Frankfurt in and out at the end of June. 15 days whole days trip. We are not going to rent a car.
Here are the places we are planning to go: Frankfurt, Cologne, Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Heidelberg, Würzburg, Rothenburg, Harburg, Neuschwanstein Castle and Koenigssee. I know it's lot of places.
Would like to have some suggestions for where to have bases and how many days for each bases and also the route directions?
Thanks in advance for any info.
Yes, it's a LOT of places - way too many for 15 days. As far as bases, you'll be lucky to get one night each place, and the only two that are close enough for days trips would be Würzburg and Rothenburg ob der Taube. You are probably not figuring in the travel time to get to each of those places. You have 1 1 destinations here and 15 days. I don't know if that includes your date of arrival and departure but if it does, then you're really only looking at 13 days - basically one day for each destination. Your entire trip would be spent traveling by train with barely any time to spend in each place.
I would cut that down to 5, maybe 6 places at the most and even that is pushing it. Figure out what area you want and concentrate on that. For example, you could fly into Frankfurt, then see Cologne, Heidelberg, Würzburg and Rothenburg.
Or Frankfurt, Cologne, Heidelberg, Berlin and Dresden. I would definitely remove Neuschwanstein Castle and Königssee from your destinations unless you focus your trip on Bavaria. You could travel from Frankfurt to Munich, and include Würzburg, Rothenburg, Neuschwanstein Castle, and Königssee
ETA: Just realized you meant Harburg Castle, so edited my post. That helps a bit. :)
Without judging the merits of your chosen destinations, and forced to group all your chosen destinations into the base-town travel model, and in consideration of what makes for a possible day trip... I can only offer this list of bases, in no particular travel order. Base towns are in bold.
1) Frankfurt + Cologne (+ maybe Heidelberg)
2) Berlin
3) Dresden
4) Würzburg + Rothenburg
5) Heidelberg (possibly a 1-night stop on your way between Frankfurt and somewhere else, like Würzburg or Munich?)
6) Munich + Harburg + Neuschwanstein
7) Koenigsee
8) Frankfurt for final night?
I thoroughly enjoy the base-town model and use it frequently myself. But I would label this a failed itinerary and a failed base-town strategy because the destinations have been chosen without reference to how a base-town approach might work in the real world. 3-5 base towns would perhaps be workable over 15 days. 8 bases, spread out geographically as they are, with major destinations like Berlin, Munich and Dresden that call for multi-day stays... well, you don't end up with enough time in your bases, you end up with too much time in transit... it just doesn't work. What you have is a set of destinations that lend themselves to a bus tour over 15 days.
Dresden is too major to visit on a daytrip from Berlin.
While you might be able to work in separate daytrips to the Koenigssee and Neuschwanstein from Munich, there's a disproportionately large amount of time to be spent on public transport for each day. N'stein's 30-minute tour ends up costing you nearly 5 hours round trip from Munich! If this faux-castle is a must-do for you, stay there a couple of nights and enjoy the rest of the area. Same with the Koenigssee.
A base-town approach with fewer destinations (again, without judgments about those destinations.) I would probably drop Cologne / Frankfurt / Heidelberg. Book Frankfurt at the end (for 1 night.) Details:
Upon arrival at FRA, head to your closest destination... Würzburg base (3 nights.) Day 1 is lost; 1 day each for W'burg and R'burg. (Warning...others will tell you Rothenburg cannot be visited without spending the night there.)
Dresden base (2 nights)
Berlin base (4 nights)
Munich base (3 nights)
Base in the Alps (either Füssen or Berchtesgaden/Koenigssee, 2 nights.)
Final day/night... long train trip to Frankfurt + final night (1 night.)
My personal take on your destinations: Too many large cities, not enough of Germany's natural wonders and smaller old-world places. With FRA in and out I would have my first or last base in the nearby Upper Middle Rhine Valley for at least 2 days, 3 if you really want to see Cologne. I would drop Dresden and/or Würzburg/Rothenburg. And I would opt for 3 days rather than just 2 in the Alps.
What Russ said. A point in support of skipping Cologne, unless you are really, really interested in the cathedral. That to me and others, is the only point of interest there.
It's a whole lot of territory you have listed - I'll join in on lessening that reach with nixing Cologne.
Agree with previous replies. You could have bought a two-segment flight home (or in) for little more than your round-trip. I suppose it's too late now. This would have saved a return to Frankfurt.
It is not correct to say that the Dom is the only attraction in Cologne. That fact that the Dom is the #1-attendance-count place in Germany is not related to the value of the rest of the city. Unfortunately, Cologne is not a good place for a scenic Middle-Rhine boat ride.
But it is true that Cologne was bombed almost flat, and it is missing the old-world charm of a few parts of Dresden (also bombed flat ... ) (not to mention the really old towns on the list) OTOH, Cologne has several Roman remains and a great Roman museum, as well as a large number of other attractive museums. By "attractive", I mean not just "bo-ring ... art-on-the-wall". It's also well connected to Aachen (and Dusseldorf, which has some old-world charm). I also happen to like Kolsch beer, especially on a hot summer day.
Do you have any air-conditioned hotels in your program?
