Munich-Austria-Budapest or Romantic Rhine and Munich

I haven’t been everywhere on your list, so I can’t really compare the itineraries. I have, however, been to Prague and Budapest, and I think you would want to spend 3-4 nights in each city— there’s so much to see and do. So itinerary #2 sounds like too many stops without enough time for each stop.

You might want to postpone itinerary#3 until after the Jubilee year. All of Italy is going to be so much more crowded in 2025.

Where specifically in Austria for itinerary #4?

Us old farts dont move as fast as you kids. Or maybe mom is as spry as Lebron James?
But I think each may be a bit long for 10 days.

1. Frankfort-Romantic Road-Munich-Salzburg
   Dont know enough to comment.

2. Berlin-Dresden-Prague and maaaybe Budapest
   I would say Berlin-Dresden or Prague-Budapest but not all four.

3. Munich-Tirol-Venice
   Again, not my area of knowledge.

4. Munich-Austria-Budapest
   Munich and Salzburg or
   Munich and Vienna or
   Salzburg and Vienna or
   Vienna and Budapest. (there is another post right now on the Vienna and Prague or Budapest question that has some useful information in it https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/austria/vienna-prague-and-budapest )

We enjoy history, beautiful architecture, and castles/palaces.

The Romantic Rhine (in your thread title) is near Frankfurt and has what you are looking for...

Castles: Marksburg and nearby Burg Eltz (on the Mosel River)
Attractive historic towns like Bacharach and Braubach

And... great scenery as well. The Upper Middle Rhine Valley, between Bingen and Koblenz, is a UNESCO World Heritage site for its historic and cultural value and offers the country's most scenic train rides and river cruises as well. If you like hiking, there are great trails here too, and mom could take a cruise on that day.

Map and further details: http://www.loreley-info.com/eng/rhein-rhine/walking-hiking.php

My normal three city recommendation for anyone who's never done this before is Nuremberg, Prague, Salzburg. You can easily substitute Vienna for Salzburg, and/or Munich for Nuremberg, although with only 10 days the bigger cities may be too much. Still, these are all very easy to transfer to and from via train or other transport.

There are distinct cultural differences between these places and yet they are very compatible.

The Frankfurt, Romantic Road to Salzburg is a nice trip also. But I think you'd see more variety with the above itinerary.

It's been too long for me to comment on Berlin, although I've been making plans to go back that. way. Likewise, Venice and Budapest are outside my recent experiences.

Good observation Rus.

This one is fun,. I go first with Rus' idea if seing a lot of different things isnt important., I go with number 4 if seeing a lot of different and unexpected things is important.

4 Munich-Austria-Budapest

Sorry, I couldn’t do it in 10 days. And if you are doing 13 days (14 with departure day), might as well do 16 days cause that two weeks with the extra weekend. So you could have 2 more days to play with. I would add to Vienna and Budapest.

If you gotta do it in no more than 10 days counting departure days, then pick two cities. Vienna and Salzburg (with maybe a stop in Hallstatt), or Vienna and Budapest.

Day 1 Land in Munich about noon.
Day 2 Munich
Day 3 Munich
Day 4 mid-day train to Salzburg < 2 hours
Day 5 Salzburg
Day 6 Salzburg
Day 7 Morning train to Vienna < 3 hours
Day 8 Vienna
Day 9 Vienna
Day 10 Morning Train to Budapest <3 hours
Day 11 Budapest
Day 12 Budapest
Day 13 Depart for home.

All are great ideas.
I think 2 is too much for 10 days and too much travel.
3 includes Venice, I would do Venice with other places in Italy.

Consider a Danube river cruise from Regensburg to Budapest. We did a great on with Gate 1 Travel this Summer.

The Romantic Road includes smaller towns with Medieval walls. Also includes Augsburg.

While it seems right for you, the Romantic Rhine should not require 10 days.

Munich is on 3 of your 4 itineraries. I assume it is important to you. Munich is no small "picturesque town" but it has plenty of history and a palace or two. Half a day for Nymphenburg Palace would be perfect for your travel party IMO.

One of Germany's most picturesque small towns is Mittenwald. Think Alps, mountain lifts to Alpine views, abundant Alpine cuteness. It's an easy daytrip from Munich to Mittenwald and back by direct train; here's a guide for your visit.

A plan like the one that follows, with multiple nights in just 2-3 places, should be doable without a lot of transportation hassle and without heavy demands on the seasoned citizen in your travel party...

• Fly into Munich
• 5 nights in Munich with two day trips... one to Mittenwald, one to Salzburg (also possible by direct train.)
• 1 travel day for the transfer to your Romantic Rhine base town (several good choices; look into Boppard first.)
• 3-5 nights/on the Romantic Rhine with day trips by train and boat to other small towns and castles.
• 0-2 nights in Frankfurt or Mainz depending on your interest in seeing these cities. Even if they don't interest you, it might be smart to spend your last day/night in one or the other because you will be so close to FRA airport.
• Fly home from FRA airport.

Russ, well done. I am not getting out near enough, so this kind of information is great. Thank you.
I am going to Germany for Christmas and right now our plans dont include leaving the airbase, some of your ideas are tempting.

To do #1 properly, you need a car for the Romantic Road and also if you do the lakes around Salzburg. End in Munich and turn in the car since it is not needed there. I would also try to add a couple of days on the Rhine as Russ suggests.

I also like #3. Just this week my wife mentioned how much she liked the train ride we took from Venice to Munich. If your mother has never been to Venice, I think that she would enjoy seeing it. It’s totally different from anywhere else. Lots of history and beautiful architecture there