My husband & I are planning a trip to Italy , Germany & Holland for our 10th anniversary between May 26 & June 10. We were going to do a multi country tour, but don’t want to spend our trip on a bus, so I’m doing my best to plan this myself & could really use some help with our itinerary. We have 2 days “left over”, & I’m not sure whether to slow our pace & spend more time in one place, or add another destination. We are not really interested in spending time in art galleries & museums, but are more into nature, seeing & doing unique things, being active & are keen to visit sites related to WW2.
We will be flying from Toronto & I’m thinking we should start in Rome ( vs Amsterdam) to take advantage of the warmer weather in the south. It’s a 9 hour flight, so that eats up day 1.
We would spend 3 days in Rome to see: Vatican City & museum, St. Peter's Basilica & the Sistine chapel (day 2); the colosseum, forum, panntheon, & Trevi fountain (day 3) & a day trip to Tivoli to see Hadrian's Villa (day 4).
We would then fly out of Rome to Munich on day 5, which I understand takes 2 hours.
Other than seeing Neuschwanstein Castle & Dachau, I’m not sure what else we’d see there, but if we were going to go to Salzburg or Vienna for a day or two, this would seem to be the time to do it. However, Rothenberg & the Rhine Valley are where we are really excited to go. We aren’t sure about the best way to get to Rothenberg from Munich. We could rent a car, or take the train I believe. Any suggestions?
I think we want at least 2 days in Rothenberg in order to do some shopping, go to the crime & punishment museum, do the night walk, & see Pöllat Gorge. Am I missing anything interesting in this spot?
Next, we want to go to the Rhine Valley to do a day cruise on the river & visit Bacharach & St. Goar. We were planning to spend 2 days here.
Lastly, we would head to Amsterdam, spend a day there to see the Anne Frank House, canal, & red light district, then fly home on the 9th.
In addition to my questions above, does anyone have suggestions about must see/do in any of these places, or nearby, and can you recommend specific hotels? Also, is there a specific RS guidebook you’d recommend?
Thank you very much for your input.