Dear Fodorites,

Next month DDog and I want to take 4 overnights/5 max days to travel from Vienna to Korb, DE and return. This is a photographic mission for DH's uncle who is the family genealogist and has traced settlement of some of DH's ancestors to Korb. The criteria:

1. I would rather not spend more than 4 hours each day for driving between destinations; using an afternoon to wander a city where I can take photos and where DDog can walk about is preferable.
2. Cities and regions that we have visited I would prefer to take a pass on: Munich, Berchtesgaden, GAP, Heidelberg, Wurzburg, Rothenburg o.d.Tauber, Dinkelsbuhl, Nordlingen, and Nuremberg.

Augsburg, Regensburg, and Landshut all seem to have potential, but my concern is that in one overnight I might shortchange the destination; if two nights are necessary, how might I configure a route?

Thank you.

Check out Regensburg. The old town is fairly compact and would fit within your constraints of either 1 night or 2, I think. You don't mention Salzburg on your "pass" list but it's well worth at least a couple of nights if you haven't been. Is Bamberg too far out of the way?

One night is enough for Augsburg so would divide the remainder between the other two. Regensburg being my favorite.

Both Regensburg and Augsburg can be done in half a day, if you concentrate on the essentials. Regensburg: Gothic Cathedral St Peter, Medieval Bridge (just renovated), St. Emmeran Monastery; Augsburg: Magnificent Renaissance town hall by Elias Holl (don't miss the Golden Hall), church of St. Ulrich and Afra, church St. Anna (where Luther lived during the Reichstag of 1518; a curiosity: the church is half Protestant, half Catholic), possibly the house of the Mozart family. The travel time from Vienna to Regensburg is about 4 hours (via Passau, which is also worth a stopover), from Regensburg to Augsburg 1:30. Afterwards Ulm offers itself (great Gothic cathedral, one hour from Augsburg). I would however not stay in Ulm, but in nearby Blaubeuren (southern end of Fachwerkstrasse). In the area of your final destination, you should not miss Schwäbisch Gmünd (oldest Gothic hall church in Germany), Ludwigsburg (Baroque residence), Esslingen (good ensemble of very old half- timbered houses) and Marbach (Schiller's birthplace).

Parking in Regensburg center: Parkhaus Castra Regina; in Augsburg: Bavaria Parking Garages (at the station). Eating: Regensburg: Kneitinger or Bischofshof (the often recommended historic Wurstküche is overrun by tourists); Augsburg: Bauerntanz (Swabian, a bit upscale), Dragone (Italian, good but interior bien rustique: Wintergasse 3).

A disappointing follow up...on Sunday evening DD informed me that her plans for the week were unraveling, so I suggested that we hit the road Monday morning for Korb. By the time I had posted my question I had pretty much settled on at least Regensburg (thank you to those who suggested visiting) so I made a hotel reservation; we decided we would figure the rest out along the way.

Early on Monday we (and DDog) pointed the wagon toward Regensburg, the GPS reading 4 hours, 11 minutes for the ~400km drive. Normally I pack a picnic lunch, but in this instance we cobbled one together at a petrol rest station along the way: salami and crackers from the market, and cucumbers and apricots from home. A modest and not-unexpected slow down at the border, but otherwise smooth sailing. The drive was going quite well!

And then. 37 kilometers from Regensburg we ground to a halt for what we later described as "Verkehrvergnügen" for road construction ("Verkehr" is the German word for traffic.) A full 1 hour, 47 minutes later we limped into Regensburg with depressed spirits. We wandered the city briefly before sitting for dinner (pizza and a half-carafe of wine at an outside table). That evening we decided to skip touring the city more thoroughly and just head out on the 3 hours, 13 minutes drive to Korb the following morning.

The odds were not in our favor. Google Maps reported more Verkehrvergnügen and a travel time of now 4 hours, for a 0700 departure! After a near 50% increase in travel time the previous day, we soured on spending who-knows-how-much-more time in the wagon. So, we enjoyed a nice breakfast in the hotel, attached the lead to DDog and toured Regensburg. By midday we had seen all that we wanted to see (we were the only persons in the Cathedral--where were the tourists?), packed the wagon and returned to Vienna.

This marks the second attempt to visit Korb; the previous being two summers ago when our long weekend to Heidelberg drive was extended by more than an hour because of German road construction, nixing a detour to Korb. I can not write when, or if, there will be a third attempt. For now, though, we'll leave Germany to the Germans.

Hi fourfor,

Just fyi and for others who may read this later...

Vienna - Regensburg, 3h15, no changes, on the train.

Regensburg - Waiblingen, about 4h with 1 or 2 changes

From there you would probably rent a car, as it looks complicated to continue by rail to Korb.

Have fun!

s

swandav, I half-expected your response.

We had considered public transportation, but the impractical far outweighed the practical and made the adventure more like a tedious chore. Either DDog would sit muzzled on a train, or remain at home with his sitter. (Or, I would travel alone directly to and from Korb as a surgical strike, but that seemed depressing.) Indeed, there is no easy connection to Korb as it lacks a train station; I couldn't justify spending money on train tickets and then renting a car when I own a car. Waiblingen held zero interest for us, so our visit to Korb would have depended on train schedules to somewhere else; not knowing how much time we might have needed in Korb to find locations, gravestones, etc., simply required a more flexible schedule. This was the second attempt to reach Korb; perhaps the third, if it should come to pass, will be the charm.

There is a bus (#209) every half hour from Waiblingen Bahnhof (station) to Korb taking 14 minutes. Waiblingen has a pretty old town. It lies on the Deutsche Fachwerkstraße (road with towns and villages with many half timbered buildings). https://www.deutsche-fachwerkstrasse.de