Fam5 Itinerary Development

To your first question, if your boys like soccer or have any interest in it, check out Allianz Arena. Its a very pretty and modern stadium, and home to Bayern Munich, one of the best soccer teams in the world. You should be able to see inside the locker rooms, the field, and trophy cabinets.

Same goes for stadiums such as Wembley, Emerates, Stanford Bridge, or White Hart Lane in London.

"Fam5 Itinerary Development"
Your itinerary is worth addressing prior to addressing all your concerns above.
"We will fly from London to Geneva or Basel."

"Fussen/Reutte – 3 days; Salzburg – 1 day; Munich - 2 days"

This last part presents a number of complications - where to pick up and drop off, foreign country drop-off fees, what sort of car, driving vignettes, a very lengthy detour altogether. Also, you ask about N'stein and other Bavarian castles...

What would make more sense to me is to fly from London to Germany, see some castles and other sights, THEN move on to Switzerland - and take the train from Zurich to Venice. It would also makes sense to just use the train within Germany - family rail prices are very attractive there.

And about your German destinations... If you want to see castles, I suggest you go where the real castles are waiting for you - the Middle Rhine Valley and the Mosel Valley. The Middle Rhine is a UNESCO World Heritage site:
Middle Rhine

Rick Steves on Burg Eltz, in the Mosel Valley:

Burg Eltz is my favorite castle in all of Europe. Lurking in a mysterious forest, it’s been left intact for 700 years and is furnished throughout much as it was 500 years ago. Thanks to smart diplomacy and clever marriages, Burg Eltz was never destroyed. It’s been in the Eltz family for 850 years...
Rheinland Castles

Rick discusses Marksburg and Rheinfels too. (Note - Rick's comment that tours at Marksburg are only in German is inaccurate for the summer months; according to the Marksburg website, "Periodical English guided tours for individual visitors start every day at 1 and 4 o’clock (only in summer season)." All 3 (real) castles are near one another and easy to visit. The Rhine and Mosel River valleys offer exceptional scenery, outdoor activities, and more (see links below.) Since you're doing the Alps in Switzerland, I think it would be much wiser to skip N'stein (a late 19th century faux castle,) Füssen, Reutte (not a popular choice among posters here at all) and Munich and see this area instead.

WW II museum, Remagen
River cruises
Germany's oldest city, Trier (See also R. Steves)
Excellent Open-air museum in Bad Sobernheim
Rhine towns and villages
Falconry at Reichsburg Castle in Cochem
Cochem
Water park in Cochem
Bacharach (see also R. Steves)

Stay in this area in 1 or 2 different towns for 4-6 days to see all these places. Day passes for the local trains get you around for between €15 (on a 3-day VRM pass) and €32 per day total, depending on your destinations.

VRM passes

Fly from London to Frankfurt Hahn on Ryanair for cheap fares; shuttle bus from there to either the Rhine or Mosel River.

For the trip to Switzerland can get a rail ticket good for the whole family from Bacharach to Interlaken for €147 with advance purchase of a savings fare from DB (2 youngest kids travel free.) Buy savings fare when it first goes on sale (91 days prior to your travel date) for a low price like this - fares rise as tickets sell.

You won't be traveling long enough to lease. We leased a Renault Grand Scenic II, seven-passenger car, for one trip with three kids (16, 12, 8 at the time). If you carry-on only - it would be about the minimum for your family. Two in front, two in back seat, and one in a fold open third row seat. The bags will fit on top of the folded down half of the third row (but visible to passers-by when you park). If you have bags bigger than standard carry-ons, you will want something bigger. Even in cars with trunks, there is rarely enough room for more than four carry-on bags.

Thanks for the great feedback, Russ. We are not only interested in castles and realize our focus would be different if that were the case. We had thought about seeing Germany prior to Switzerland, but the rail connections (night train) seem to work better leaving from Munich than anywhere in Switzerland and Switzerland to Germany to Venice involves less backtracking. Is this not the case? Curious, are there other reasons besides authenticity of castles to choose to spend time in Rhine/Mosel valleys instead of Bavaria/Tirol?

Brad, thanks for the tip re: 7-passenger vehicle.

neuschwanstein castle from a drone. This is awesome.

Note that you can see a bridge in the distance in much of the video. You MUST walk to it and get a selfie with your family. It's a great photo op

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k75_VVaetbI

"We had thought about seeing Germany prior to Switzerland, but the rail connections (night train) seem to work better leaving from Munich than anywhere in Switzerland"

Night trains... well, why? Have you done those successfully in the past? It's a romantic notion that isn't too bad in reality if you actually sleep normally, but a genuine drag if you or your children do not. The direct city night line from Munich (is that the one?) leaves around 23:30 but from about 5 am it begins making stops along the way to Venice - stops that are likely to disturb your slumber. I would guesstimate 4-5 hours of sleep. If your itinerary is so tight that you think you must do a night train, then that's usually an indication that a change of some sort is in order. I would prefer a mid-afternoon departure from Munich or Zurich that arrives around 22:00 or 23:00 in Venice. Figure about 7 hours to Venice whether you start in Munich or Zurich.

"Switzerland to Germany to Venice involves less backtracking."

If by "Germany" you mean Munich, Salzburg and Füssen I don't see much difference during more normal travel hours except for the backtracking you might do within Switzerland west of Zurich. Ignoring the extra trips to Salzburg and Füssen...

Zurich - Munich by train, morning departure: 4.25 hours
Munich-Zurich by train, morning departure: 4.5 hours
(Or take DB's IC bus in either direction for 3.75 hours)

And again it's 7 hours to Venice from either Zurich or Munich.

"Curious, are there other reasons besides authenticity of castles to choose to spend time in Rhine/Mosel valleys instead of Bavaria/Tirol?"

When you discuss your time in "Germany" in the first two quotes above, it seems that you really mean Southern Bavaria. Your question #6 about the best castles is the only specific hint I can find about your reasons for being in Southern Bavaria - hence my response to you mostly about the castles. Aside from that, I have no idea what your plans there might be. Reasons you might want to visit the Rhine/Mosel include the castles of course, and more... have another look at my post again. River cruises - falconry exhibitions, the half-timbered villages, the Roman history (in Trier,) and the open-air museum (a collection of centuries-old buildings relocated for preservation at one site) are suggestions I made for things you will not find in your chosen Bavarian destinations.

There are other sights I did not mention that might interest you as well in the area. The Remagen museum I suggested is just one WW II option - if WW II is of interest, you might want to head to Cologne for the Nazi Documentation Center there in the former Gestapo prison. On Sunday afternoons you can visit certain German military bunkers along the Westwall. The Rheinland's cathedrals - Aachen, Cologne, Mainz, and Speyer - are some of the country's most well known.

And the other reason is that your time in Bavaria is, in part, more time in the Alpine scenery - not that it's bad scenery at all, just that the Rhine and Mosel offer something different.

You asked about lodging for a family of 5 in the BO of Switzerland. Our family of five enjoyed our stay in Murren at the Chalet Fontana. Denise has an apartment that is attached to the bnb. You can still get breakfast inside with the others but the apartment is self contained and will sleep 5 or 6 comfortably.