Moderator1

Hello and welcome to Fodors. We saw this discussion and have changed your thread's title to reflect the topic.

lavandula

Hi nonniej, OK, let me start. I can advise on the Germany part of the trip. I think you have too much planned for 2 weeks. For me ideally you would make a nice line from Frankfurt down to Salzburg somehow, all driving in the same direction. Unfortunately you are driving south from Frankfurt down to the Black Forest, then across to the east, seeing Füssen and the castle(s), then north on the A7 to Rothenburg (and not just a little bit but by a long way), then south again, retracing where you went between Füssen and Rothenburg. So maybe some pruning or prioritising may be in order.

Have a look at a map - what do you think of this option:

1) Frankfurt - first night locally because of jetlag, maybe even train to Würzburg and stay there.
2) Würzburg - pick up car, drive to Rothenburg (stay night)
3) drive to Baden-Baden, stay night
4) drive to Freiburg im Breisgau via Triberg and/or Gengenbach. Stay night in Freiburg (this is the Black Forest part)
5) see Freiburg
6) drive to Füssen via Lake Constance (Bodensee). stop in Lindau on the way. Night in Füssen.
7) see Füssen morning, then on to Neuschwanstein. night in Füssen.
and then onto Salzburg via Bad Tölz (this is not an autobahn, slow roads mean slow travel times).

Here I leave off and let other people (or you) criticise and/or suggest routes for the other portions of the trip. I think if you go into Austria you are pretty well wiping out Switzerland, it's not just a short hop across but an enormously long distance. It might be shorter if you go to Innsbruck instead of Salzburg but I think it may well be unfeasible. You will also have to make decisions about the car. If you drive into Austria and drop off the car there it means big drop-off fees. You can test this out by just doing a mock booking but not going through with the whole thing on a website like Auto Europe (www.autoeurope.com). You could drop your car in Füssen and go by train to Salzburg instead.

OK Fodorites, what do you make of this journey? And nonniej, feel free to say you don't like this. I have included some towns which are logical stops on the way, but if you don't like them you can reject them. Also - Austria and Swizterland experts - your help is needed now!

Lavandula

lavandula

I have just written a long response to this but it is being vetted by the mods. If you can hang on, there will be something here for you nonniej.

Lavandula

nonniej

Hi Lavandula - Thanks for your input. I see now that going to Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber first definitely works better. We may actually just skip that stop. From what I am reading about Baden-Baden, I wasn't sure we wanted to make that a stop. It seems mostly about the spa, which is not of interest to us. While we are interested in the seeing the Black Forest area, we really have only four nights available for Germany, so we may have to leave something out. I will peruse the map a bit more and see what works for us. Yes, I had thought about taking a train to Salzburg. Thanks so much for taking time to help me think it through!

bilboburgler

i'm a bit confused, first it was by public transport now it is by car. If by car it will be slow, but at least you will be flexible

If using the train, then Wurzburg should be on the route and Lindau would fall into the same. I'd start by searching on the bahn.de website for the German train map and plan from that. You may also find seat61.com is worth reading up on.

nonniej

Thanks for your comments, bilboburger. We actually haven't made any determination either way concerning driving vs. public transportation. My original intent was to look for an agency that offers private transportation, which is still my preference. I will look at your suggestions. Thanks again.

lavandula

Had you thought about an organised bus tour? There would have to be plenty of those 'best of Germany / Switzerland / Austria' type things, which you can find just by googling. Or maybe something like Untours (https://www.untours.com), who do a lot of the groundwork for you.

Lavandula

nonniej

Hi Lavandula -
Yes, I have looked at some of them, and you are right - there are plenty of those. We're not interested in a large group, but I am exploring some of the small group tours. Untours.com looks intriguing; I'll check that out. Thank you!

xajoles

I have never been to Germany or for that matter Europe. My son is in the Military in the Bavaria area (Vilseck) he wants to see among other things the Black Forest, that is all he has expressed interest in. I would like to see some Castles and other interesting sites. (Natural wonders) Can take short hikes, maybe 1 hr long, not steep either. I would probably fly into Munich as that seems central. Should I have him drive me back to Vilseck and then head south to visit the Forest or just stay in Munich and let him come to me and then the sites will be much closer? What would I miss by not going to Vilseck (Any major sites between Munich and Vilseck?)







I would like to see some Alps, maybe drive some mountain roads. Looks like Zurich is maybe an hour from the Black forest? How about traveling East from there to see more Alps and maybe even into Austria? I know no one can predict the future of the Pandemic but are there any major obstacles to this?







Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated!

janisj

Welcome t Fodors xajoles. You have tacked your questions on to a lengthly thread with different questions and issues. It would be much better if you started a new thread of your own 1) so your query doesn't get lost in the shuffle and 2) so we don't have two conversations going on the same thread.