2 itineraries : which one you prefer?

We have done both and loved BOTH !

But, we found Salzburg (have been there 5 times now) to be truly enchanting.

If you choose #2, make sure to go to Tubingen - we loved the college town better than Baden Baden.

So, my vote would be #1 but do BOTH some day !

I'll comment on Itinerary #1.
Question, why aren't you flying into Munich and out of Frankfurt. it would be so much easier.

Nights 1 and 2 are in Salzburg
Night 3 in Hallstatt
Night 4 in Salzburg
Night 5 in Berchtesgaden
Night 6 in Konigssee

These are all too close to move every night.
Salzburg to Hallstatt is about an hour.
Salzburg to Berchtesgaden is 30 minutes.
Konigssee to Berchtesgaden is less than 10 minutes. One could walk between Berchtesgaden and Konigssee.

Paul

Hi,

With the exception of Baden Baden, my vote goes to "B"...much better choices.

I also like #2 better. #1 only works if the weather cooperates, which it almost certainly won't in the Alps. That's also too long of a day in the train immediately after a flight.

Baden-Baden didn't appeal to me, but at least it makes sense location-wise on this itinerary. I would rather substitute one of the spas in Wiesbaden, or the thermal complex outside of Weinheim (very close to Heidelberg), however.

vote for #2, but why stay in Frankfurt the first night if you aren't seeing anything there? Just go on to Heidelberg from the airport, especially if you're arriving in the AM and can't check into a hotel. Also, if you're not actually seeing much of Mainz, why not stay further downriver, at Boppard or Rudesheim and then head back towards FRA?

in #1, you're making 11 hotel changes in 13 days? You're staying in a lot of places, but not actually spending any time in them. Thats not a vacation, thats punishment. Note Königsee is walkable from Berchtesgaden, so wouldnt really need a hotel change.

Stan, #1 is a very good trip if they combine the stays in Salzburg/Berchtesgaden/Konigssee and Fuessen/Garmisch. If they did this, it's a perfectly fine trip.

Thank you very much for the fruitful replies.
As I am very tired, I tried to reply the questions from itinerary A first.
Maybe something is not clearly presented as I was very tired when I typed the 2 itineraries.
The "day 0" means I took the flight at midnight the day before. It arrives at FRA in the morning of "day 1". FRA means the Frankfurt airport, not the city. I am just staying in the airport for a few hours to wait for another flight to SZG. That means the Salzburg airport! Therefore I am not taking a train from Frankfurt to Salzburg! The short flight only takes an hour! It is more convinient than taking a train from munich to salzburg!
It arrives sarlzburg at about 10:00. I can start my visit after taking a lunch!

Can I finish the hallsatt journey at one day? I want to visit the salt-mine as well as the 5 fingers as well. If I can finished all items within one day including a long time back and forth train ride, I can cut one day without moving to hallstatt.
However, moving to hallstatt is very simple to me as I will be back to salzburg the next day. I only take a small bag with simple clothing and some batteries with me and leave the large luggage in the hotel in salzburg. It is ok as I have done the approach for many times.
For the Hotel Konigssee, I just want to book a lake view room and enjoy the lake scene. If the lake view room is sold out, there is no point to stay in Hotel Konigssee. I will stay in the hostel in Berchtesgarden instead.
If I cut down the hallsatt trip to become a day trip and go back to berchtesgarden after visiting konigssee, there a 2 hotels I need to stay: one is the hotel in sarlzburg, another is the hostel in berchtesgarden. I think it is ok!
I have checked the time of walking from berchtesgarden to konigssee. It takes an hour! Not a walking distance! Also, I need to take a bus 846 or something to the lake.
I have no car license. I need to take public transport.
The move from konigssee to eibsee requires hiring a driver! If it is too expensive, I may need to take a train back and forth from munich! (However, I tried to avoid it because it is too clumsy!)

I didn't mean to suggest walking from Berchtesgaden to Konigssee. I just didn't see the point in staying in different locations that close to one another. If you don't mind changing hotels that often, to each his/her own. That's fine.

I tried to reply something about itinerary B

Thanks for good suggestions for this itinerary B. I will think of it seriously as they are all good suggestions.

First of all, to say it again, the "day 0" means I took the flight at midnight and I will arrive FRA in "day 1". I am not staying in Frankfurt the city. I am in the plane.

Thanks for reminding me for Tübingen. In fact this itinerary is the nth version of it. Previously the itinerary A and B was ONE itinerary, it starts from MUC and ends in FRA. However, most of the people said that it is too rush to visit so many sites in a fortnight. So I broke down into 2 and have itinerary A and B.
Tübingen was appeared in the previous version of the itinerary. But now I need to feed Tübingen in itinerary B. Which day is the best place to add? The day after going to Heidelberg and going to Freiburg? Maybe I tried to arrange it.
Also, I can add Titisee in the days I am in Freiburg.

I am really interested in the spa you all suggested in Wiesbaden. I will take some more researches on it if it is really better than baden baden. I want a 5 star spa hotel and enjoy the spa if I can afford.

It sounds a good idea to stay in Boppard or Rüdesheim. However, after exploring the train schedule, it is quite inconvenient to travel from Freiburg to boppard. Maybe it is a good idea to stay in mainz, then to boppard and Rüdesheim. Then move to Wiesbaden to enjoy the spa hotel and then go straight to FRA

Itinerary B (revised after your suggestions)

day 0 to FRA
day 1 to FRA to Tübingen, stay in Tübingen
day 2 Tübingen to Heidelberg, stay in Heidelberg
day 3 Heidelberg, stay in Heidelberg
day 4 Heidelberg, stay in Heidelberg
day 5 Heidelberg to Freiburg, stay in Freiburg
day 6 Freiburg to titisee, stay in Freiburg
day 7 Freiburg to black forest, stay in black forest (guided tour day 1)
day 8 black forest to Freiburg, stay in Freiburg (guided tour day 2)
day 8 from Freiburg to mainz, stay in mainz
day 9 cruise ride from mainz to Boppard, cable car in Boppard, back to mainz, stay in mainz
day 10 mainz to Rudesheim, enjoy the cable car and the vineyard, stay in mainz
day 11 mainz to Wiesbaden, enjoy the spa
day 12 Wiesbaden to FRA, back!

day 8 from Freiburg to mainz, stay in mainz
day 9 cruise ride from mainz to Boppard, cable car in Boppard, back to mainz, stay in mainz
day 10 mainz to Rudesheim, enjoy the cable car and the vineyard, stay in mainz
day 11 mainz to Wiesbaden, enjoy the spa

Very nice that you have a few days for the Rhine. But I think is business of using Mainz as a base town is a big waste of time - your goals seem to be located DOWNSTREAM from Mainz, not in Mainz. And downstream is where you should stay. I would book in BINGEN. Why?

• It is just as easy to reach BINGEN from Freiburg as it is Mainz if you pick the right train. For example... Leave Freiburg 9:56, arrive Bingen 13:04, one change of train in Mannheim. (The only difference going to Mainz is that you get off train #2 20 minutes earlier.)

• Bingen is right at the "entrance" to the scenic part of the Rhine Valley. Find Bingen on this map of the scenic cruise zone. A cruise starting in Mainz wastes oodles of time through boring scenery.,

• Bingen is right across the river from Rüdesheim (use the ferry.)

• Bingen is only 25-30 minutes from Boppard by direct train, whereas Mainz-Boppard takes 50 minutes.

• St. Goar, Oberwesel, and/or Bacharach are all towns of interest in between Bingen and Boppard that you could visit in the time you would save by not staying in Mainz.

I would suggest checking first at the NH Hotel in Bingen. It has a great location on the waterfront at the downstream end of the river promenade, a great view, and a great breakfast and breakfast room.

Mainz is a nice town. I think you should visit it separately for maybe 2 days - maybe instead of all that time you have for Heidelberg!

I would definitely opt for Itinerary B. I am not a fan of Baden-Baden however, so I would re-allocate that time planned for there to other activities. My choice would be to expand your time in Mainz - despite Rick's extremely unpleasant comments about this great old city!

day 1 to FRA to Tübingen, stay in Heidelberg
day 2 Tübingen to Heidelberg, stay in Heidelberg
day 3 Heidelberg, stay in Heidelberg
day 4 Heidelberg, stay in Heidelberg

Day 1 - staying in Heideleberg??? Or Tübingen?

I do not understand spending more than one day in Heidelberg. It's OK, but... a day is enough.

day 4 Heidelberg to Freiburg, stay in Freiburg
day 5 Freiburg to black forest, stay in black forest
day 6 black forest to Freiburg, stay in Freiburg

Freiburg is nice, but why are you returning to Freiburg on Day 6? Just go to Baden-Baden from your "Black Forest" location.
And I think you need more than one night in the Black Forest. It's a widespread area that's interesting to poke around in. And you can ride the trains for free there during your stay by overnighting in certain Black Forest towns that hand out the KONUS card.

I think Days 1-6 need some major revision. Here are some places in the Black Forest that you might want to stay in and/or visit.

Gutach: http://www.bensbauernhof.com/gutachimschwarzwald.html
Gengenbach:
http://www.stadthotel-gengenbach.de/files/gengenbach-innenstadt.jpg
http://www.reiseerlebnisfuehrer.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Gengenbach-Engelgasse.jpg
Schiltach: https://www.orte-bw.de/grafik/uploads/12503_2010_1040.JPG
Titisee: https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4153/5201502112_f6d4de3e88_b.jpg

The Black Forest Railway and some other towns: https://www.black-forest-travel.com/places-of-interest/black-forest-railway.html
Map of the Black Forest Railway; Gutach not shown but it's near Hausach: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Verlaufskarte_Schwarzwaldbahn_(Baden).png

KONUS card information: http://www.dreisamtal.de/en/service/konus.php?lang=en

Thanks for the suggestion of the black forest sites. I didn't look into it in detail.
As there are so many places for me to visit. I need to spend some time to read the articles.
Also say thank you to the one who suggests Bingen. I have never heard of this place before! If it is the solution for the Rhine river, I will go for it. Just take some time to study the black forest articles and have some map study of Bingen. I will try to renew the itinerary B in a week's time.

Of the two options, I would prefer A. Not that I don't like the Black Forest, I love it, but Heidelberg, Baden-Baden, and Freiburg are hardly my idea of the Black Forest.

I'd definitely spend one night in Hallstatt.

I've twice stayed in Berchtesgaden. I used bus 841 to get to Königssee. It's only about a 10 min trip. In 2002, I made a day trip from Munich to Salzburg and saw everything I wanted to see during the day. No reason you couldn't do it as a day trip from Berchtesgaden. I'd spend 3 nights in Berchtesgaden.

Just to be clear, Heidelberg is not in the Black Forest. It is, however, located in the Odenwald Mountains, a similar but smaller mountain range located significantly to the north of the northern terminus of the Black Forest.

I wonder, when the Rickniks follow their Leader directly from Frankfurt south to Baden-Baden and the Black Forest, on their route, do they even notice or wonder about the mountains to their left (Odenwald) or the other mountains to their right across the Rhine plain (Pfalzerwald)?

After reading the replies, I got 'shocked'. I am thinking if I have written some words that cause misleading of you all that I think Heidelburg, baden baden and Freiburg is a part of the black forest?
If yes, I apologize for making such a misunderstanding. I am very sure that these 3 towns are not part of the black forest. In fact, I want to hire a travel guide in Freiburg to take us to go through the black forest by car. That is, having a guided tour for a couple of days.
From your replies, it seems possible to go through black forest by public transport by myself. Maybe I need to take some time to work out the solutions.