My wife and I are taking our two mothers (ages 80 and 83 but relatively good health but slow walking) to Germany and then on to London where my daughter lives. I would like advice on the Germany portion. I have a package with the flight so must stay in Munich for the first 4 nights April 20-24. We fly out of Frankfurt on April 28 so we have 4 nights to arrange. I have rented a car for the whole trip since we would like day trips from Munich as well. I would prefer to stay 4 nights in one place if possible and places of interest include Freiburg, Heidelberg, Strasberg to see the last 4 days. Thank you in advance for help.
Posted by
Maryland
909 posts
What do your mothers like to do? Art? Castles? Scenery? With a car Munich allows the Alps, the famous castles, etc but many many places do require walking. Strasbourg would be quite different. Would they enjoy a Rhine cruise? So many possibilities.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
They like all of the above. History art etc. maybe two nights and two nights would be best for the last four nights. It
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7894 posts
Evidently your air is set, but I might not take 4 nights in Munich, or even combine the continent with London. But you may want to think about whether you want to see three small places in one day with the car, or go to a major city for a full day. The chance to (?) "rest from walking" in the car is one element in that decision. You're ahead of the high season, but it can sometimes be time-consuming to drive 15 minutes away from the highway, find a parking lot or garage, and then walk from the lot to the "old town", or whatever is your target. Another issue is how often to change hotels with two mothers. Aside from the normal overhead of checking out and in, you have packing and unpacking, laundry (?), and perhaps small (European) rooms. Have they been to Europe before? Another issue is break-in danger from visible bags during a day-time touring stop between hotels.
April may or may not be too-early for a cable car ride in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Referring to visibility, as well as snow and ice. Don't take them to Dachau unless they fully understand what a shocking experience it will be. I suggest you look into "The Romantic Road" and "The Half-Timbered [Fachwerke] Road" - they both include a large number of modern towns with beautiful "old-town" sections.
You didn't mention Rothenberg (Tauber), one of the "holy cities" of this newsboard! (I haven't been there.) It would completely eliminate the need for a car, but did you consider the Scenic Middle Rhine, which is easily trained-to Frankfurt?
On a daytrip, I thought I wouldn't mind sleeping in Aschaffenburg, but maybe not 4 nights. Your proposed list is okay, but you need a list of daytrips.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thank you for the good advice.
We are locked into four nights at a specific hotel in Munich because of an Expedia package. Same goes for the flight back out of Frankfurt eight days later. I was thinking we could find a hotel somewhere along the western side of Germany where we could take day trips to Heidelberg, Strasburg, etc.
I certainly do not want to overdo it with the mothers on the trip. We don’t want to get them exhausted. They can walk, but probably multiple stairs would not be a good thing. I also had thought four nights in one place and four nights, in the another would be good, just simply because of what you said, as far as packing and unpacking, checking in, etc.
If we had to, we could do two nights and two nights, if that would make it better.
Posted by
Philadelphia
39 posts
If they're big art history fans, you could spend a day or more at the Alte und Neue Pinakotheken.
Posted by
Paradise
7072 posts
Day trip from Munich: I would drive the bunch to MITTENWALD, a perfect alpine paradise. Take the Karwendelbahn lift, tour the town on foot (small, easy walking) and in the evening stop in at the Gasthof Fraundorfer in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on the way back to Munich.
Guide for a day trip to Mittenwald
Last 4 nights: Take Tim's tip on the Middle Rhine Valley (Rhine Gorge) where castles, vineyards, and old-world towns surround you and river boats make for easy and enjoyable sightseeing. Stay in either Rüdesheim or Bingen to be closest to FRA airport. Both towns are good starting points for a river cruise and are also connected by car ferries and foot-passenger ferries.
The nh Bingen hotel is on the waterfront promenade and has wonderful views of the river valley:
https://dynamic-media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-o/06/1a/df/01/nh-bingen.jpg?w=900&h=-1&s=1
https://www.rhein-eifel.tv/fileadmin/_processed_/c/d/csm_maeuseturm-bingen_24c5ef0420.jpg
Old-world towns on the river that you will want to visit:
Bingen side:
Bacharach
Oberwesel
St. Goar
Boppard
Rüdesheim side:
Braubach
Eltville
Rüdesheim
This popular late afternoon boat leaves R'heim at 4:15 pm (or 4:30 from Bingen) and takes you to Boppard in 2.3 hours: