Trip to Germany, Austria, and Czech Republic

Check about crossing into Czech republic with a rental car many companies do not allow this or charge high fees to do so.

Most companies nowadays allow their car into Czech Republic. It used to be a problem years ago. The problem is that there is a hefty fee for renting a car in one country and returning in another one. And also you have to buy so called vignette to be able to drive on freeways. So if you rent a car in Germany you would have to buy vignette for Austria and also Czech Republic. Rental cars have their domestic vignettes. It is very easy to travel by public transport in most of Europe, certainly in Germany, Austria, C.R. I would use a car just for travel in the countryside.

The first thing that struck me is renting a car the day you land, presumably jetlagged and possibly sleep-deprived. Driving in that condition is the same as DUI.

Use viamichelin.com for routes and net driving times and costs (gas, tolls, etc.). Last year I was looking at rentals and it seemed that there were no big drop-off fees between Germany and Austria. From Vienna you could easily take public transportation to CK and Prague.

You have a string of 1- and 2-night stays during the first 1-1/2 weeks of your trip. It would be too much for me, but perhaps you'll be fine with that schedule since you have a rental car and will at least be able to skip the step of dragging suitcases between hotels and train stations. It also helps that a lot of those destinations are small towns.

I have no idea how much of a problem the car will be in Munich, Salzburg and Vienna. I think you may be paying substantial parking fees.

Two ideas I would throw into the ring.

1) Reversing the itinerary, starting in Prague, finishing in Frankfurt.
2) Utilise trains for the first half, then hire a car to make your way through Germany, from Munich to Frankfurt.

This would eliminate Chani's concern for driving straight up with jet lag, and let you take advantage of excellent train links in places you won't really have need for a car.

"Flying into Frankfurt - spend a couple hours then drive to the Rhine Area
1 to 2 nights in the Rhine? - Bacharach or St. Goar to see Burg Elz and other castles plus wine"

Yeh, your first day is likely to be partially shot for reasons of jet-lag. 1 night is absolutely not enough. 3 nights would be best. Then you'll have 2 full days to take a river cruise, and to GET AROUND to Eltz, the other castles (Marksburg in the town of Braubach is a very good choice, so is Rheinfels in St. Goar) and perhaps a cute town or two (Cochem for example - lovely place not far from Burg Eltz) and a winery or two. Oberwesel is a good place to work off the wine on a walk around the old town wall. I'd also recommend a visit to Boppard and the Gedeonseck terrace lookout high above town (take the chairlift?)

3 nights there shouldn't be a problem since you really need only one night for Rothenburg. Rothenburg is small and self-contained.

St. Goar is a better base town for your outings than Bacharach - and Rheinfels is right there. Boppard would even be a little more centrally located for your outings. Both towns have ferries for getting across the river on foot or by car.

We lived in Augsburg, Germany for four years and have been to all the places you listed except Cezky Krumlov.

You need to research your 1 or 2 nights in the Rhine, since there are many places to visit. One trip that I really enjoyed was taking a day cruise on the Rhine to Rudesheim. The boat passed the Lorelei. It is a day trip.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorelei

Rothenburg on the Tauber is great, but it is doable in one day. Of course, if you drive there it makes some sense to stay two nights, but you seemed to ignore the rest of the Romantic Road, which goes through several very scenic places, all the way down to Garmisch. Consider driving the road through Dinkelsbuhel and Donauworth, Augsburg, Oberamergau, etc.

Not sure why you have five nights in Prague. You can easily do the city on one full day.

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all the great information. We are planning on driving through the Romantic road and stopping at many towns/villages, which is why we have 2 nights in Rothenburg and maybe even go to Wurzenburg for 1/2 day. While we have 5 nights scheduled in Prague, it will only be 4 days because we leave early in the morning on the 23rd plus we want to do day trips to Kutna Hora and maybe some place else in Czech.

Thank you for all the tips. However, we can't reverse the trip now because we've already bought our airfare. Any tips on affordable but clean places to stay that are close to the main sites? Also, we really want to get off the beaten touristy path, especially to eat and see things. Any suggestions would be appreciated.