My husband and I are planning a trip to Germany, Switzerland and Austria for 2 weeks this fall. Main purpose to enjoy the awesome alpine views by hiking in the Alps - day trips, not hut-to-hut, with the occasional village and castle viewing along the way. I've got the first 9 days planned, lodging booked, and 4 days left to see the Bavarian Alps and Austrian Alps. Would like to visit Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein Castles - or at least hike up around for views of them. I also want to do Sound of Music tour. Neither of those are written in stone, just on my wish list. Planning also to visit the Zugspitz, but wondering where to stay and where best mountain hiking and views to maximize our visit in Bavaria and Austria area would be? 2 nights near Innsbruck or something and 2 nights near Berchesgaden? So much in that area, it's hard to narrow it down, and I'm trying to be reasonable with drive times and where to base from. We don't have to spend 6 days in Swiss Alps...but those areas looked so beautiful I thought it would be nice to stay somewhere without as much driving and enjoy the mountains for a few days.
Itinerary so far is:
Day 1, fly into Frankfurt, drive up the Rhine River and stay near Bacharach
Day 2, drive down the Mosel River, visiting Burg Eltz, staying in Trier
Day 3, driving to Black Forest, staying near Triberg
Day 4-5-6, driving to Lauterbrunnen, staying 3 nights to hike in Swiss Alps
Day 7-8-9, driving to Appenzell, staying 3 nights to hike in Swiss Alps
Day 10, drive to Fussen area...Hohenschwangau & Neuschwanstein hiking and... stay where ?
Day 11 - Hiking ... ?
Day 12 - Salzburg - Sound of Music tour and hike up to fortress ... stay where?
Day 13 - Hiking ... ?
Day 14 - fly out of Munich
Any wise travel thoughts and suggestions are much appreciated, thank you in advance!