzburg and Nuremberg are very nice cities - both heavily rebuilt after WW II - and there's more to see there than you'll have time for. But then there are other unique places...

Iphofen, a really adorable old walled town in between Würzburg and Nuremberg - see photos below:
http://www.stadtbild-deutschland.org...&threadID=2985

Marktbreit, Ochsenfurt and Sommerhausen on the Main River:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...breit_BW_9.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLUgpoQIFHI

Bamberg, on the Main and Regnitz rivers, a UNESCO World Heritage site:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamber...ite_bridge.jpg

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/624

Regensburg, on the Danube, also UNESCO:

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1155

And then there's this wonderful place in Bad Windsheim with local buildings 500-600 years old:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamber...ite_bridge.jpg

You might want to overnight in one or more of these places on the way BACK to Frankfurt - it's a LONG drive from Salzburg otherwise.

And I'd probably limit my Alps stay to Salzburg, Werfen, and the nearby and spectacular Berchtesgaden - all very convenient to one another - thus avoiding the long driving route you had planned previously (as well as some duplication of the alpine experience.) The real castles (Hohensalzburg, Hohenwerfen) are in the Salzburg/Werfen area anyway (Neuschwanstein is a late 19th century palace with a faux castle exterior and a nest of tourists.)

Koenigssee Lake, Berchtesgaden:
http://images.fotocommunity.de/bilde...366c66aa75.jpg

fourfortravel

I can not forecast what the travel conditions will be like in two weeks; but for your planning I can add that we experienced about an hour's delay driving from Austria (from Salzburg and then again another 20 minutes or so coming from Innsbruck through Kufstein) into Germany last weekend because of border checks; and trains between Salzburg and Munich are not currently running. The expectation is that Austrian train service might resume on 12 October, but it is not guaranteed.

chimes0709

Oooh thanks for the heads up, fourfortravel. Great call. We might want to return from Salzburg a day earlier then or we'll wait to see the status on Austrian train services.

Thanks for the detailed tips and photos, Fussgaenger. Will surely look into picking up the car in Nuremberg itself then. I know we are skipping a great city in Munich but we can't fit in so much unless it's an absolute must-do.

Thanks for your tips of the Alps area as well. Königssee looks divine. May look into skipping Neuschwanstein thought the walk up to the bridge and the photos from the top look gorgeous from what I am seeing.

bigtyke

I would never skip Salzburg for Innsbruck.

fourfortravel

chimes0709, the Marienbrücke at Neuschwanstein is closed for renovation until sometime in November, at least, so if the view is the only reason you're going, you may want to plan elsewhere.

Fussgaenger

Salzburg - B'gaden: With continuing border issues, train service may or may not continue to be interrupted between Salzburg and the border but the train is not the most direct way for this route anyway - take Bus 840 instead. A good strategy might be to head first to B'gaden and base yourselves there, doing day trip(s) into Salzburg in this fashion. The trip is about 45-50 minutes from B'gaden station to Salzburg station.

A BGL Tagesticket (day pass good for the round trip) is €12.
Schedule good through 10/17: http://www.rvo-bus.de/oberbayernbus/...840_sommer.pdf

I don't have any information on delays using Bus 840. I'd expect no problems entering Austria from Germany, but perhaps a delay returning to Berchtesgaden??

Meridian operates local trains between Munich and Salzburg. For now, train travelers get off in Freilassing and take one of their transfer buses into Salzburg. Getting to Salzburg should not be problematic. (They do NOT currently offer a transfer bus BACK to Freilassing for those headed back to Munich, so a taxi or local bus 24 from Salzburg might be a choice.)

chimes0709

Huge THANK YOU for the tip on the Marienbrücke closure at Neuschwanstein, fourfortravel. Was kind of going only for that so I've committed it from my itinerary now.

Fussgaenger, thank you for the detailed tips for Salzburg and B'gaden. We will have a car though so we shouldn't have to worry about the trains and buses. Do you think we will still experience a lot of issues at the border if we are commuting by car?

After taking all comments and suggestions into consideration, here's what I am planning to go ahead with. Any final revolting thoughts or callouts? Would cut down one night in the Salzburg lake district in favor of Nuremberg at the end or is this looking good? Any other tips or things I should watch out for? This forum has been a huge help in planning my trip and I am excited for Friday!

Day 1 - Friday 9 Oct - Travel to Europe
Day 2 - Saturday 10 Oct - Arrive in Frankfurt, travel to Wuzberg, stay in Wurzburg
Day 3 - Sunday 11 Oct - Sommerhausen & Wurzburg, Stay in Wurzburg
Day 4 - Monday 12 Oct - Rent a car in Wurzburg, drive to Garmisch via Oberammergau, stay in Garmisch/Mittenwald
Day 5 - Tuesday 13 Oct - Visit Garmisch (Zugspitze), drive to Salzburg, stay in Salzburg/surrounding area
Day 6 - Wednesday 14 Oct - Salzburg/Berchtesgaden/Hallstatt/Werfen, stay in Salzburg/surrounding area
Day 7 - Thursday 15 Oct - Salzburg/Berchtesgaden/Hallstatt/Werfen, stay in Salzburg/surrounding area
Day 8 - Friday 16 Oct - Salzburg/Berchtesgaden/Hallstatt/Werfen, stay in Salzburg/surrounding area
Day 9 - Saturday 17 Oct - Drive to Nuremberg, visit Nuremberg and Bamberg, stay in Nuremberg
Day 10 - Sunday 18 Oct - Nuremberg in the morning, train from Nuremberg to Frankfurt

chimes0709

Also, any tips for organizing our itinerary for the 3-3.5 days in the Salzburg lake district including Bad Ischl, Hallstat, Werfen and Berchtesgaden?

bigtyke

Werfen - castle, ice caves
Salt mine - Hallein, Hallstatt or Berchtesgaden