9 total nights Munich + Cologne itinerary help

Will your tour also take you to Hohenschwangau? It provides so much context and history for Neuschwanstein. The family lived in Hohenschwangau and its furnished, unlike Neuschwanstein. We took a train and then a bus from Munich to Neuschwanstein. Tours are included in the Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein tickets. Easy to do on your own.

Please comment (doable? other towns to consider? other key sites we
should add to our list?).

The day trips from Munich you have in mind will be very time-consuming and thus rushed.

Rick says to spend a week - if that's all you have - in Bavaria. I think that's bad advice IMO, generally speaking. That said, it's a little worse to try to see the places you are trying to hit if you are tied to Munich for 6 of your 8 nights. Is that the case? Most of these places you are traveling to round-trip involve a disproportionate amount of time sitting in the car, bus, or train that you'll be using.

It's hard enough to see Nuremberg in a day, much less Rothenburg on top of that.

Am I correct that you are wed to your Munich accommodations through Night #6? If so, what you might do is leave on the morning of Day 7 for a two-day trip which includes Rothenburg... Spend one night in this part of Bavaria (called Franconia) and see some other places too. These places are near Rothenburg and could be visited on your way to Frankfurt Airport and are at least remotely similar to the Rhine towns beyond FRA:

Bad Windsheim / Frankonian Open Air Museum
Würzburg
Miltenberg
Sommerhausen
Marktbreit
Ochsenfurt

The Cologne Cathedral might be Germany's most visited landmark, but I can't see troubling yourselves with such a trip for a half hour there. The Rhine is my favorite part of Germany. But if you have so many days in Munich, I don't see that as a valid suggestion.

Here are some places that are CLOSER to Munich which are doable outings:

Kloster Andechs (Andechs Monastery)
Augsburg
Herrenchiemsee Palace (on Lake Chiemsee)
Mittenwald (alpine village) (Direct train from Munich takes just under 2 hours.)

Cologne cathedral is a little out of the way and I,would rather spend the 2 days on the Rhine. Do Cologne as a day trip from a Rhine village if it’s a must do. I don’t think it is worth the all that time

I know Rick says to cruise from Bacharach to St. Goar, but if you do that, you miss 3/4ths of the castles on the Rhein. This is like a 5 min. trip on the train. Cruise the longer stretch. Rüdesheim to St. Goar.

Not sure I would spend a whole day just to go to Cologne to see the cathedral.

I believe Rick suggests from St. Goar to Bacharach. That’s what one couple we met in Bacharach said their Rick Steves tour did. That goes against the flow which during high flows can make the trip longer than one might want.

You have so much time on trains and cars, I hope your Munich accommodations are near the station.

Day 2 - Neuschwanstein castle (2 hours each direction)
Day 3 - Day Trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber & Nurenberg (private driver). (4 hours each way) not to mention the 2 stops
Day 5 - Zugspitze (tour including transportation). Overnight Munich (1 hr 30 min each way) only to get to the Cogwheel train in Garmisch.
Day 6 - Day trip to Salzburg via train. Overnight Munich (2 hours each way)

Maybe you could do the Nuremburg trip on the way to Cologne.

BigTyke, it doesn't matter if the ship is going slower against the current, they still miss 3/4ths of the castle doing only this tiny stretch.

Just my opinion.....I'd skip Neuschwanstein. If you've seen photos of the exterior, then you've seen all there is to see. This is a modern creation of how one person thought a castle should look. Think Cinderella's Castle at Disney World. If you want to see a historic German castle, there are many real ones to visit.

A day trip to Rothenburg and Nurenberg is way too fast-paced. Similarly, the Munich to Salzburg trip is 1-1/2 hour each way. Do you really want to spend 3 hours on a train for a quick look at Salzburg? The train from Munich to Cologne is at least 4-1/2 hours. I think you might want to re-think Munich as your home base and redesign your itinerary.

If you are coming to Munich and Bavaria why then go all the way up to Cologne? Unless there is a must see there, I would stick with areas further south like the Black Forest. IMHO it seems out of your way.

You've gotten some good advice below. I'm just going to go through your entire itinerary and post my thoughts in italic. Certainly you don't have to change anything because of this, but there are some potential problems in here as everyone has noted.

Day 1 - after overnight arrival - Marienplatz, Hofbrauhaus, English Garden. Overnight Munich (this is fine)

Day 2 - Neuschwanstein castle (tour including transportation). Overnight Munich
(I wouldn't visit Neuschwanstein Castle but if you want to go, you should. This is fine too.)

Day 3 - Day Trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber & Nurenberg (private driver). Overnight Munich
(This is where it starts to get in a little dicey. Taking a day trip to Rothenburg and Nuremberg is making things so tight that you will not get anything out of it. I would skip one or the other.)

Day 4 - Dachau (on our own via train)/BMW Tour. Overnight Munich
(Again I think doing both Dachau and BMW in one day is problematic, although it it is definitely more doable than doing Rothenburg and Nurenberg in one day. That said, when you are done with Dachau, it will affect you, so you may not feel like doing a BMW tour.)

Day 5 - Zugspitze (tour including transportation). Overnight Munich
(This is fine).

Day 6 - Day trip to Salzburg via train. Overnight Munich.
(This is fine but if it were me, I would spend the night in Salzburg. You're not really going to get anything out of going back to Munich although I guess it would save you changing hotels. That's really the only benefit and Salzburg is so gorgeous and lovely that I would take every minute of time that I could squeeze in there. You'll have the whole day and evening in Salzburg and the next morning you can relax and get on a train and head on your way to your next destination.)

Day 7 - Train to Cologne. Drop bags at hotel? Visit cathedral
(At this point, it gets really problematic. If you want to see Cologne then go to Cologne and spend days 7 and 8 there. Then head down to Frankfurt and fly home. If you want to see the Rhine, then skip Cologne and head to some place like Boppard, which is a good base for that area, visit the castles and take a cruise along the Rhine. Stay there for two days and then head back to Frankfurt and fly home. But I wouldn't try to do both. You'll just exhaust yourselves. My vote would be for the Rhine. I do like Cologne and I love the cathedral but the Rhine will give you a chance to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery, the river, the gorgeous castles and and all the ruins along the Rhine).

Day 8 - Day Trip on the Rhine - st goar to bacharach and marksburg castle visit? Have been confused in reading about this idea so not sure if this is wise.
(See note above. FYI, when I was there I stayed in Boppard and took the train down to Bingen to the south, then got the KD Ferry in Bingen and took it back all the way back up to Boppard. I saw so many ruins along the way, I agree that limiting the Rhine cruise between St. Goar and Bacharach will cause you to miss a lot of the sites. Definitely go down as far as Bingen or even Bacharach.).

Day 9 - Fly home

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Use them or not. It's your trip so you should do what you want. No matter what happens, you'll be in Germany and it's a wonderful country so I'm sure you will have an incredible time.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/can-i-see-enough-of-cologne

We lived in Augsburg for four years, while working for the US Army.
We have done much of Germany and loved it.
Our favorite areas are Bavaria and the Rhine Valley-Black Forest.
Like others, I agree that including Cologne is a bit of a waste of time.

The Cathedral is worth a visit, but frankly, there are several cathedrals in Germany that are equal to or better. Why not plan to do Cologne on your next trip to Germany when you do the Rhine Valley and Black Forest.

The Romantic Road of Germany runs from Fussen to Wurzburg and included several charming walled medieval towns, including Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Dinkelsbuhl. Augsburg is over 2000 years old and worth a day.

You plan to do Salzburg on a day trip. You should plan an spending more time there, there is much to see and nearby Berchtesgaden has the amazing scenic Eagle's Nest.

I am planning similar but different trip this summer. I have family in Nordrein and so will fly into Frankfurt, rental car up to see them. Train to Cologne for a day, then take ICE from Cologne to Munich for the rest of the trip. We are skipping the Rhine this time for more time doable day trip from Munich. (two overnights in Garmisch Partenirchen). Fly home from Munich.