Balancing an Itinerary across Multiple Cities

2 nights in Frankfurt/Mainz, Germany
3 nights in Rhine Valley, Germany

These two are close together and connected by frequent train service, so they could really be combined in one and perhaps remove one day.

2-3 nights in Lauterbrunnen valley, Switzerland (considering only doing 2 nights here because the trains are so expensive, and some walks might still be closed in May, but then it might be nice to just sit back and do nothing)

3 days will get you a better chance of having at least one nice day.

4 nights in Florence, Italy (not sure if this is too many because we don't like crowded museums!)

There is the option of day trips to Siena by bus or Lucca by train, so I think 4 days is good even if the Uffizi WILL be crowded.

3 nights in Venice, Italy (if we only have 2 nights in Switzerland, I would make this 4 nights)

Option of taking a night train to Munich to have more time here. Not that I would recommend it, it makes a lot of stops during the night, but it is something to consider.

5 nights in Munich, Germany (with daytrip to Bavaria, not sure we have time for Salzburg)

Salzburg is an easy daytrip from Munich by train. And of course, Munich is in Bavaria (the capital). Nuremberg is also a good day trip. All these can be done with a Bayern Ticket.

4 nights in Prague, Czech Republic

Bus is the best way to get to Prague.

Just my thoughts, but it looks pretty good.

I think four days in Florence would be fine - it's a great place just to walk around and see the views, and if you want to see art in a more low-key fashion, there are smaller, quieter museums (the Bargello, the Museo San Marco, etc.) and churches and chapels (Santa Croce, Brancacci Chapel, etc.).

There are only a couple of museums in Firenze that are usually crowded, the Accademia and the Uffizi. The Museum of San Marco is always on my list, inexpensive and never crowded.

You can go to Piazzale Michelangelo and/or San Miniato al Monte (church at the top of the hill) for great views, and hike down. Siena and Lucca have been mentioned; Fiesole is near Firenze and you can walk back down from it.

2 nights in Frankfurt/Mainz, Germany
3 nights in Rhine Valley, Germany

I like Mainz but from Mainz or from a Rhine Valley base town like Bacharach or St. Goar it's quite far to Lauterbrunnen for a single day's journey whether you're driving or using trains. Frankfurt?? You have plenty of major cities on your list already.

Suggest you spend your first 2-3 nights on the Rhine, then 2-3 nights further south, so as to see something a little different. One obvious choice is the Black Forest, roughly mid-way. Gengenbach is a handsome old-world town with easy access to the Vogtsbaurnhof open-air museum, other towns along the scenic Black Forest Railway, and Strasbourg, FR. Your innkeepers in Gengenbach will hand you a KONUS guest card which entitles you to free rail travel throughout the Black Forest during your stay and on the day of your departure for Lauterbrunnen. It's a more doable 4.5 hours (by train anyway) to Lauterbrunnen from Gengenbach.

Your trip contains parts of my last two vacations. When we went on our first trip, our girls were 10 months and 7 years old.

On our first trip we landed in Milan to Lauterbrunnen valley, Gimmelwald, then down to Rome, then Venice for flight home. On our second trip, we landed in Frankfurt and went up the Rhine valley to Bacharach, then down to Lauterbrunnen valley, Wengen, then to Fussen in Southern Germany then Munich before leaving for home.

We have used a backpack child carrier, Osprey Poco Plus on two overseas trips and multiple trips at home.

https://www.rei.com/product/895652/osprey-poco-ag-plus-child-carrier
Buy a rain cover for it. It keeps the baby dry. It comes with a sun shade. It can carry a combined weight of 48.5 pounds. Our baby loved it. It has enough room inside for her move around a little bit. It has enough space in the back for diaper bag and food and snacks for both of us. It has a place for a hydration bag. It is very adjustable and fit both my wife and myself. It was more comfortable caring the baby than they pack with camera, guide books, water, jackets and food. Our daughter fell asleep in it many times. It has a stand that allows it to sit up by itself. We used it as a high chair in restaurants. We always hiked with the sun shade up and she loved it. We attached her toys and milk to the handle. It is easy to take it off with her in it.

With her in the pack, I have climbed to the top of St. Peters, walked over the many bridges in Venice and over many hiking trails in the Lauterbrunnen valley.

I would combine Frankfurt/Mainz with the Rhine Valley. You can see everything from the Rhine valley and take day trips and a cruise.

Take the train to the Lauterbrunnen valley. If hiking, Murren might be better than Wengen. Both are beautiful. Do not stay in the valley. An apartment would be better because you can cook for yourself. Yes, you can eat out but after 24 Euro nuggets for chicken nuggets for our older child, we started self catering to save money. There is a Coop grocery store in both Murren and Wengen. I would spend three nights in town. You might have bad weather, but on one of our most memorable hikes, it started raining and clouds and fog rolled in. You could not see more than about 150 meters. We loved it. There is a Huge Coop grocery store across from the train station in Interlaken, where you can get supplies if you cook for yourself in the Lauterbrunnen valley. My wife, said food was cheaper here than up on the mountain.

It is an easy and scenic trip from here down to Florence.

Venice deserves three nights, eat lots of Chichetti on a Chichetti crawl! Each chichetti place serves only a small collection of items 10-12. Try several that look and good and move on the the next place. These are traditionally eaten standing up. Bringing a stroller to Venice is crazy, too many bridges to climb!

Catch a train to Munich and stay there and take day trips to Neuschwanstein castle and Herren Chemisee. Maybe up north to some older towns, I am not familiar with them but others have.

Enjoy.

Because weather can be marginal in the Alps in May, I wouldn't subtract a night. Give yourself the full 3 nights as a hedge against bad weather.

A boat ride on Lake Thun or Lake Brienz is something you can do if you hit a bad-weather day while in the Lauterbrunnen/Murren/Wengen area.

I like Munich but I do not think you should stay so long (max 2 full days for Munich and one full day for Tegern See)
Innsbruck in Austria is also a nice stop if you go to Trentino, Italy.
Innsbruck however is very expensive.
Would put one more day for Florence.
Regarding Mainz/Frankfurt, Rhine valley I would do as above suggested and would add also one night to Venice.

I like Munich but I do not think you should stay so long (max 2 full days for Munich and one full day for Tegern See)
Innsbruck in Austria is also a nice stop if you go to Trentino, Italy.
Innsbruck however is very expensive.
Would put one more day for Florence.
Regarding Mainz/Frankfurt, Rhine valley I would do as above suggested and would add also one night to Venice.

Csu just described our vacations with babies and toddlers, we just did them in the Southwest and the Rockies, rather than Europe. Given a good baby carrier, I've climbed many ladders, stairs, and narrow trails. The sun shade is especially important.

Hiking and city walking is great for toddlers, art museums not so much. I imagine climbing anything is a good idea.

With your limited time frame, after flying in to Frankfurt, I would take a direct train (approx 1 hour) to Bacharach on the Rhine. Allocate your 2 nights from Frankfurt to Luzern in Switzerland.

Rather than a long travel day from Switzerland to Florence, I would fly from Zurich to Rome, which I think is worth the effort to complete a first time look at Italy.

3 nights in Rhine Valley, Germany
3 nights in Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland
2 nights in Luzern, Switzerland
Fly from Zurich to Rome
3 nights in Rome, Italy
3 nights in Florence, Italy
3 nights in Venice, Italy
4 nights in Munich, Germany
3 nights in Prague, Czech Republic

The first thing that occurs to me is that you are moving around a lot at the beginning. Use bahn.de for train schedules. To the journey time, add the time it will take you to pack and check out of your hotel, then get to the train station (allow time for traffic and finding your platform/train and perhaps you'll need to wait in line to buy tickets), then get from the station to your next hotel to check in and drop your luggage. A basic rule of planning is x nights = (x-1) days, 2 nights = 1 day, 3 nights = 2 days . . . In Florence, you can find a hotel that's a 10-minute walk from the train station and very central. In Venice it could easily take you an hour to get from the station to your hotel. With a toddler you are going to have additional needs (time for laundry, shopping for baby food/nappies? with everything labeled in a foreign language). You probably don't have a clue how quickly your toddler will adjust to the time change. So my first suggestion is that you start where you want longer stays. Give yourselves time to adjust.

I've only been through the Rhine Valley and the Alps with tours. Do you plan to be in one place for 3 nights on the Rhine? I don't understand "only doing 2 nights here because the trains are so expensive" - The train's the same no matter how many nights you are there. What can be expensive is the hotel and the cable cars. The longer you stay, the better your chance of good weather. I had bad luck and poor weather on my Alps tour in early June last year (though the weather was fine for the late May tour and the late June tour). Driving in and out of Lauterbrunnen I had a couple glimpses of the Swiss Alps through the clouds, but the 2 nights in Lauterbrunnen, there was nothing but low cloud. It's an expensive gamble.

Of all your destinations, Venice is the absolute best to start a trip. Relax in this low-key city and adjust to the time change, catch up on your sleep and just absorb the atmosphere. Instead of the Swiss Alps, consider the Dolomites or one of the Italian lakes.

The only crowded museums in Florence are the Academia and the Uffizi. There are several other excellent museums. I did find the city center pretty crowded with tourists though. You may enjoy staying in Bologna instead. It's quieter with few tourists and lots of foreign students at the university. Hotels are cheaper than Florence and it is a major rail hub. It's less than a mile on foot from the historic center to the train station, easy to find a hotel in-between and be able to take day trips to nearby towns (including Florence), have a rest in your room, then out to dinner in one of Bologna's great restaurants.

5 nights in Munich sounds like a lot to me.

But there are snowy, rocky peaks in nearby New Zealand . . .

Thank you everyone for your valuable advice! It's not easy but we're trying to follow the advice to assume we'll return. I wish that I had asked questions before booking our flights but your advice might help others reading this forum. I'm still digesting it all and considering what changes we should make, but here are some follow-up questions (I'll try to focus on those which have to do with my original question of how to balance the trade-off between various places with the limited time we have there):

1. Mainz: This will be our first ever 25-hour flight and we only arrive in Frankfurt in the evening, so we thought that a day in Mainz (instead of a smaller Rhine Valley town) might be better to recover from jetlag, where we could get acquainted to the new place and get some groceries - is this not what you all have found?

2. Rhine Valley - @Tom_MN: We were not really keen on the vineyards, but we thought that the cruise and castles would be a highlight based on the itinerary recommended by RS - we hadn't heard about Bamberg nor Celle (I'll investigate)! We thought that 2 full days would give us a laid-back start to our trip in case we don't recover well from jetlag.
   (Gengenbach: @Russ, I've heard great things about it & Lake Titisee. However, I felt like this was one of those places that we had to skip so that we had enough time in other places, & so we wouldn't have to move around too much - I realise that Rhine Valley to Lauterbrunnen and Lauterbrunnen to Florence are two very long trips, but I could not think of a better way without too many two-night stays. Also, I wouldn't know where to cut days from if I was to include the Black Forest?)

3. Wengen - We're going to try to do 3 nights here as per your collective advice - thanks! Also, @Chani, my concern about train costs were more to do with costs between sights in the area, e.g. Murren-Wengen is 34CHF per person (that's not even going up any mountains!) without the benefit of using Half Fare cards that would be worthwhile for longer trips. We've actually been to New Zealand and seen the glaciers - are we going to be disappointed?
   (@djp_syd: We didn't even consider Luzern before this. Is it genuinely worth including at the expense of reducing time in other places?)

4. Florence - Would you skip Uffizi and Accademia with a toddler, and just go to the less busy places, or is that just insane?
   (@djp_syd: We thought Rome might be the least toddler-friendly city in Italy so we would skip it in favour for a less rushed trip. I think that I'll really like to see the less urban part of Italy - heard that there's good food - so hope to come back one day!)

5. Venice: Good to know that it's not stroller friendly - is it because the bridges have steps to climb? Those carrier suggestions sound really useful but probably exceed our budget for something we might not use much after this trip. If anyone overcome this challenge some other way, please do share. @csu15269, chichetti sounds great - we've added that to our list!

6. Munich: Allowing for travel, 5 nights means that we have 4 days there. We read somewhere that Munich deserves at least 2 days there, and we were considering two day-trips with a rented car to (a) southern Bavaria and Neuschwanstein Castle, and (b) the Bavarian alps or somewhere like Salzburg. I have not yet come across Tegernsee at all before this, so will investigate it further. I can ask about these separately on the Germany forum at a later stage, but is this area just not worth 4 days compared to other places?

7. Prague: We have 3 full days there, which I understood would be the minimum. But are we missing out on something better?

To be honest, I'm starting to seriously question our itinerary based on some of your helpful comments! But I do realise that everyone has different travel preferences, and I think at this stage, I just want to weed out any crazy mistakes and omissions.

Thank you everyone!

Anywhere you go in Italy, your toddler will be a rock star. I would not skip Roma, but perhaps alter your plans accordingly (you will be doing that everywhere).

Just wait until your toddler finds out how his/her voice carries inside Saint Peter's!

Pictures of Venetian bridges. Some of those are artwork rather than photos, and the same bridges keep cropping up over and over, but look for the small ones. There are lots of those, each with some steps up and some steps down. I've never traveled with a toddler and never paid any attention to how many bridges I crossed while in Venice. I will say, though, that to go to Venice and just wander the tourist-clogged path of least resistance between the Rialto Bridge and San Marco is a very, very serious mistake. That area feels like a jam-packed theme park. You really must walk away from that immediate area and wander around the less-touristed areas.

This is an old map of Venice but I assume it's accurate with respect to placement of canals. Take a look. See all those little aqua streaks? Those are canals. To cross them you must walk over a bridge. The little white spots breaking up the canals are the footbridges. For crossing the Grand Canal you also have the option of using a vaporetto or traghetto (canal-crossing gondola), but everywhere else, it's bridges.

I haven't been to the Tegernsee, but it sounds lovely and I hope to see it the next time I'm in that part of Germany. I think it's great to get to a nice lake area. There's just something about a lake with mountains in the background. However, you may run into a day or two of weather while you're in Wengen that is not suitable for going up in the mountains (due to heavy rain, fog, etc.). If that happens, you might spend some time that day on the nearby Lake Thun or Lake Brienz.

I haven't been to Florence recently and can't address the issue of crowding in the main museums (they were pretty busy even 20+ years ago, though). I suspect that a fair number of the folks I see in art museums are there because they think they ought to be, rather than because they want to be. If you're not terribly interested in art, I'd go to one or two smaller museums and skip the mobbed biggies. You'll likely save both money and time, and the experience will be more pleasant.

All your destinations have much to offer, and you'll be slowed down since you're traveling with a small child. I doubt that you'll find you have too much time planned anywhere. Too little time--that's something we all deal with. My goal is simply not to spend excessive amounts of time getting to a far-flung destination that I'll have insufficient time to appreciate.

Yes, you will be skipping over some very attractive smaller cities and towns. About the only way to avoid doing that is to cover an extremely limited geographical area. Most of us can't quite manage that. I was able to spend the entire summer in the northern 2/3 of Spain, and I had to skip a number of places I would have liked to go. And that's just the ones I knew about; there were surely other nice places not given their due in my books. It's the traveler's curse: Too many places, too little time.

1. MAINZ. Yes, you are correct about Mainz. There are three trains an hour to Mainz direct from the Airport train station. The trip takes about 30 minutes. There are several little places above the rail station that serve great sandwiches for a great price.

2. RHINE VALLEY Yes, it is smart to give yourself two days to recover from Jet Lag and you will be in a beautiful setting to do so.

3. Wengen I would not add another place to your already packed trip. We stayed here in Wengen: http://www.alpineholidayservices.ch/wengen-apartments-chalet-viola
   It is a small one bed studio with a fold down futon. If you ask they can put a crib in the room, it will fit. There are two grocery stores in Wengen, a Coop and another place further up the street on the same side. We self catered. We made our own fondue. They sell packets at the grocery store with everything in it.
   
   In Wengen, you don't have to pay for sights, but you have to pay for the transportation to get to them. So, instead of paying an admission fee to see something, I consider the transportation costs to be the entrance fee.

Your kid is a rockstar in Italy. Italians love small children! Our little girl was fed more by restaurant staff than by us during out stay in Italy. They would come out of the back and sit down and start playing and start feeding her.

1. Venice Yes, there are that many steps and bridges!

Instead of a hiking style backpack you could try a papoose style carrier like: https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/evenflo-reg-natural-fit-carrier-in-khaki/1046991096?skuId=46991096&mcid=PS_googlepla_nonbrand_teamshop_&adpos=1o4&creative=43742658709&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&product_id=46991096&gclid=Cj0KEQiAsrnCBRCTs7nqwrm6pcYBEiQAcQSznE6nIQ26QVv1Zo8YKFgKFX6rnbvlDy9NCexqqlWda2oaAgAE8P8HAQ

We have never used this, but thought it might be helpful.

Our favorite Chichetti place is Osteria al Portego, near the Rialto Bridge, Near Campo Marina at Calle Malvasia 6015. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187870-d1034685-Reviews-Osteria_al_Portego-Venice_Veneto.html

1. Munich 4 Days. Two days in town and two day trips. I would not rent a car unless going to Linderhoff. You can daytrip to Neushwanstein and back for 29 Euro total for everyone, if you leave later in the morning, after 0900, I think, which is plenty of time. Building a new train station, and the bus to Neuschwanstien was right beside the train tracks. You can also day trip to Salzburg, or Herren Chemisee. I am not sure about a day trip to Linderhof. The castles are unlike anything else you have seen on your trip so far so I would include it. Chemisee was made as sort of a copy of Versailles.
   

I hope this helps.

Rather than being despondent and feeling the need to make wholesale changes, I would encourage you to pick up on the common threads of the responses.
1. To consolidate your 2 Rhine stays into one, directly after arriving in Frankfurt.
2. Less time in Munich.

I also think it worth consider taking a flight one way across the Alps to/from Italy leaving just one lengthy travel day by train for that journey.

3 nights in Rhine Valley, Germany
3 nights in Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland
2 nights in Luzern, Switzerland
Fly Swissair from Zurich to Florence
4 nights in Florence, Italy
3 nights in Venice, Italy
2 nights in Salzburg, Austria
4 nights in Munich, Germany
3 nights in Prague, Czech Republic

"I realise that Rhine Valley to Lauterbrunnen and Lauterbrunnen to Florence are two very long trips, but I could not think of a better way without too many two-night stays. Also, I wouldn't know where to cut days from if I was to include the Black Forest?)"

My suggestion for cutting days was to skip Mainz and go straight to Bacharach. On Day 1 it would be 25 minutes by train to Mainz from FRA - or an hour to Bacharach. It's not much further. djp_syd has suggested the same thing... "With your limited time frame, after flying in to Frankfurt, I would take a direct train (approx 1 hour) to Bacharach on the Rhine." And if you don't want to do a stopover in the Black Forest you can take the train straight to Luzern, if you're willing. djp_syd says the same: "Allocate your 2 nights from Frankfurt (or Mainz) to Luzern in Switzerland."

There's no reason IMO that you can't relax and recover from jet-lag in a gorgeous place like Bacharach for 2-4 nights - or in one of the other Rhine towns. I like Mainz a lot, but it's a city of 210,000 and probably a little less "relaxing" anyway.

Slightly closer to FRA airport is the town of Bingen, the gateway to the Rhine Valley. It's not as cute as Bacharach but it does have a spectacular setting on the river, a handsome river promenade, and all the basics - and it's only 45 minutes from FRA by direct RE train (a little longer with connecting trains.) From Bingen it's easy to reach Bacharach and other Rhine towns by train. It's also the best place to begin a Rhine cruise. Leaving from Bingen for Luzern would make your journey slightly shorter. Also, there's a ferry that runs all day long across the Rhine from Bingen over to Rüdesheim. The NH Bingen hotel takes full advantage of the river setting and sits right on the promenade. It was my wife's favorite stay on one of our recent trips. Some photos:

NH hotel Bingen
NH breakfast room
Bingen Rhine promenade w/ cafes
Bingen, river scenery

Groceries can be had in either Bingen or Bacharach. More options in Bingen than in Bacharach though.
In Bacharach - https://cdn4.vtourist.com/6/4923370-Nahkauf_Bacharach.jpg

Hello,

Updated draft itinerary (using days now to account for "lost" travel days):

• Boppard (5 nights, 4 full days) - allows for 1 day completely lost
  for jetlag recovery, assuming we are too dazed to do anything except
  buy some essentials, and 1 day to see Mosel valley. Considered taking
  1 night from Boppard to stay in Luzern (or Black Forest), but a 1-night stay
  probably won't give us a chance to see much, and the total train fare
  is more expensive - still weighing this up but might have to keep
  this for a future trip if we get to come back.

• Wengen (3 nights, 2 full days) - hoping to do a few short walks.

• Florence (4 nights, 3 full days) - includes a Sunday and Monday so
  some places might be closed. Bologna is a possibility too, but
  haven't read enough about the differences between the two to decide
  yet.

• Venice (3 nights, 2 full days) - possible (i.e. train times aren't
  too different) to swap Florence and Venice order, if there is
  anything we should consider?

• Salzburg or Munich (3 nights, 2 full days) - Day trip to
  Berchtesgaden and the Königssee. Considered Fussen so that we can see
  the RS-highly-recommended Bavarian castles, but the train from Italy
  is very long. Innsbruck is nearer by train than Salzburg, but we
  probably will be too tired to do much hiking after 2 weeks with a
  toddler on holiday. Question is, are we silly to completely skip
  Munich or the castles (both of which are on the RS 3-day Germany
  itinerary)?

• Nuremberg (2 nights, 1 full day) - hoping to squeeze in Bamberg. Too
  rushed?

• Prague (4 nights, 3 full days) - might not need 3 full days but
  thought it deserves more time because it's a whole other country and
  that it might be a place to stretch our budget (compared to
  Switzerland which is expensive and maybe better to leave till we've
  saved more). But willing to cut down if the balance doesn't make
  sense (e.g. if Munich deserves a visit)?

We would have considered flying some of those longer journeys, but (1) I heard that some of these train rides are quite scenic (am I mistaken?), and (2) the flights look quite expensive with luggage added (haven't learnt to travel light yet).

Thanks everyone in advance.

I would stick with the plan to use rails, none of these journeys should take more than 8 hours, and when you factor in time to get to the airport, check-in, go through security, actually be in the air, wait for luggage to get on the carousel, then get from the airport to where you actually want to be, that is about 6 hours right there.

You can actually get from Wengen to Florence quicker than from Wengen to Venice, so stick with that plan. Florence to Venice is just about 2 hours on a direct train.

Salzburg or Munich. hmm. You can get to Salzburg from Venice by taking a late morning bus from Venice to Villach, Austria then connecting to a train to Salzburg. That is the fastest way, a bit more than 6 hours and plenty of nice scenery along the way. Berchtesgaden is very close to Salzburg.

As far as Neuschwanstein, I guess you are there and it is on just about every German travel poster. You might want to rent a car for a day to simplify things.

You could hit Munich for a day on the way to Nuremberg, using a Bayern ticket.

Hi, I'm considering the recommendation to break the Rhine Valley to Switzerland train journey with an overnight stop in Gengenbach even though it does not appear to be a stop along the same line, and hence the total trip would be longer.

1) To do that, I'm considering doing 3 nights, 2 days in Prague rather than 4 night, 3 days. Is that a good idea based on your experience (if you've traveled there)?

2) Is one train route (with or without the Gengenbach detour) any more scenic than the other?

Thanks In advance.

Your most recent post mentioned the idea of trading Salzburg for Munich. I don't know if others would agree, but I would absolutely chose to visit Salzburg instead of Munich if I had to pick one. Munich was a bit of a disappointment to us, and judging by the recent thread about places that surprised aND disappointed travelers, several others felt the same. Salzburg was quieter and more quaint with lovely views, beautiful gardens, and a great riverside promenade you can walk. It might be a really nice way to decompress from the busy big cities, and there are great day trips you can take from this area. There are a lot of more experienced travelers that may chime in here, but that's my thought anyway. Your trip sounds great!

Bologna or Florence - really depends on what you're looking for.

Florence - expect lots and lots of tourists, lots of the best Renaissance painting, sculpture and architecture anywhere and great shopping, whether you wander through the markets looking for bargains (leather especially) or the chi-chi boutiques and upscale shops a couple blocks away.

Bologna - lots of students, not many tourists, few tourist sights but a pleasant place to wander and a big market, though mostly shlock and imported stuff, cheaper room rates and excellent rail connections for day trips to Ravenna (5th-7th century Byzantine churches and beautiful mosaics), Ferrara (old city with almost no cars), Padua and more. You could easily day-trip to Florence to see the highlights in a single day.

francis78, it depends what you want to see in Prague. IMHO Prague needs at least 3 days. If you want to avoid crowds on Old Town Square and along Royal Golden Way, start early.

Posted by Francis78: Munich: Allowing for travel, 5 nights means that we have 4 days there. We read somewhere that Munich deserves at least 2 days there, and we were considering two day-trips with a rented car to (a) southern Bavaria and Neuschwanstein Castle, and (b) the Bavarian alps or somewhere like Salzburg. I have not yet come across Tegernsee at all before this, so will investigate it further. I can ask about these separately on the Germany forum at a later stage, but is this area just not worth 4 days compared to other places?

Sorry for such a late response. I apologize if this has already been beaten to death elsewhere, but here are my thoughts about the Munich area.
In Munich itself there are several sights that are must-sees:
Marienplatz: the main square. Filled with historic buildings or post war re-creations. Nearby is the Hofbrauhaus which is loved, I think, more for its atmosphere than its beer or food. If you like beer I would recommend Augustiner Beer Garden if the weather is nice.
Residenz: an easy walk from the Marienplatz. It was the Bavarian King's Palace in the days before German Unification. It contains the Bavarian Crown Jewels among other things.
English Garden: A nice place to stroll if the weather is good and the "surfing center" of Munich!
Nymphenburg Palace: The summer residence of the Bavarian Kings.
Olympic Park and BMW Welt: Near neighbors in north Munich but an easy train ride. The 1972 Olympics were held here and there is a high observation tower for views of Munich. The BMW Welt (world) is of interest to car nuts (I guess I am one). It's more than a show room for BMWs, Minis and Rolls Royces as it is used for European delivery to overseas customers as well as some European customers.

Outside Munich: If you decide to rent a car and see some of southern Bavaria here is what I would recommend for a two day trip. It will require an early start to squeeze it into two days but I think that it's worth it:
Neuschwanstein: One of King Ludwig II's follies and believed to be the inspiration for Disney's Cinderella's Castle. Set in the foothills of the Alps. In my opinion it is not worth paying to see the interior - instead take the bus from Fussen to Marienbrucke and enjoy the exterior view of the castle.
Alpenstrasse: This Alpine road runs from Lindau to Berchtesgaden but the section from Fussen to Berchtesgaden is the more scenic portion.
Wieskirche: A very pretty Baroque church. Fairly plain on the outside but spectacular on the inside.
Linderhof Palace: Another of Ludwig's follies. This was his hunting lodge. If you are pressed for time skip the inside of the palace and enjoy a walk around the grounds.
Continue along the Alpenstrasse to Berchtesgaden. Along the way you will pass through cute little villages and past many pretty lakes. And, of course you will be enjoying the view of the Alps on the right side of the car.
Berchtesgaden: Unfortunately you probably will not have time to explore Berchtesgaden but it's main attractions are the Eagle's Nest (a mountain top view point) and the Documentation Center. This Documentation Center is unlike the Nuremberg DC in that it focuses on the "acquisition" of property in the Berchtesgaden area in the 1930s by Hitler and his top Nazis.
Salzburg: Birthplace of Mozart and home of the von Trapps (Sound of Music fame). It is a pretty little town that can be seen in a half day.

How to fit all this into two days? I have never attempted anything like this with a toddler so I will let you be the judge. If you leave Munich early and drive to Fussen you can get there in under two hours. Viewing Neuschwanstein from the bridge should take less than two hours. Wieskirche and Linderhof will take about half a day. After Linderhof start heading along the Alpenstrasse and stop at a place of your choice for the night. Next morning will be another early start.

You have a lot of great responses on here! We traveled with our toddler in the Rhine Valley last summer. Don't miss the Rhine cruise- that was a highlight of our vacation and our little one loved it! He may have been even more impressed with the train ride back to where we started.

Germany was full of great castles for him to tromp through (Burg Eltz, the big castle in St Goar or Bacharach). Have you considered Trier? We liked walking through it and there were big open spaces for toddlers to run off some steam.

Not sure how you're getting from Germany to Switzerland but there is a truly awesome train museum just south of Colmar, France. We had a car so we were able to check it out on our way to Basel. Trip Advisor has some good reviews on it.

I adore Venice. Walk the back ways and take it all in. :) have a wonderful trip!

I approach it a little differently. I look at a destination and review all the potential sights. I rate the sights as must-see, good to see if I have time and not really interested. After that, I divide my major sight must-sees by two and that's how many full days I want at a particular destination. One major sight in the morning, one in the afternoon, lunch between, plus maybe a good to see sight when I find myself with both time and energy to take in an additional sight.

One reason I plan this way is each new trip for me covers new ground. I don't revisit places until I've covered everything I want to see in the world (I'll likely run out of life first). For me, skipping a sight I want to see because I'm leaving town (unless it's in Rome, London, Paris, etc. where I will definitely return) means I'll likely never get another chance to see it.

As an example, I wanted to try out the sommerrodelbahn (?) in Austria. When we went by, however, it had closed for the season a week before. I won't return to rural Austria to try it out. Maybe I'll catch one in another Alp location I haven't visited yet? If not, It's something I missed out on.