17 nights in Western Europe by car...

"...somewhere near Domberg (Holland) for a few nights to visit relatives."

Let's call that 4 nights. Then the night at Schiphol.

That leaves 12 nights. You might be able to fit Berlin, Vienna and Salzburg in with 12 nights. Remember that 12 nights does NOT mean 12 days of sight seeing. You'll be driving 1,000 miles just to Salzburg - and that's only about half of your trip. You will spend at least 8 hours just getting to Berlin and 8 hours to Vienna - meaning you have already seriously compromised 2 days of sightseeing in these places. Then it's another 3.5 hours to Salzburg. So what that leaves you is about 10 days. Roughly... Berlin (5 nights, 4 days of sights,) Vienna (4 nights, 3 days of sights,) and Salzburg (3 nights, 2.5 days of sights.) Then maybe a full day to get back to the Netherlands for the last 5 nights.

I have no clue how you fit in the rest.

And then there's the issue or renting a car. You don't want to be driving within or into / out of these major cities, or paying parking fees to let them sit there idle. There's also the issue of driving through the CZ Republic - does your rental company even allow this?

I would seriously reconsider your must-sees. If you must use a car for this trip, I would omit Berlin and Vienna, and probably Salzburg too. There are many smaller places BETWEEN the Netherlands and Switzerland that don't involve such long drives, places where the car will be useful and where you can take in great scenery, WW II sites, museums, castles and grandiose palaces, places where you CAN find a base town and do day trips.

View from St. Goar, Middle Rhine Valley
Lake Constance, German/Swiss border
Hohenzollern, near Hechingen
Ludwigsburg, near Stuttgart

Thank you for all of the great tips and thoughts on our itinerary! We've decided to scratch Berlin from our list, so now the question is really one of where do we establish our home base in central Germany as we drive from Holland down to Austria and Switzerland? We've visited Germany before, and stayed in beautiful Heidelberg...also also did the Castle Drive and visited those neighbouring towns...but we didn't make it as far down to the Swiss border on that trip. This time, my family has Neuschwanstein Castel as an absolute must-see! We do love the historic sites, such as old castles and war memorials/monuments. Is there a nice place in central/south Germany that would make for a good base for exploring Neuschwanstein Castle and the surrounding small towns? Thanks!

momto3: "the question is really one of where do we establish our home base in central Germany as we drive from Holland down to Austria and Switzerland?"

Central Germany??? There are lots of very nice places to visit in Central Germany, but so far you haven't mentioned any of them as destinations... You HAVE mentioned getting near the Swiss and Austrian borders, and Neuschwanstein, which you can WALK to from Austria... so why would you ever want a base town in the center of Germany? (Get a map and find Kassel - I think of Kassel as being pretty close to the center of Germany. You'll see what I mean.)

You will want a base town in the extreme south, near the Austrian border, if your idea is to visit Neuschwanstein (which is not a castle, by the way - it's a fake completed in the late 19th century) or towns like Füssen in the German Alps.

Dropping Berlin will surely give you more time in the other places But right now it's still way too hard to get a handle on what you really have in mind for the rest.

If you want some good feedback on your trip, I think you need to present something more concrete - an outline of a plan at least. Right now, what you've given us is just a vague, dreamy list of places you want to go. You need to put some elbow grease into a day-by-day plan that includes locations where you might stay, the specific places you might drive to on outings, and the length of your all your drives. Then if you have some doubts or some specific questions about nearby sights or lodging, we might be able to give you some good feedback. Pull up a map, pull out a guidebook or two, use www.viamichelin.com to figure driving distances and times, and consider your time parameters. Draw up your Plan A and return with questions.

Did some planning and here's what we've decided on so far:
Day 1 - travel day (overnight flight)
Day 2 - arrive in AMS, pick ip car, visit Giethoorn, Kinderdijk, overnight in Breda
Day 3 - visit family, overnight in Breda
Day 4 - spend the day in Amsterdam, overnight in Breda
Day 5 - drive to Bacharach, visit castles nearby, overnight in Bacharach
Day 6 - drive to Rothenburg, overnight in Rothenburg
Day 7 - visit local sites, overnight in Rothenburg
Day 8 - same as Day 7
Day 9 - drive to Linz, overnight in Linz
Day 10 - Vienna for the day, overnight in Linz
Day 11 - drive to Salzburg, overnight in Salzburg
Day 12 - drive to Reifenstein Castle, overnight in Innsbruck
Day 13 - visit Neuschwanstein, drive to Switzerland, overnight in Zurich??
Day 14 - visit Grindelwald, overnight in Zurich??
Day 15 - visit Zurich, overnight in Zurich?
Day 16 - drive to Belgium, overnight in Liege
Day 17 - drive to AMS, overnight there, flight home next morning

The legs that we're most unsure about are Austria and Switzerland. Is Linz a good home base for visiting that area and for making a day trip into Vienna? Or are we better off driving to Vienna and spending the night there? We also definitely want to spend a night in Salzburg and Innsbruck each, and visiting Neuschwanstein is a must for our family too. As for Switzerland, is Zurich a good home base for visiting that region? We would like to spend 3 nights in Switzerland -- too long? Finally, on our drive back up to Amsterdam, we plan to break up that drive and spend a night somewhere....somewhere like Liege in Belgium? We've been to Brussels and Bruges on a past trip, so we're thinking of somewhere near the Belgium/Germany border this time for a night.

Hoping for any tips and suggestions on our itinerary above! Thanks!!!

momto3,

I was exhausted just reading that Itinerary!

The only tips I can think of at the moment are don't forget to buy Highway Tax Vignettes in Austria and I believe Switzerland. Hefty fines if you're caught without them!

Still way too much driving.
Got to http://www.viamichelin.com/ anf for each of your driving legs look up the distance and driving time. Then you can better see how much time you will actually have in each of your destinations.

Plus, you can't drive and park in the big cities (Amsterdam, Vienna, Zürich). You would need to find a "park-and-ride" and get a train in.

"is Zurich a good home base" - No, it is just about the worst base you could pick if you have a car. Luzern, Interlaken and many others would be better.

The Swiss Autobahn Vignette costs 40 Franks.

Thanks for the Swiss tips! I had a feeling that Zurich was a bad choice for a home base, but wasn't sure yet as my planning hasn't quite reached Switzerland yet. If we want to experience a day in the Swiss Alps, and spend 2 nights in Switzerland, is Lucerne or Interlaken still a good choice as a base town?

And yes, I will dig into viamichelin to map out the driving times more. We did a rough mapping using Google maps already. Thanks.

Being an industrial city Liège is not so interesting to my opinion. Depending your route Maastricht, Aachen or even Trier, Leuven or Mechelen are better places to consider. Or maybe lovely smaller places like Vianden in Luxembourg, Thorn north of Maastricht.

Sorry, but the Austria portion of your trip is a bit whack:

"Day 9 - drive to Linz, overnight in Linz
Day 10 - Vienna for the day, overnight in Linz
Day 11 - drive to Salzburg, overnight in Salzburg
Day 12 - drive to Reifenstein Castle, overnight in Innsbruck"

Just go to Salzburg and stay there for the entire period. Linz - boring industrial city would serve as a poor choice for a base. Just skip Vienna and concentrate on the Salzburg area. Skip Innsbruck. Not nearly as interesting as Salzburg.

Hi! We really want to visit Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck. We'll be coming into Austria from Rothenburg Germany. Does it make the most sense to pick a base town somewhere between Vienna and Salzburg ( so that we can day-trip it into Vienna), or stay close to Vienna somewhere and then work our way westerly from there? Are there any nice small towns on the outskirts of Vienna that you would recommend for an overnight or two?

Your plan still makes no sense. You will not see anything. You essentially have three days and want to see three cities. Why do you want to see Innsbruck? Why do you want to see Vienna? Trust me, keep it simple and stick to Salzburg. Quality over quantity.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a good overnight town outside of Vienna with easy train access into Vienna for a day trip? I have looked into Melk and St. Polten -- is one more interesting/scenic than the other? Thanks!

Melk would get my vote.
But I didn't get there by train, so I don't know about the train part.
But read Emily's last post twice, she's soooo right.

We have pencilled in 5 nights to spend in Austria. We have to travel east to west essentially. We do want to visit Vienna, possibly spending two nights in that region. Then we want to spend a couple nights in the Salzburg area, followed by one night in the Innsbruck area. What I would like help with is some suggested towns for sleeping over those 5 nights....we will have a rental car the entire time. Thank you.

I, personally, wouldn't stay in Innsbruck.
Vienna and Salzburg are good for sleeping in.
What is your particular interest in Innsbruck?

My kids are interested in seeing the Olympic ski jump facility in Innsbruck, and then I thought it would be a good base town also so that we could drive down to visit Reifenstein Castle, and then up to visit Neuschwanstein also. ..so an overnight in the Innsbruck area would seem to be required. Or all of these sites doable without an overnight?

Day 5 - drive to Bacharach, visit castles nearby, overnight in Bacharach
Day 6 - drive to Rothenburg, overnight in Rothenburg
Day 7 - visit local sites, overnight in Rothenburg
Day 8 - same as Day 7

What local sites in Rothenburg? 3 nights there might work if you're doing outings to OTHER towns nearby (Bad Windsheim, Ochsenfurt, Würzburg,) but ONE day (and night) is all you need for Rothenburg itself, IMO. One night on the Rhine is probably not enough. On day 5 you have a drive of 4 hours, so really you'll have only a few hours that day for sightseeing - you might have time for both Rheinfels and Marksburg but that alone really rushes it and there is certainly more to see and do in this area. Perhaps you could get by with one night if you spent most of Day 6 on the Rhine as well and arrived in Rothenburg that evening.

If you insist on a whirlwind in Austria, then do not waste any further time by not even staying in the cities you want to visit! Stay in Vienna and leave your car at a Park and Ride. Stay in Salzburg; stay in Innsbruck. St. Poelten? Why? What a completely unattractive city that is. Melk is for certain better, but if you stay there, I doubt you'll be up for a Vienna day trip.

Russ - thanks for the tips... We actually see our Days 5-6 playing out similar to what you have suggested, which is reassuring. Is Nurnberg worth a visit at all?
Emily - thanks for the suggestions for Austria. We have booked 2 nights in Vienna, and will be booking 2 nights in Salzburg next. Any good hotel recommendations for Salzburg? We don't mind staying on the outskirts (small B&B perhaps) and then driving into and parking the car in a car park for the day, or if there is a good value hotel in Salzburg which offers free/cheap overnight parking, that would work too.

Are you a group of 5 or a group of 2? I suggest that you use a search engine for hotels like booking.com so that you can filter for your prices, group and other needs. Maybe make a short list and then ask back for comments on location, etc. Would you mind sharing where you booked in Vienna?

Booking.com is my go-to booking engine for hotels worldwide :) We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids age 10 and 12). In Vienna, we booked 2 nights at the Hotel-Restaurant Fritz Matauschek, based on ease of access (subway) into the old Vienna centre, parking, free breakfast, wifi, good reviews and reasonable cost. Any thoughts on this hotel? For Salzburg, i have been considering staying either in Berchtesgaden (then driving into Salzburg and parking the car for the day in one of Salzburg's car lots), or staying at a hotel within Salzburg itself. Considering the Hotel Gasthof Junior, which is apparently 2 km from the city centre...so would this require public transportation (bus?) into the old center of Salzburg?

Also considering Hotel Gerl, which offers a quad room in our price range, free breakfast/wifi/parking.

That hotel in Vienna is really in a pretty drab and out of the way neighborhood. Surely you can do better. Have you considered an apartment?

Actually, we just booked the Achat Plaza Zum Hirschen. Walkable to the Old Town and has parking onsite! It's been hard to find a quad room in a good location for our dates...I think the a Salzburg Music Festival is bringing in big crowds during this time. Do you know anything about this hotel? Thanks!

To summarize, for our last legs of our trip, we've booked the following:
- Salzburg - Achat Plaza Zum Hirschen (2 nights)
- Innsbruck - Weisses Rossl (1 night) -
Lauterbrunnen - Hotel Staubbach (3 nights)
- Trier - Schroeders Stadtwaldhotel (1 night)

Still a bit unsure of the Innsbruck portion of the trip. We chose Innsbruck because my kids are interested in checking out the Olympic ski jumping hill, and we are also interested in driving down to see Reifenstein Castle in Italy. Also, we want to see Neuschwanstein Castle! We do need to get to Lauterbrunnen that day, ideally by dinner time. We plan to start out on this day very early (8am), so I was wondering if these two side visits are all doable as we leave the Innsbruck area. Also, is the drive from the Neuschwanstein area to Lauterbrunnen fairly non-challenging in August? Is this a heavily travelled route? Thanks again for any advice!!