I posted earlier, and since then have narrowed down our scope. Wanted some feedback on days needed and where you would spend the majority of your days. Travelers are two adults and two children (12 and 9, both boys), and we'll be traveling in late July through the first week of August, give or take a couple days on either end - we're somewhat flexible with travel dates within that timeframe.
We are looking at 16-17 days total, including the travel days on either end, so let's work off of 14 days on the ground.
We are thinking that we'll arrive in Frankfurt, and depart from either Vienna or Munich. We're flexible on this, too. Right now it just looks like we can get some reasonable flights going in to Frankfurt and out of Vienna. I can check other combos if you have recommendations.
Now... where to go in between? We have never been to Germany, Austria, Italy, or Switzerland. We have been to the French Alps (Chamonix) for a couple days, but that's our only Alpine experience. We are open to anything, and know that we'll likely be thrilled with wherever we go, and will need to return to see more of these countries in the future.
I would like to see a lot of western and southern Germany - don't know if the Rhine Valley makes sense within our potential itinerary, but would love to see some of the Rhine and/or Mosel Valley, and then work our way to Bavaria, and then experience the alps and/or the Dolomites. I think our kids will be the most enthralled with castles, WWII history, and mountains.
How feasible is to spend 8-9 days in Germany and 5-6 days in the Alps or the Dolomites? Would it be possible to see both the Dolomites and some of either Switzerland OR Austria?
I'm still researching and don't have a good sense of travel times between locations yet. We're assuming we will do some combo of car + train.
Thank you for your advice!