Advice on 2 week Germany Itinerary

I will let others comment on your actual itinerary (sounds like fun!), but I just wanted to say that you may want to rethink the rail pass - it usually is much more expensive than buying point to point tickets and using Germany's great regional day tickets. Hopefully Lee will see this and point you in the right direction as far as which Lander ticket to buy. Have a great time!

Hi Dawn - thanks for the info. I checked on the rail pass and since it is the two of use, we get quite a discount. For second class, it is $450 for 3 days for the two of us and $484 for 4 days (and the US dollars is correct here). Now, that brings up another question. Should we travel second class or first class on the trains? Anyway, even if we buy all the point to point in advance (which I really would not want to do), the point to point are still more expensive, even more so getting not getting them in advance. I checked this on the DB Bahn site. Perhaps there is another deal that I don't understand as I don't know if the regional trains are listed on another website. It appeared DB Bahn listed regional trains (RE versus ICE). The other thing that helps with the pass is what is considered a "day". So our Berlin to Dresden round trip counts as one day and the Berlin-Nuremberg-Munich is considered one day. Let me know.

Are you looking on DB for the passes? I get 308 euro for a 3 day 2nd class twin pass (covers 2 adults traveling together), and 331 euro for 4 day. You appear to have 4 travel days. Adjusting for current exchange rate of 1.36 $/euro, that comes to $419 and $450.
http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/prices/germany/germanrailpass.shtml
Where are you getting your prices?
Edit- At these prices, yes, a 4 day German rail pass makes sense. 2nd class on German trains is quite nice, you'll think you are on business class on a US airline! If you are not in a rush to get to Cologne ASAP, think about taking the a slower IC train that goes along the Rhine River. It takes an extra hour or so, but nice scenery. The ICE train shoots down the median of the Autobahn at 200 mph, but the view is the Autobahn. It will get you to Cologne in an hour or less.

Hi Sam,
Thanks for the reply. I was using a link through the Rick Steve's forum which seemed to take me to the DB Bahn. Perhaps the prices went down as I noticed the Cologne to Berlin ticket price was less than it was 4 days ago. Anyway, the good news is that the pass is even less expensive that I thought which is better! Any ideas on traveling first class or second class? Also, any comments on the itinerary. Are we trying to do too much? Skip Dresen? Less days in Berlin and more in Munich (so 3 full days each place)?

See my edited version above. I think it looks good. Not too much, just right. I'd keep Dresden in the mix. You can operate a bit more flexibly with a pass, so if something you want to see pops up, you have the time and wherewithal to change the plan.

Hi,

On what counts as a day on the Pass: The round trip Berlin-Dresden-Berlin counts as one day, whether you go direct or have to change, such as Berlin-Leipzig (on the ICE), then Leipzig-Dresden on the EC. The same applies to the return.

The other trip...Berlin to Nürnberg to Munich counts as one day. I've done variations of that., or you go Berlin-Munich w/o stopping in Nürnberg, that's also a day. All the legs mentioned here, you can take the ICE, that's what I do. Only Berlin-Dresden direct is on the EC.

Sam - what a great idea taking the scenic train to Cologne. That sounds perfect as we will be somewhat burned out and tired from air travel. We are flying from Los Angeles to Frankfurt so relaxing on the way to Cologne sounds great. Also, traveling second class it is. Saves quite a bit of money. I also agree on the Pass. It does provide more flexibility and I don't have to buy all the tickets ahead of time. Thanks for letting me know that it isn't too much. I didn't think so but then was concerned I was getting a little out of hand going to various places. Like I said, I really wanted to see Dresden. I didn't necessarily want to go on Sunday as I wanted to have some rest time but it's needed if we want to see the sites there. Again, thanks for the tips as now I can finalize reserving hotel rooms. Heidi

Heidi,

A lot of people just automatically choose the pass without comparing it to the point to point tickets, that's why I wanted to bring up the idea of a pass generally not being the best value. However, it definitely sounds like you've done your homework and this works the best for you! I must say I'm pleasantly surprised at the cost of the German Rail pass. As you've said, it offers you flexibility.

This looks like a very well thought out itinerary - isn't planning half the fun?!? I'm jealous that you and your son get to watch the World Cup in Europe - that will be a blast!!

Just as an idea, but have you looked at a map of Germany? Dresden is almost half way between Berlin and Munich, so you could save yourself a lot of travel time by just stopping there for a day and night on your way to Munich instead of backtracking.

As an alternative, you could also take this day tour to Dresden with Insider Tours on Sundays & Wednesdays. The 49 € is cheaper than round trip train fare and you get a great tour too.
http://www.insidertour.com/tours.php/cat/27/id/62/title/Day_Trip:_Berlin_to_Dresden

Hi Ms Jo - Yes, I have looked at the map and my original plan was to hit Dresden on the way to Munich (it's about 1/3 of the way there) but we were stuck with the museums being closed on Monday and the Historic Green Vault is closed on Tuesday. That put a wrinkle into the plan which is why I decided to do the day trip. As for the cost from a train perspective, the side trip is causing us to get a 4 day German Rail Pass versus a 3 day Rail Pass and the extra day for the two of us is only $23 dollars more total (not each). So that makes this affordable. The only bad thing is we waste a couple hours on the train back peddling but I can't figure out a way around that unless we don't go to Dresden or we go to Dresden and just walk around and not really go to anything. Trust me, I'm not real fond of back-peddling but those pesky closed hours for attractions must be dealt with :-)

Can you train from Cologne to Dresden, next day go to Berlin, so that when you leave Berlin, it is then a straight shot to Munich?

Ms Jo - great minds think alike as I was thinking that same thing last night. Was just about to check that very thing. It makes more sense to do it that way as we save one 2 hour train ride and don't have to get up super early to fit it all in. (personally I am not a super early in the morning person!).

I'm wondering why you're driving Stuttgart-Bacharach-Frankfurt. Do you have other stops planned along the drive? Otherwise, you can do Stuttgart-Bacharach by train with 1 connection (3 hours) and Bacharach-Frankfurt by train with 1 connection (under 2 hours). Those extra days on the 2nd class German Twin pass cost $15-20 per person.

Heidi,
I don't think it's a good idea to drive from Fuessen to Rothenberg in an afternoon, just to get up and drive to Stuttgart, have the car factory tour, then drive to Bacharach in the evening. In my opinion, skip Rothenberg and stay where the factory is, just over the autobahn, in the town of Boeblingen. The old town is interesting, you can still see some walled parts to it. Also, the traffic in the afternoons out of Stuttgart can be terrible. Tuebingen, downtown Stuttgart, Schloss Solitude, Weil der Stadt, and tons of other places close to the factory surpass Rothenberg OdT and will make your vacation less stressful.